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Johnny Cash—Live
Life has been rugged for country music's king—but he's on top, in all ways.
By James C. Hefley
 1 of 8
(The following article appeared in the November/December 1983 issue of Christian Reader magazine)
"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash." That simple greeting from the big, craggy-faced man with weathered face and brooding eyes is enough to make the audience, any audience, explode in applause.
Country music's legendary "Man in Black" opens another show. Talking or singing in sepulchral tones with a quavering voice aptly described as "sounding like hot gravel dripping from hot molasses," Johnny Cash is the one country entertainer who can perform anywhere successfully.
He's at home in a casino supper club in Atlantic City, before network TV cameras, on a platform with evangelist Billy Graham, at a maximum security prison, on a stage behind the Iron Curtain (44,000 Czech fans bought out the Winter Sports Hall in Prague a month in advance for one of his concerts), and anywhere else he's called to perform.
The most respected performer in country music, he's also the most enduring superstar musician.
Johnny has been on five Country Music magazine covers—an honor given to no other performer. For his 25th anniversary in the profession, Country Music put out a special edition. As Country Music puts it, "Johnny Cash is the longest running superstar."
An obviously wealthy man, he owns song publishing houses in Hendersonville, commands top dollar for appearances, and sells millions of records every year. You can buy Johnny Cash watches, silver patches, tote bags, mugs, and even bells.
"There is no person in the world whom we [Ruth and Billy] have more affection for than Johnny Cash," says Billy Graham. Youth for Christ International named him "Man of the Year" in 1979 for helping young people. He attends a Pentecostal church outside Nashville, yet he received an honorary doctorate in humanities from Gardner-Webb College, a Southern Baptist school in North Carolina.
Many performers owe their first big break to Johnny Cash.
The Statler Brothers were virtual unknowns when Johnny Cash told them to open his show in Virginia before he had even heard them sing. After they returned home, he called them for another show, then another, and another. With only a handshake they began an eight-year relationship.
Kris Kristofferson says he's "sure I would never have been a performer were it not for Johnny Cash."
Larry Gatlin recalls, "Johnny was one of the first to befriend me when I came to Nashville, the first to take an interest in my old homemade songs. The first to put me on national TV, and the first to come bringing gifts to my son, whom we named Joshua Cash Gatlin."
However, no group loves him more than the prisoners for whom he often performs. They know about his brushes with the law and battle with drugs. They know that he is a survivor and a victor, one who understands, one who offers hope. That's why Gary Mark Gilmore, during his last hours before execution at Utah State Prison, called Johnny Cash and asked him to sing "Amazing Grace."
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