Cash Johnny - The man called Cash: the life, love, and faith of an American legend

Though presented as an authorized biography... this portait is hardly sanitized. There are bright shards of detail. 3 of 4 stars.

PEOPLE

Reveals that the country crooner was even more devout that his public knew...

TIME

A glimpse of Cash from... those closest to him, some of whom have never gone on the record about Cash before.

THE TENNESSEAN

Turner is refreshingly reluctant to sensationalize... evenhanded and honest. Turner's life of the artist pays due honor to Cash.

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

The Man Called Cash takes a genuine hero, examines him thoroughly and leaves both his heroism and his humanity intact. In what may be the most admirable of his many achievements, it's as good as Cash deserves. 3 of 4 stars.

ANTHONY DECURTIS,ROLLING STONE

... eminently readable ...

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

The rich details of his life, culled from the stories of family and friends, bring the legendary singer down to earth. You'll be hooked...

NEW YORK POST

The Man Called Cash is the best account to date of a truly remarkable life.

CHET FLIPPO, CMT.COM

This is a worthy book.

RICHARD AREGOOD, THE SUNDAY STAR-LEDGER

Johnny Cash was unquestionably one of the most gifted and unusual men I ever knew. My wife Ruth and I considered Johnny and June two of our dearest friends, and we miss them both deeply.

In this highly readable biography, Steve Turner vividly captures the remarkable story of Johnny's life, from beginning to enda life marked by repeated struggles and successes. Most of all, it was a life marked by great faith in Jesus Christa faith that carried him through difficulties that would have overwhelmed a lesser person. Johnny Cash comes alive in this book, and you will be a better person for having read it.

BILLY GRAHAM

I knew several secrets that Johnny had shared with me years ago, but now this book The Man Called Cash tells everything you wanted to know about the Johnny Cash I knew.

MERLE KILGORE

Johnny Cash is my friend. I say is because he ain't really gone... he's just hoverin' and watchin' and helpin' the rest of us get thru this "life deal." I'll read this book a little at a time. One can't take much of "ole J.R." at one sittin'. He's too powerful... but the book is solid and powerful too.

LARRY GATLIN

John Cash was and will always be the true voice and spirit of a man of God and an American musical giant. He was a student of the human condition and a teacher of the spirit. He was a sinner and a redeemer, who struggled to find truth in his own life and bring love and awareness to the world. He admitted to us his darkness but always struggled to find the light. He never pretended to be anything but himself. He and June Carter Cash (his angel) will always be our inspirations. You will discover that inspiration in this wonderful book. If you never knew them, you will meet them here and grow to love them as we did. The Man Called Cash will fill your hearts with insight into the lives of two amazing people and the most important era of American music.

JANE SEYMOUR AND JAMES KEACH

Johnny Cash was all too human, but God was always tugging at his soul. This book gives us a glimpse of his inner struggles, and of a God who would not let him go.

TONY CAMPOLO

THE MAN CALLED CASH

2004 The John R. Cash Revocable Trust. Published by W Publishing Group, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., P. 0. Box 141000, Nashville, Tennessee 37214.

W Publishing Group books may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please email SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without prior permission of the publisher.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984. International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

All lyrics by Johnny Cash are used by permission of the John R. Cash Estate. For a list of songs and albums by Johnny Cash, see the Discography in the back of this book. All lyrics by other Cash family members are used by permission.

Written by Steve Turner, London, England.
Cover Design: Margaret Pesek, NHouse Design, Nashville, Tennessee
Page Design: Inside Out Design & Typesetting, Fort Worth, Texas

Reviewed for accuracy by John Carter Cash, Lou Robin, Karen Robin, and Mark Stielper

Special thanks to Laura Cash, The House of Cash, and Rhonda Hogan of Creative Solutions, Arlington, Texas, for compiling photographs for this book.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Turner, Steve, 1949

The man called Cash: the life, love, and faith of an American legend / Steve Turner.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p.).
ISBN 0-8499-0815-9 (tp)
ISBN 0-8499-1820-0 (hc)
1. Cash, Johnny. 2. Country musiciansUnited StatesBiography. I. Title.
ML420.C265T87 2004
782.421642'092dc22 2004015250

Printed in the United States of America
05 06 07 08 09 RRD 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Q: Did you ever have an imaginary friend?

A: Yes. Sometimes I am two people. Johnny is
the nice one. Cash causes all the trouble.
They fight.

Entry in Tara Cash's personal book
Dad, Share Your Life with Me

Contents

Foreword
KRIS KRISTOFFERSON

JOHNNY CASH IS A TRUE AMERICAN HERO, who rose from a beginning as humble as Abraham Lincoln's to become a friend and an inspiration to prisoners and presidentsrespected and beloved the world over for his courage, his integrity, and his genuine love for his fellow man. Like Muhammad Ali, he was bigger than the profession that brought him to the world's attention, and his spirit transcended the boundaries of ordinary artistic stardom. But he was wonderfully, charmingly human.

I am told that when Bob Dylan met JohnI think it was at the Newport Folk Festivalhe circled John, bent slightly forward and smiling up at him with pure admiration. It's a reaction with which anyone who ever met him can identify. I first saw him in person in June 1965, backstage at the Ryman Auditorium. I was still in uniform, but when Marijohn Wilkin introduced us, his electric handshake was the final nail in the coffin of my army career. John was and always would be larger than life, as powerful and unpredictable as lightning, the deep thunder of his voice a perfect match for his craggy, Lincolnesque features. June, his partner for life, was the beautiful, effervescent middle daughter of the legendary Carter Family, as bright and shining as he was dark and dangerous, and the two of them were head over heels in love and unquestionably the answer to each other's dreams. The Wildwood Flower may not have tamed the Holy Terror, but she definitely smoothed the rough edges of the wildest force of nature running loose in the magical world of music at the time, and together they would become a rock-solid sanctuary and source of inspiration, not only for each other and their beloved children, but for the extended family of lost souls and songwriters they took under their wing.

The first words John said to me when we were introduced at Columbia Recording Studios where I was working as a janitor were, "It's always nice to get a letter from home, isn't it, Kris?" Cowboy Jack Clement had told him of a letter I'd received from my mother disowning me for pursuing a career in a music "nobody over the age of fourteen ever listens to and, if they did, they wouldn't be anyone we'd want to know." It might have been why he always encouraged me in my songwriting (he carried the lyrics of one of my songs in his wallet).