Thursday, August 11, 2011
One on One with JOHNNY CASH
10 Questions with The Man in BlackApril 1, 2003
There's not a whole lot 71-year old country legend Johnny Cash hasn't achieved in his 46 year career as a recording musician. He's recorded more than 1,500 songs - 48 of them which have even crossed over into Billboard's Top 100 Pop charts. He's not only garnered 11 Grammy awards, but has also taken home just about every other conceivable music achievement award known to man; songwriting, video, and lifetime achievement awards, just to mention a few. He was the youngest inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame and, other than Elvis Presley who later followed him, is the only person that has ever been inducted into both the Country and Rock Music Hall of Fames.
Considering that his health has been spiraling downward over the past few years - including a couple of near death experiences - Cash has surprisingly, however, continued to turn out a prolific amount of material throughout the last decade. What's even more surprising is that with all of this later material, subtitled American Recordings and entirely produced under the guidance of Rick Rubin (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys and Slayer, among others), Cash has created a four volume set of honest, stripped-down, harrowing music that rivals even his best work from the late '50s and early '60s.
Despite Nashville and the country music industry ignorantly turning their back on this powerful material and Cash's own musical legacy, not only has The Man in Black retained many of his longtime fans, but with the help of Rubins, as well as his recent video of Trent Reznor's song "Hurt" (arguably the most moving music video of all time) he's also quickly gaining acceptance from a brand new audience - the young and hip.
Livewire is proud to present Johnny Cash speaking candidly and with great passion about his latest accomplishment, American IV: The Man Comes Around.
CNN LARRY KING LIVE Interview With Johnny Cash
KING: The great pleasure to welcome a return visit to LARRY KING LIVE the wonderful Johnny Cash. His new album, "The Man Comes Around" will be out -- just came out November 4, as we play this on our Thanksgiving holiday. And this past year we've seen the release of "The Essential Johnny Cash," a two CD chronicle of his recording years with Sun, Columbia and Mercury and the past year has also seen the release of an expanded addition of five vintage Johnny Cash LPs put out on CD. You're like a -- you're a legend.
CASH: Well, there's a great compilation of my work that they've put together, all the companies that I worked for, you know? And everybody is trying to outdo the other one.
KING: You sang with Sun? CASH: Yes, I was on Sun Records.
KING: When Presley was there?
CASH: Yes, when Presley was there.
KING: You both sang for Sun Records?
Johnny Cash
Biography
Johnny Cash, born J. R. Cash, (February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was a Grammy Award-winning American country singer. Cash is widely considered to be one of the most influential American musicians of the 20th century.
Cash was known for his deep, distinctive voice, the boom-chick-a-boom or ”freight train” sound of his Tennessee Two backing band, his demeanor, and his dark clothing, which earned him the nickname”The Man in Black”. He traditionally started his concerts with the introduction ”Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.”
Much of Cash’s music, especially that of his later career, echoed themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption. His signature songs include “I Walk The Line”, “Folsom Prison Blues”, “Ring Of Fire”, “That Old Wheel” (a duet with Hank Williams Jr.), “Cocaine Blues”, and “Man In Black”. He also recorded several humorous songs, such as “One Piece At A Time”, “The One On The Right Is On The Left”, “Dirty Old Egg-Sucking Dog” and “A Boy Named Sue”; rock-and-roll numbers such as “Get Rhythm”; and various railroad songs, such as “Rock Island Line” and “Orange Blossom Special”.
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