As a child who’s formative musical years were the 1990’s, I dismissed “Country Music” as bubble gum pop, hidden beneath a cowboy hat and a fiddle track. Billy Ray Cyrus and his mulleted prancing, Garth Brooks becoming Chris Gaines and the hokey and jingoistic anthems following 9/11, only further solidified my opinion. I had a taste for 60’s country-rock, via my parents and my love for the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan and Neil Young, but I never looked to my musical left to see that Country road running parallel. This all changed in 2002.
Hearing a song that had fed my teenage angst and was there to wrap around me when my heart would break and rage, sung by that craggy, clear and dying voice was a revelation. And then, the video. Goddamn, I still cry. Then and upon every subsequent viewing. The pain, the joyful images of the virile and manic past. Who was this man? I had seen the poster with the middle finger in Spencer’s Gifts. I had heard “Ring of Fire” and “I Walk the Line”, in passing but had always nodded and moved along. Now I HAD to know. I had to know it all.
Johnny led me to Hank. Hank led to Marty. Marty led to The Possum. The Possum led to Tammy, and the rest is history. I fell hard for Country Music. And Johnny Cash pushed me through that door. Happy birthday, Mr. Cash. And thank you for everything.
I recommend the BBC documentary, “Johnny Cash – The Last Great American” and the A&E documentary, “Johnny Cash’s America (links below)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mExFkBUr1-g
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[…] played, what songs began to tilt my ear toward this obsession? I touched on this a bit with this post on Johnny Cash’s birthday, but it’s an area that I’d like to explore […]