Hillbilly-Music.com - Keeping Country Music History Alive
Hillbilly-Music Folio Display


Cash - The Autobiography
By Johnny Cash with Patrick Carr
HarperSan Francisco
1997
310 Pages
ISBN:  0-06-251500-4

Buy this Book

"I've never met a man who combined spiritual depth, musical ability, and international fame with such grace, charm, and humility as Johnny.
—Dr. Billy Graham

He is "The Man In Black." Country music legend. The "quintessential American troubadour." An icon of rugged individualism, who's been to hell and lived to tell the tale. The demons he's wrestled with resonate in every note he sings. Now, in this unforgettable autobiography, Johnny Cash recounts the highs and lows, the struggles and hard-won triumphs of his remarkable life.

At sixty-five, Cash's extraordinary career spans four decades and a variety of musical styles, including country, folk, gospel, and rock. He is, in fact, the only musician in history to score a triple crown: being inducted into the Songwriter's, Country Music and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.

Cash reflects on the mosaic of his life with his trademark brand of honesty, humility, and humor. It's all here. His childhood on an Arkansas cotton farm. The early years at Sun records; being fired from the Grand Ole Opry; his life on the road; meeting and performing for world leaders; the years of addiction to amphetamines and pain pills; his attempt to kill himself and the profound, life-saving spiritual awakening that pulled him through; and his deep devotion to his wife, June, and their family.

Here, in his own words, Cash sets the record straight, dispelling a few myths (contrary to popular belief, he never did server jail time) and looking unsparingly at his own turbulent past.

Also, woven throughout this compelling memoir are the friendships of a lifetime, with such fellow artists as Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, and Bob Dylan—and with Dr. Billy Graham, who so inspired Cash's own faith.

Cash is a powerful, revealing look at the man behind the legend. Including dozens of never-before-published photos (some from Cash's own family scrapbooks), this fascinating memoir reads like a classic Cash song, filled with candor, wit, and the wisdom of a man who has truly "walked the line."

About the authors:

Johnny Cash is a singer and songwriter who first sang publicly while in the Air Force in the early 1950s. His 1955 contract with Sam Phillips's famous Sun Records label marked the beginning of his professional singing career. In 1996, Cash received a Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Award and released his American Recordings album Unchained. Cash resides in Tennessee with June Carter, his wife of twenty-nine years.

Patrick Carr, a veteran journalist of the country music scene, has been acquainted with Johnny Cash since 1972. His magazine credits include "Rolling Stone", "The New York Times", "The Village Voice", and "Playboy". A contributing editor of "Country Music Magazine" and editor of "The Illustrated History of Country Music", Carr co-authored "Backstage Passes: Life on the Wild Side with David Bowie" with Angela Bowie. He lives in Tampa, Florida.


Hillbilly-Music.com

Yes, Hillbilly Music. You may perhaps wonder why. You may even snicker. But trust us, soon your feet will start tappin' and before you know it, you'll be comin' back for more...Hillbilly Music.

Hillbilly-music.com ...
It's about the people, the music, the history.