Johnny Cash
photo: Andy Earl
87 articles
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Johnny Cash: Pills'n'Thrills And Bellyaches
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, June 1991
HITCHING UP HIS blue jeans to give his hands something to do, country music's Greatest Living Legend smothers a cough before the familiar voice offers ...
Report and Interview by Paul Gorman, Music Week, 1995
HE’S BACK IN BLACK...again. And, as ever, he means business. Johnny Cash, the original rock'n'roll spectre lets loose the leashes with new album Unchained, covering ...
Audio interviews
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, 17 March 1989
The Man in Black on the controversy surrounding the 'Til Things Are Brighter tribute album; being threatened by the Klan for hugging Charley Pride; his friendship with Roy Orbison; the state of current country, and his Scottish roots. He also shows Sweeting his coin, gun and guitar collection!
File format: mp3; file size: 30.9mb, interview length: 32' 11" sound quality: ***
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, 14 October 1996
Johnny Cash talks to Barney Hoskyns about his health, his religion, his revival with Rick Rubin, and the myth of the Million Dollar Quartet
File format: mp3; file size: 50.5mb, interview length: 55' 07" sound quality: ****
List of articles in the library
Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 11 May 1962
Troupe of Country Musicians Gives Program at Carnegie Hall ...
Live Review by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, 23 June 1965
Most Fantastic Show Ever! ...
Report by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 28 November 1965
NASHVILLE — ALTHOUGH there have been no birthday cakes visible, this music center has been savoring its sweet desserts during this anniversary year. ...
Johnny Cash — The C&W Legend Also Beloved By Rockers
Interview by Richard Green, Record Mirror, 21 May 1966
JOHNNY CASH has become almost a country and western legend in the twelve years that he's been recording. Rock 'n' roll fans in this country ...
Roy Orbison's Own Rock History #1
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, December 1967
As told to Jim Delehant ...
'Dylan — He's The Best Songwriter Around Now...' said Johnny Cash
Profile and Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 11 May 1968
IN THE YEAR 1956, one of the most formidable of the small American labels was Sun records, owned and run by Sam Phillips who was ...
Bob Johnston: ...And a PS From the Man Who Produced the Last Dylan LP
Interview by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 9 November 1968
BOB DYLAN'S John Wesley Harding album was probably the most eagerly awaited record of the year. ...
Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (CBS 63308)
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 12 November 1968
2018 note: The quality and impact of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison is not because of the songs. It is because of the behaviour and ...
Johnny Cash: "Ain't Nothin' Too Weird For Me"
Report and Interview by Michael Lydon, The New York Times, 16 March 1969
BACKSTAGE AT the Amarillo, Texas, Civic Auditorium, a fresh kid with glasses held out a plastic cup of coffee. ...
Johnny Cash! The Man, His World, His Music (PBL; dir. Robert Elfstrom)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Miller Francis Jr., Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 24 March 1969
TO SAY THAT the 90-minute Johnny Cash PBL special was the best television show I've ever seen is to detract from the compliment; perhaps it ...
Johnny Cash & Bob Dylan: Mind blowing duo
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 29 March 1969
NME's Richard Green talks to their producer, Bob Johnston ...
Sun Records: Country Meets Rock
Retrospective by Guy Stevens, International Times, 23 May 1969
An occasional series which looks into pop music and its antecedents is the latest plot to swell our readership figures, thereby making the fuzz look ...
The Johnny Cash Show (ABC TV/Screen Gems)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 12 June 1969
TV CASHES IN ...
Johnny Cash, Conway Twitty, Charlie Rich and Ronnie Hawkins: Arkansas Rock Pile
Overview by Charlie Gillett, Record Mirror, 28 June 1969
ROCK AND roll was the victory of regional locality over the world, of precise beliefs over general theory, of particular feelings over universal philosophies. ...
Johnny Cash: At San Quentin (CBS mono and stereo 63629; 37s. 6d )
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, August 1969
CASH RECORDS SMASH IN JAIL ...
1969 — Gospel Makes Great Industry Strides
Report by Danny Goldberg, Billboard, 16 August 1969
GOSPEL MUSIC, songs with lyrics derived from the Old and New Testaments, a music with its roots in church choirs, is one of the oldest ...
New albums from the Doors, Country Joe, Johnny Cash, Creedence, CS&N and Blind Faith
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 16 September 1969
Finding a new faith: GEOFFREY CANNON reviews pop music ...
Profile and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 20 September 1969
Hard life of the legendary folk star ...
Johnny Cash: Madison Square Garden, New York NY
Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 7 December 1969
20,000 AT GARDEN HEAR JOHNNY CASH ...
Johnny Cash — The Man, His World, His Music (Dir. Robert Elfstrom, Verité Production)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 21 February 1970
DON'T MISS THIS JOHNNY CASH FILM advises RICHARD GREEN ...
Profile by Danny Goldberg, Circus, March 1970
JOHNNY CASH the Misfit: Drug induced and being busted for possession of benzedrine at the Mexican border happened long after he had made a name ...
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 30 October 1970
"'SINFUL MUSIC,' the townsfolk in Memphis said it was. Which never bothered me, I guess." Elvis Presley, interviewed in 1957. In the early 1950s, the ...
Johnny Cash: Jailhouse, Jesus and H.G. Wells
Report and Interview by Philip Norman, The Sunday Times, 1971
THE HEAVY carved front door into House of Cash, Johnny Cash's state mansion, in Madison, Tennessee, swung inward to reveal blinding sunshine and the awe-struck ...
Report and Interview by Tom McWilliams, Playdate, May 1971
TALL, BROAD shouldered — Johnny Cash is a big man, bulky with a dignity weightier than his 39 years. Behind his black shirt front the ...
Bob Johnston: The most envied man in pop
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 19 June 1971
Roy Carr talks to the man who records Dylan, Cash and Cohen ...
Report by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 25 September 1971
Sun Records have Cash, Presley, Jerry Lee, Carl Perkins tapes locked in vault ...
Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, the Carter Family, the Statler Brothers: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 25 September 1971
THE LEGEND that has grown up around Johnny Cash got its first in-person airing in Britain for three years at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on ...
Johnny Cash, Carter Family, Statler Brothers, Carl Perkins: Civic Center, Atlanta GA
Live Review by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 14 February 1972
Oil Commercials & Falling Idols ...
Johnny Cash, Carter Family, Statler Brothers, Carl Perkins: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Andrew Means, Melody Maker, 7 October 1972
FOR ONE reason or another, Johnny Cash has a rather fearsome image. It's been tempered in recent times by some of the songs he's written ...
Johnny Cash: Hard Cash To Cleanse Your Soul
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 October 1972
IT'S 7.30 P.M. at the backstage entrance of the Albert Hall and strange things are happening. It's Wednesday, the second of Johnny Cash's performances at ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 27 July 1974
I'VE ALWAYS HAD me suspicions about Johnny Cash. ...
Johnny Cash: The Junkie And The Juicehead Minus Me (CBS); B.B. King: Friends (ABC)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 November 1974
IN WHICH two culture heroes find themselves well and truly on the artistic skids. ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 21 June 1975
IN WHICH JOHNNY Cash meets up, quite casual-like, with the '70s and discovers that even though they don't really have a whole lot in common, ...
Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Melody Maker, 16 August 1975
ANAHEIM: Forty miles from Los Angeles, Johnny Cash sits in the Royal Inn Hotel. Cash is in town to promote his autobiography, Man In Black, ...
Johnny Cash: Riding the Rails and Marty Robbins: Gunfighter Ballads
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 30 August 1975
OKAY, SO HERE are two special double album packages from CBS that feature two of the world's greatest exponents of country and western melodrama. ...
Johnny Cash: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 27 September 1975
Cash — the legend lives on ...
Johnny Cash: The Gospel According to J.C.
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 4 October 1975
IF I'D never heard of Johnny Cash and someone came up and described him to me, I can't think of any other entertainer, short of ...
Johnny Cash: Look At Them Beans
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 29 November 1975
I FEAR JOHNNY Cash has turned his back on progress once again. ...
Johnny Cash, The Carter Family: Felt Forum, New York NY
Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 15 January 1977
VIEW YORK: Johnny Cash is the John Wayne of American music, a gigantic figure who towers above his country contemporaries when it comes down to ...
Johnny Cash: The Last Gunfighter Ballad
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 5 March 1977
THE PICTURE on the cover shows Cash, head and shoulders, in a beat-up cowboy hat that looks like the one he wore in the movie ...
George Jones: I Am What I Am (Epic JE 36586); Johnny Cash: Rockabilly Blues (Columbia JC 36779)
Review by Joe Sasfy, The Washington Post, 22 October 1980
Country to Count On ...
Report and Interview by Joe Sasfy, Musician, February 1986
Nashville's Hottest Producer, Chips Moman Returns to the Birthplace of Rock ...
The Johnny Cash Show: Country Festival, Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 12 April 1986
THE PILL POPPIN' POPE OF POP ...
Johnny Cash: Peterborough Country Music Festival
Live Review by Bob Stanley, New Musical Express, 12 September 1987
THE WHOLE town seems to have been waiting for this moment all week... "Hello. I'm Johnny Cash." ...
Profile and Interview by Steve Turner, Unpublished, written for Q, 1988
Who do people think Johnny Cash is? "A conservative country singer who lives down in the South somewhere," according to the Man in Black himself, ...
Johnny Cash: A Little Farther... Down The Line
Interview by J. Kordosh, Creem, June 1988
ONSTAGE, JOHNNY Cash likes to joke about his daughter Rosanne's recording of 'Tennessee Flat Top Box': "She played it for me and I said, 'That's ...
Perkins, Presley et al: The Complete Million Dollar Session
Review by Bill Holdship, Creem, June 1988
TOTALLY UNEXPECTED, totally out of the blue, and just when you'd almost given up on hearing anything this exciting again... ...
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 12 May 1989
The Man in Black is back fighting the good fight. Adam Sweeting catches up with Johnny Cash, travelling troubadour, in Cambridge ...
Report and Interview by Mal Peachey, Daily Telegraph, 13 October 1990
FOR 35 YEARS, he has begun every performance with the line, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash", as if anyone needs telling. He greets people personally with ...
Johnny Cash: Old, Gifted And Black
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 27 April 1991
A C&W star for longer than most people have been alive, you'd expect JOHNNY CASH to be a down home, redneck good ol'boy. Hell no! ...
Johnny Cash: The Gospel Collection
Sleeve notes by Colin Escott, Sony, July 1992
ONE NIGHT in August 1957, after an appearance on Town Hall Party in Compton, California, Johnny Cash went to the home of Lawrence and Hazel ...
Johnny Cash: The Man in Blackpool
Report by Mick Houghton, Q, April 1993
JOHN R. CASH is somewhat bemused by questions about Butlin's – or Bognor come to that. He's between sets at Southcoast World (Butlin's, Bognor to ...
Rick Rubin: The Buddha of Suburbia
Interview by RJ Smith, Details, July 1993
Rick Rubin built a recording empire from a dorm room at NYU. With Def American Recordings, he's taken the sound of the streets to the ...
Johnny Cash: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 4 July 1994
"CAN YOU name anyone in this day and age who is as cool as Johnny Cash?", Rolling Stone magazine rhetorically asks. No one at this ...
Johnny Cash: American Recordings
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, September 1994
SOMETIME IN THE LATE '80S, Columbia Records unceremoniously dropped Johnny Cash. No matter that Cash had been one of Sun's Million Dollar Quaret, alongside Elvis ...
Cool Cash — The Man in Black's Latest Risk Pays Off
Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 25 September 1994
New generation of fans embraces touring legend ...
Johnny Cash (1996) [transcript]
Audio transcript of interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 14 October 1996
This is a transcript of Barney's audio interview with Johnny. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Johnny Cash: A Law Unto Himself
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1996
WE'RE PASSING through Andover, Kansas, scene of one of the worst tornadoes in American history: a monstrous twister that levelled the little town and took ...
Guide by Fred Dellar, MOJO, October 1997
COLLECTING ALBUMS by Arkansas' Man In Black is a doddle. For starters, he's never made any really bad ones. And most of the ...
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, August 2000
Three themed, career-spanning compilations, selected and introduced by the Man In Black. Extra linernotes by June Carter (Love), U2's Bono (God) and Quentin Tarantino (Murder). ...
Johnny Cash: American III: Solitary Man
Review by Ed Doheny, Rock's Backpages, December 2000
ONE OF THE bullet-point discussions of this album – on which the mythopoeic Man in Black does the Rick Rubin thang a third time, thus ...
Johnny Cash: The Man Comes Around (American Recordings)
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, December 2002
WEIGHTED DOWN by the difficult circumstances behind its recording – illness, hospitalisations, two bouts of pneumonia this past year alone, speculation that the increasingly fragile ...
Retrospective and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, January 2003
Thirty-five years ago, ex-felon Johnny Cash was invited to perform in two of America's toughest prisons – one of which he was no stranger to ...
Johnny Cash: Cash's Video Adieu
Report by Martin Aston, MOJO, May 2003
It's been on CNN and it made Bono and Rick Rubin cry. Johnny Cash's video for Hurt might be the most powerful music video ever ...
The Mantra In Black: Ten Reasons Why Johnny Cash Always Matters
Comment by Gary Pig Gold, earcandymag.com, October 2003
1. LUTHER PLAYED THE BOOGIE Without a red hot and blue band to back it all the way up, even a Man in Black's powers ...
Obituary by Jon Wilde, Uncut, December 2003
Jon Wilde pays tribute to the Man In Black who made country rock'n'roll. ...
Johnny Cash at San Quentin was my idea
Memoir by Geoffrey Cannon, unpublished, 2004
2018 note: Steve Turner emailed me in 2004 and said he was working on the official biography of Johnny Cash, and had been told that ...
Johnny Cash: Unearthed (American Recordings/Lost Highway)
Review by Jon Wilde, Uncut, January 2004
Five-CD epitaph includes 64 never-before-heard tracks. ...
Johnny Cash: Unearthed (American Recordings/Lost Highway)
Review by Mat Snow, MOJO, January 2004
A fitting musical monument for a monumental life and career ...
The Last Great American — Johnny Cash: Unearthed (American)
Review by Mark Cooper, The Word, January 2004
Johnny Cash's final recordings were as powerful as anything in his whole career ...
Review by Andy Gill, Uncut, May 2004
Eighteen songs — chosen by Cash himself just before his death to represent "life lessons" spanning the period 1958-1988 that puts his reputation as a ...
Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin: American Communion
Retrospective and Interview by David Kamp, Vanity Fair, October 2004
Johnny Cash thought his recording career was over. Then he met legendary producer Rick Rubin. Together, Nashville's Man in Black and the co-founder of Def ...
Retrospective and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2004
A year on, the world is still reeling from the death of Johnny Cash, the speed-crazed rock'n'roller who became America's defining voice. From tragedy to ...
Retrospective by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, November 2004
THEY WERE "CONCEPTS" all right, but that didn't make them the product of cool, analytical thinking. Back in the early '60s, Johnny Cash was wrestling ...
Comment by Andrew Mueller, The Guardian, 28 January 2006
WALK THE LINE, James Mangold's cinematic telling of the early life of Johnny Cash, takes its title from one of its subject's best-known songs. ...
Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, July 2006
MORE THAN THREE YEARS after his death, the Man In Black is still enjoying the kind of final-act career resurgence that artists half his age ...
Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (Legacy Edition)
Review by Mark Kemp, Paste, October 2008
IN THE DOCUMENTARY included with this new edition of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, daughter Rosanne shatters the mythology surrounding her dad, gently bringing him ...
Bob Johnston on Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, and Nashville Skyline
Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Rock's Backpages, May 2009
JUNE 17th MARKS the 40th anniversary of the original Columbia Records release of Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline album, produced by Bob Johnston. ...
Johnny Cash: When Johnny Came Marching Home
Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, The Word, August 2011
In 1993 Johnny Cash sat on Rick Rubin's sofa and began playing songs — just as a "getting to know you" exercise. It turned out ...
Out Of The Blue and Into The Black: Johnny Cash
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, April 2012
IT'S NOT EXACTLY boom-chicka-boom, but the twangy guitar part that kicks off Johnny Cash's 1971 album Man In Black is the same minimal single-string picking ...
Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 18 August 2015
Record producer who played a significant role in the recording career of Bob Dylan. ...
Retrospective by Alan Light, MOJO, February 2020
JOHNNY CASH stood on the makeshift stage at Folsom Prison, set up in the cafeteria, behind death row. Almost a hundred men had been executed ...
The 30 best live concert albums of all time
Guide by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 22 April 2020
LAST WEEK, A STORY appeared in the New York Times that predicted that live music would not return to the world's stages until the autumn ...
see also Carlene Carter
see also June Carter Cash
see also Rosanne Cash
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