best johnny cash biography book

Best Johnny Cash Books – Biographies and More!

This week marks the anniversary of the death of singer Johnny Cash in 2003…  

In honor of the prolific American singer / songwriter, here are some of the best Johnny Cash books — including both biographies and books by the songwriter.

Johnny Cash (February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor.  Much of Cash’s music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his career. He was known for his deep, calm bass-baritone voice, and the distinctive sound of his Tennessee Three backing band characterized by train-like chugging guitar rhythms. Cash is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 90 million records worldwide. His genre-spanning music embraced country, rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and gospel sounds. (via Wikipedia)

Counting down through the Top 10 Best Johnny Cash Books … 

10. The Resurrection Of Johnny Cash: Hurt, Redemption, And American Recordings

By graeme thomson.

“The Resurrection Of Johnny Cash” tells the story of perhaps the most remarkable turnaround in musical history. As well as acknowledging Cash’s drug, drink and religious travails in the fifties and sixties, the book digs much deeper, focusing on a lesser known but no less remarkable period of his life: the inglorious fall post-1970 and the almost biblical rebirth in his later years. Homing in on the ten-year period between 1986 and 1995, “The Resurrection Of Jonny Cash” tells in detail the story of Cash’s humiliating fall from grace and his unprecedented revival; his struggle with a cruel variety of illnesses; his ongoing battles with addiction; his search to find direction in his career; his eventual rebirth as both an artist and a man; and his hugely influential legacy.

NEXT BOOK >>>>>>

Related Posts:

Comments are closed.

Book Bargains

5 Essential Ebook Deals for Church Leaders – 25 April 2024

Ebook Deal of the Day! Annie Dillard – Living by Fiction – $1.99

Ebook Deal of the Day! Kyle Hughes – How the Spirit Became God – $2.99

Most viewed.

• Rumi Poems – Eight of Our Favorites by the Sufi Mystic 314482 views
• Ten Best Abraham Lincoln Biographies 122822 views
• Walt Whitman Poems – 8 of our Favorites from Leaves of Grass 94545 views
• Alexander Pushkin – Eight Favorite Poems by the Russian Poet 78427 views
• Hafez Poems – Eight of Our Favorites from the Divan of Hafez ( In English ) 72020 views
• Lent – Seven of our Favorite Poems 61015 views
• Against Christian Nationalism: Essential Books [A Reading Guide] 46263 views
• Ten Important Women Theologians To Start Reading 43511 views
• Dallas Willard Books – Seven Essential Titles to Read! 39325 views
• Best Bob Dylan Books – Biographies, Lyrics, and More! 39009 views
• Hilarious One-Star Bible Reviews 38830 views
• Ten Best Alexander Hamilton Biographies 38815 views
• John O’Donohue Poems – Four of our Favorites 36268 views
• November – Eight Classic Poems! 31215 views
• Classic Gratitude Poems – Joy Harjo, Mary Oliver, MORE 30607 views
• Thomas Merton Books – An Intro Reading Guide 28345 views
• Antiracism Books for Christians – A Reading Guide 27360 views
• N.T. Wright Books – An Introductory Reading Guide to The Theologian’s Work 26734 views
• Wendell Berry Poems – Seven of Our Favorites! 26065 views
• St. Augustine – Three Poems 25223 views
• Joy Harjo Poems – Five of the Best Poems by the Former US Poet Laureate 24536 views
• Eastern Orthodoxy – Essential Books [A Reading List] 24285 views
• Twelve Important Theology Books of 2021!!! 23037 views
• Mary Oliver Essays – 10 Prose Selections to Read for Free Online! 21837 views
• Fifteen Important Theology Books of 2022!!! 21678 views
• Fall 2021 – Most Anticipated Books for Christian Readers! 20659 views
• Holy Sonnets – John Donne – Complete Text 20457 views
• Jami – Eight Poems by the Sufi Poet 20405 views
• Fyodor Dostoevsky – Download all his Novels as Free Ebooks !!! 19015 views
• Emily Dickinson Poems – Seven of our Favorites! 18735 views
• Best Leonard Cohen Books – Biographies and Books by the Songwriter 18613 views
• Twelve Important Theology Books of 2020!!! 17136 views
• Gerard Manley Hopkins – 5 Favorite Poems 16900 views
• St. Augustine – Best Books on His Life and Work 16876 views
• Twelve Important Fiction Books of 2022! 16677 views
• Marilynne Robinson – 10 Freely Available Essays! 16240 views
• Robert Frost – 5 Lesser Known Poems 16158 views
• Spring 2021 Most Anticipated Books for Christian Readers! 16123 views
• Henri Nouwen Books – An Introductory Reading Guide 15937 views
• The Best C.S. Lewis Biography (And Other Biographies /Companion Guides)! 15781 views
• Frederick Buechner Books – An Introductory Reading Guide 15374 views
• Spring 2022 – Most Anticipated Books for Christian Readers! 15366 views
• Martin Luther King, Jr. – His Prophetic Faith in 15 Quotes 14847 views
• Spring 2023 – Most Anticipated Books for Christian Readers! 14725 views
• Fifteen Important Theology Books of 2023! 14526 views
• Anne Bradstreet Poems – Five of our Favorites by the Puritan Poet! 14457 views
• Sabbath Books – Best Reads for Christians on Rest and Sabbath! 14406 views
• Best Johnny Cash Books – Biographies and More! 14045 views
• Jacques Ellul Books – An Introductory Reading Guide 13664 views
• Willa Cather Short Stories – Five Superb Stories to Read for FREE! 13460 views
• Matsuo Basho – Five Haiku – Poetry 13248 views
• Dorothy Sayers Poems – Five of Our Favorites! 13207 views
• On Being with Krista Tippett – Top 10 Best Episodes! 13164 views
• John Wesley Sermons – The 7 Best Sermons from the Founder of Methodism! 13048 views
• Howard Thurman – Books – An Introductory Reading Guide 12823 views

Our Favorite Posts:

The englewood review of books.

FREE Ebook! Reading for the Common Good by ERB Editor Chris Smith

Advertisement

Supported by

Books of The Times

The High Times, and the Hard Ones, of a Gritty Musical Outlaw

• Share full article

By Michiko Kakutani

• Dec. 1, 2013

Johnny Cash’s life was a country song full of love and loss, passion and heartbreak — grief, loneliness, guilt, faith, melodrama and striving for redemption. His rough childhood and youth, and turbulent struggles with addiction and family tumult, gave him empathy for sinners in search of salvation and all those who had done hard time or known hard times. His plain-spoken writing and gritty, soul-deep singing transcended musical genres and gave voice to ordinary Americans’ experience of adversity. He was that rare outlaw beloved by soldiers and student protesters alike, by rock ’n’ rollers, convicts and devotees of Billy Graham’s crusades.

As Bob Dylan said of Cash and America: “He is what the land and the country are all about, the heart and soul of it personified and what it means to be here, and he said it all in plain English”; if “we want to know what it means to be mortal, we need look no further than the Man in Black.”

Robert Hilburn’s new biography, “Johnny Cash: The Life,” gives us a thorough and thoughtful portrait of the Man in Black and a deep appreciation of his artistry, tracing the well-known outlines of his life — from his hardscrabble upbringing in rural Dyess, Ark., to his apprenticeship at Sun Records in Memphis, to his ascension as a patriarchal figure in the music world.

Like other biographers before him, Mr. Hilburn traces the sense of darkness and loss in Cash’s music to the death of his beloved older brother Jack (who died in a terrible carpentry accident at school) and his hardhearted father’s perverse determination to blame him (“The accident would never have happened if he had kept his brother from going to the school shop that day.”) He reminds us how Cash mythologized America — its railroads, highways, factories, cotton fields, prisons, battlefields and history — even as his aching songs bore witness to the everyday travails of “the poor and the beaten down,” “the sick and lonely,” the “hundred thousand who have died/believin’ that we all were on their side.”

Mr. Hilburn says that Cash often admitted that “he never let facts interfere with a good story,” and he tries hard here to separate myth from the historical record. He notes, for instance, that Cash told the story of being suicidal after the collapse of his first marriage, crawling into the Nickajack Cave on the Tennessee River and lying down to die when he had a kind of spiritual epiphany; after being guided by a wisp of air to an exit from the cave, he was greeted by his mother and his new love, June Carter, and “supposedly decided then and there to quit drugs.” Except, Mr. Hilburn adds, that the cave “was underwater in the fall of 1967, as a Cash historian discovered after an extensive check of weather records,” and “Cash did not quit drugs that day.”

The chief music critic and pop music editor for The Los Angeles Times for more than three decades, Mr. Hilburn writes most powerfully about Cash’s trajectory as an artist — about his place in a changing country music scene, the evolution of individual songs and the eclectic influences on his work, which wed the storytelling intimacy of Jimmie Rodgers to his love of gospel, blues and traditional folk to create something powerful and new.

Although the narrative of this book bogs down a little midway through — when Mr. Hilburn seems to give us nearly blow-by-blow accounts of Cash’s drug use, his trashing of hotel rooms and near-death driving experiences — his writing is as authoritative as it’s engaging when he’s discussing the singer-songwriter’s music.

He deals out a stack of sharp-edged snapshots of Cash’s friends and colleagues, including Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Merle Haggard and Mr. Dylan. And he leaves us with a visceral feel for the grueling demands of life on the road, which often entailed driving hundreds of miles overnight from one venue to the next and fueled many performers’ reliance on amphetamines. (Cash would also take them to cope with stress and depression, at one point reportedly upping his intake to nearly 20 pills a day.)

Mr. Hilburn writes that the pledge of fidelity in “I Walk the Line” (“I keep a close watch on this heart of mine,” he sings; “because you’re mine, I walk the line”) was “undeniably inspired” by Cash’s love for his first wife, Vivian (whom he would eventually leave for June Carter), but adds that he sometimes spoke of the song as an expression of spiritual allegiance, as well — his “first gospel hit.” As for “Folsom Prison Blues,” Mr. Hilburn points out its debt to the Gordon Jenkins song “Crescent City Blues” while discussing how the low-budget Warner Bros. film “Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison” drove Cash’s desire to write a prison song as a metaphor for the desperate loneliness he felt while serving in the Air Force in Germany in the early 1950s, thousands of miles from Vivian and his family back home.

Much the way that Graham Greene divided his work into serious fiction and what he called “entertainments,” so Cash divided his songs, Mr. Hilburn says, into those written in the personal, Jimmie Rodgers tradition, like “Hey, Porter” and “Folsom Prison Blues,” and those he felt were more commercial ventures, like “You’re Gonna Cry, Cry, Cry” and “Wide Open Road.” During the 1970s, Mr. Hilburn argues, Cash’s work grew increasingly generic as he became more of a mainstream, family-friendly performer; the underlying question became “Is this something people should hear?” And “the message in his music” began to take precedence over quality.

Cash’s resurgence as an artist in the 1990s would be in large part because of his collaboration with the producer Rick Rubin, co-founder of the hip-hop label Def Jam, who would bring Cash back to the sort of tough, unsentimental music that had made his name so many decades ago. Their first collaboration was “American Recordings” (1994), which included stark, haunting covers of songs by Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen and Loudon Wainwright, delivered in Cash’s utterly naked bass-baritone; it would win him a young, new rock audience and receive a Grammy for best contemporary folk album.

“Part of Rubin’s genius,” Mr. Hilburn says, “was that he didn’t simply portray Cash as a rebel. He wanted to break through the public image of Cash as a superhero by capturing his human side — the struggle and the pain and the grit. Says Rubin, ‘When I asked artists what they admired about him, that’s what they often mentioned — that vulnerable, hurt aspect, the man who wouldn’t give up.’ ”

Cash persevered through heart surgery, neurological problems, a damaged jaw and failing eyesight and even continued to record music after the death of his beloved June in May 2003. He died four months later; by then, according to one estimate, doctors had him on some 30 medications.

His son, John Carter, later said: “I believe the thing about Dad that people find so easy to relate to is that he was willing to expose his most cumbersome burdens, his most consuming darknesses. He wasn’t afraid to go through the fire and say: ‘I fell down. I’ve made mistakes. I’m weak. I hurt .’ But in doing so, he gained some sort of defining strength. Every moment of darkness enabled him to better see the light.”

JOHNNY CASH

By Robert Hilburn

Illustrated. 679 pages. Little, Brown and Company. $32.

Follow Michiko Kakutani on Twitter: @michikokakutani

Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

How did fan culture take over? And why is it so scary? Justin Taylor’s novel “Reboot” examines the convergence of entertainment , online arcana and conspiracy theory.

Jamaica Kincaid and Kara Walker unearth botany’s buried history  to figure out how our gardens grow.

A new photo book reorients dusty notions of a classic American pastime with  a stunning visual celebration of black rodeo.

Two hundred years after his death, this Romantic poet is still worth reading . Here’s what made Lord Byron so great.

Harvard’s recent decision to remove the binding of a notorious volume  in its library has thrown fresh light on a shadowy corner of the rare book world.

Bus stations. Traffic stops. Beaches. There’s no telling where you’ll find the next story based in Accra, Ghana’s capital . Peace Adzo Medie shares some of her favorites.

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

Get recommended reads, deals, and more from Hachette

By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

Site Preferences

Use code MOM24 for 20% off site wide + free shipping over $45

Johnny Cash

Contributors

By Robert Hilburn

Formats and Prices

• Audiobook Download (Unabridged)
• Trade Paperback $22.99 $28.99 CAD
• ebook $12.99 $16.99 CAD

This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around November 4, 2014. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.

Also available from:

• Barnes & Noble
• Books-A-Million

Description

• Biography & Autobiography
• Composers & Musicians
• Named one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2013 by Publishers Weekly Named one of NPR's Great Reads of 2013
• "A thorough and thoughtful portrait of the Man in Black and a deep appreciation of his artistry... Hilburn writes most powerfully about Cash's trajectory as an artist... His writing is as authoritative as it's engaging when he's discussing the singer-songwriter's music." -- Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
• "An excellent biography.... A story that's both larger and more fascinating than the legend.... Hilburn has created the definitive narrative of this 'symbol of American honor, compassion and struggle.' It's a biography worthy of its subject." -- USA Today
• "The result of Hilburn's wrestling with his subject's life and with his own moral compass is perhaps the richest biography of a musician I have ever read, and one of the best biographies I have read, period.... Hilburn knows how to organize a life in print skillfully.... Hilburn is a first-rate stylist. His sentences often sing." -- Atlanta Journal Constitution
• Named one of this fall's hottest biographies by Kirkus "Veteran music writer Hilburn...masterfully separates fiction from fact in an exhaustive, but never exhausting, biography of the legendary musician...The personal knowledge aided by extensive archival research and always compelling, accessible writing makes this an instant-classic music biography with something to offer all generations of listeners." -- Kirkus (starred review)
• "Drawing on his own interviews and personal experience with Cash, former L.A. Times music critic Hilburn exhaustively chronicles, almost year by year, Cash's rise to fame from his childhood in Dyess, Ark., through his stint in the military, the peak of his success in the 1970s with the Johnny Cash Show, and on to his slow decline in health in the 1990s.... Hilburn is a spellbinding storyteller." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)
• "A comprehensive and thoughtful biography, cognizant always of how hard it is for heroes to make it in America...Hilburn does an artful, enviable job of reconciling all the facets [of Cash]...[and] writes with a remarkably steady hand...JOHNNY CASH is measured and mindful, allowing of all the paradoxical bits that constitute a human life." -- Los Angeles Times
• "Hilburn's "Johnny Cash: The Life" is the big biography Cash's fans have been waiting for since the singer's death in 2003 and Hilburn doesn't let them down." -- Jeff Baker, The Oregonian
• "The ultimate Johnny Cash bio.... Rock writer great Robert Hilburn goes deep...." -- Rolling Stone
• "'Do we really need another Johnny Cash book?' Yes, we really do, as it turns out, because Johnny Cash is so very good.... Hilburn's work is far and away the most insightful, entertaining, comprehensive, and well-told Cash biography to date." -- Slate
• "Arguably the ultimate biography of The Man in Black." -- The San Antonio Current
• "A riveting new biography of the Man in Black.... From Cash's birth in Kingsland, Arkansas, to his triumphant last decade, Hilburn covers it all through seven hundred pages of intimate and startling detail. It's the Man in Black in full." -- William Welch, Garden & Gun
• "I listened to that stark unrelenting country as a kid. He was a hero of mine. I met him, finally, in a john at the Waldorf Astoria. He was taking a pee, and I broke out into 'Loading Coal.' We both zipped up and sung the final chorus together. One of my most cherished moments. You don't get much closer than that. Hilburn has written a brilliant story of an even more brilliant songwriter, warts and all." -- Keith Richards
• "A definitive new biography of an American original.... How do you write an interesting biography of such a beloved figure? First, hire Robert Hilburn. He is a prodigious researcher, but he keeps a steady hand on the tiller, and never allows his research to swamp his narrative." -- The Economist
• "More thorough, compelling and honest than even [Cash's] own two autobiographies." -- Minneapolis Star Tribune
• "The perfect Cash biography, as simple, fast and lean as 'Folsom Prison Blues'... Such a monumental figure deserves no less than this caring treatment of his sin-stained greatness." -- People
• "Johnny Cash was a man both extraordinary and ordinary. Every man could relate to him, no man could be him, and only one man could get inside his head like Robert Hilburn." -- Bono
• "It's always tricky to call a biography "definitive," but this one must surely come close." -- Booklist
• "Hilburn got as close to the Cash inner circle as any journalist could...The most authoritative and revealing portrait to date." -- Wall Street Journal
• "Robert Hilburn displays a deeply felt affinity with his subject, illuminating Johnny Cash as the moral compass of country music." -- Patti Smith
• "Hilburn writes in a clear, straightforward style... and fills in the outlines of Cash's life with meticulous detail... Cash is well-served by a biographer who finds a balanced approach to an often unbalanced life." -- Columbus Dispatch
• "It's a rare gift to be given the opportunity to step far back from the confusing miasma of one's own childhood to see the entire soaring arc of a parent's life, and to be able to look clear-eyed at the puzzle of his character and the kaleidoscope of pain and beauty. This is the breathtaking gift Robert Hilburn has given me in a definitive biography of my father that is excruciatingly honest, rigorously researched, and has the depth and integrity that his subject demands. I had to take many breaks while reading this book to assimilate all the stories I knew, but had never put in a narrative context, being claustrophobically close to not only the events themselves but the resonance of those events. I felt dizzy from the sense of time travel and from the odd notion that Hilburn's masterful organization of the paradoxes and the fullness of who Johnny Cash was--and is--satisfies not only my father's family and fans, but himself as well. To those who fiercely cling to a one-dimensional view of my father to satisfy their own ideals--dark or light, saint or sinner, right or left--I challenge them to read this book and begin to understand a far, far more interesting and complex man: a truly great, visionary artist, a deeply flawed human being capable of experiencing inconceivable amounts of both love and pain, and a huge spirit who now belongs to the ages." -- Rosanne Cash
• " Johnny Cash will be the definitive bio of the tortured, truculent but often generous singer.... Hilburn penetrates the heart of Cash's artistry.... The behind-the-scenes stories Hilburn unearths from those early days are engrossing for anyone interested in American roots music." -- Kirkus Reviews
• "Johnny Cash and Robert Hilburn are two of the true blessings of my life. Both the best at what they do and each a gifted artist. It's a killer combination." -- Kris Kristofferson
• "Assiduously researched and entertaining.... Hilburn rightly believes his subject's life is so extraordinary that there's no need for fanciful embellishment from anyone, including Cash himself." -- Entertainment Weekly
• "The definitive work about Cash, a rich, engaging look at a very complicated man that is, by far, the best book ever about him and one of the best biographies, music or otherwise, that I've read.... It's a depiction of its subject that's as honest, revealing and resonant as The Man in Black himself." -- Lincoln Journal Star
• "A deeply personal, multi-faceted portrait." -- Parade
• " Johnny Cash succeeds at both expanding and complicating its subject. Hilburn does an artful, enviable job of reconciling all the facets...[It's] measured and mindful, allowing of all the paradoxical bits that constitute a human life." -- The Orlando Sentinel
• "Between his love of music, his experience as one of the nation's leading music critics, and his long personal friendship with the subject, there is no one on earth more qualified to write this definitive book on the roller-coaster life of Johnny Cash than Robert Hilburn. Between the amount of research and the degree of detail he's put into this book, even Johnny would have learned something about himself if he were here to read it. Highly recommended!" -- Rick Rubin
• "A definitive biography.... He tells, in great and sometimes harrowing detail, how Cash's professional advancement and personal decline blossomed simultaneously." -- The Washington Post
• "A meticulous biography.... Hilburn gives a frank account of the singer's life...." -- The New Yorker
• "Brilliant.... There are already over 50 titles written about or by Cash, yet Hilburn's work is a standout." -- Maclean's
• "A thorough, compassionate and knowledgeable biography of an artist I knew well and admired tremendously... [Hilburn] pulls you into his story." -- Clive Davis
• "The Man in Black's many fans will find this huge, sympathetic yet critical study of his serial rises, falls, betrayals and redemptions definitive." -- The Globe and Mail
• "Full of information that will at once delight, depress, stimulate and surprise Cash's fans, Hilburn's admirable biography also evokes an image of the 'Man in Black,' staring ahead, somberly and slyly, and daring you to 'Figure me out, son.'" -- Tulsa World
• "A library's worth of existing Johnny Cash volumes has finally gained a bio that depicts him as a fully-rounded human being.... No matter how many Johnny Cash books you've read, Robert Hilburn's Johnny Cash: The Life will be a different animal." -- CMT News
• "While many others have tried to tell this story, including Cash himself with a couple of worthy autobiographies, Hilburn adds fresh and revealing details.... Quite simply, it's a monumental biography of a monumental American artist." -- Toronto Sun
• "Hilburn humanizes the larger-than-life Man in Black in this evocative and surprising biography." -- Los Angeles Magazine
• " Johnny Cash covers Cash's monumental highs and bottomless lows in unprecedented detail...The book is stuffed with warts-and-all revelations that might surprise you." -- Rolling Stone
• "Hilburn's writing is simple, ego-free and casually magisterial. There's no bombast to it; he lets Cash and company supply all the pyrotechnics." -- The Washington Post
• "Told with clear-eyed, riveting detail." -- San Antonio Express-News
• "No doubt this long-awaited tome will go down as the definitive bio of the Man in Black - an epic befitting its subject." -- Vintage Guitar Magazine
• "Hilburn writes passionately and respectfully....What Hilburn also does perfectly is present enough of Cash for you to love, hate and love him over and over again." -- Edge Media
• "Undoubtedly a must-read for the completist, deep Cash fan." -- The Detroit News
• "In his excellent biography...[he] uses the facts about the American cultural icon's life to construct a story that's both larger and more fascinating than the legend.... Hilburn has created the definitive narrative of this 'symbol of American honor, compassion and struggle.' It's a biography worthy of its subject." -- TribLive
• "This is a very big and significant American life and this is a very big and thorough book about that life by a writer steeped enough in it to present a definitive version of the facts for years to come." -- The Buffalo News
• "Hilburn's experience as a journalist and music critic yields a detailed, readable account, avoiding the overly stylized prose that sometimes undermines music biographies. His solid critical instincts offer insight.... Hilburn offers a straightforward sobering look at Cash's dramatic physical decline...." -- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

You May Also Like

Newsletter Signup

Robert Hilburn

About the author.

Learn more about this author

clock This article was published more than  10 years ago

Johnny Cash: The Life and Legacy of the Man in Black

Available from the following retailers.

Product Description

Author information, review quotes, more from history.

• Arts & Photography

Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime Try Prime and start saving today with fast, free delivery

Amazon Prime includes:

Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.

• Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
• Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
• Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
• A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
• Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
• Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access

Important:  Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.

Buy new: $24.79 $24.79 FREE delivery Friday, May 3 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35 Ships from: Amazon Sold by: JAYDENS STORE

Return this item for free.

Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges

• Go to your orders and start the return
• Select the return method

Buy used: $12.95

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products. Something we hope you'll especially enjoy: FBA items qualify for FREE Shipping and Amazon Prime.

If you're a seller, Fulfillment by Amazon can help you grow your business. Learn more about the program.

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required .

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

Image Unavailable

• To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

Johnny Cash: The Biography Hardcover – September 4, 2006

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Print length 368 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Da Capo Press
• Publication date September 4, 2006
• Dimensions 6.25 x 1.5 x 9.25 inches
• ISBN-10 0306813688
• ISBN-13 978-0306813689
• See all details

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Editorial Reviews

From publishers weekly, from booklist, about the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Da Capo Press; First De Capo Press Edition (September 4, 2006)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0306813688
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0306813689
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1.5 x 9.25 inches
• #1,193 in Country & Folk Composer Biographies
• #1,301 in Country Music (Books)

About the author

Michael streissguth.

Michael Streissguth is a professor in the department of Communication and Film Studies at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY. He is the author of several books including Johnny Cash: The Biography (Da Capo, 2006). He has produced two documentary films: Record Paradise (2012) and Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (2008).

Customer reviews

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

• Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

Top reviews from other countries

• Amazon Newsletter
• About Amazon
• Accessibility
• Sustainability
• Press Center
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect & Build Your Brand
• Become an Affiliate
• Become a Delivery Driver
• Start a Package Delivery Business
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Become an Amazon Hub Partner
• › See More Ways to Make Money
• Amazon Visa
• Amazon Store Card
• Amazon Secured Card
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Credit Card Marketplace
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

Johnny Cash Finds Love at the Laundromat on Posthumous Song ‘Well Alright’

By Jon Blistein

Jon Blistein

A new posthumous Johnny Cash album, Songwriter , filled with previously unreleased tunes written and performed by the Man in Black is set to arrive June 28 via Mercury Nashville/UMe.

The 11-track collection features songs Cash had written over many years, then finally put to tape during a demo session at LSI Studios in Nashville in early 1993. But that project was ultimately scrapped after Cash met Rick Rubin and the two struck up a prolific creative partnership that lasted through Cash’s death in 2003. 

After Cash’s son, John Carter Cash , rediscovered the LSI demos, he stripped the tapes down to just his father’s vocals and acoustic guitar. He then enlisted the help of co-producer David Ferguson (Cash’s go-to engineer during the Eighties and Nineties), and an array of musicians, including former Cash collaborators Marty Stuart and Dave Roe, to add new instrumentation to the songs. 

Joining Stuart and Roe, who died in 2023, to round out Songwriter ’s primary trio was drummer Pete Abbott of the Average White Band. The album also features the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who plays a guitar solo on “Spotlight,” and Vince Gill, who provides vocals on “Poor Valley Girl.” The late Waylon Jennings even appears on two songs, “I Love You Tonite” and “Like a Soldier,” having sung with Cash during the original LSI sessions.  

Kristi Noem Describes Executing Puppy She 'Hated' in New Book

Billie eilish would like to reintroduce herself, meet the mvp of 'shōgun' — ex-punk rocker and japanese movie star tadanobu asano, kanye west announces 'yeezy porn' amid reports of adult film company.

“Nobody plays Cash better than Marty Stuart, and Dave Roe of course played with dad for many years,” John Carter said in a statement. “The musicians that came in were just tracking with dad, you know, recording with dad, just as, in the case of Marty and Dave, they had many times before, so they knew his energies, his movements, and they let him be the guide. It was just playing with Johnny once again, and that’s what it was. That was the energy of the creation.”

Songwriter Track List 1. “Hello Out There” 2. “Spotlight” 3. “Drive On” 4. “I Love You Tonite” 5. “Have You Ever Been to Little Rock?” 6. “Well Alright” 7. “She Sang Sweet Baby James” 8. “Poor Valley Girl” 9. “Soldier Boy” 10. “Sing It Pretty Sue” 11. “Like a Soldier”

Anitta Embraces Her Roots, But Could’ve Taken More Risks, On ‘Funk Generation'

• ALBUM REVIEW
• By Felipe Maia

Outkast Pay Tribute to Organized Noize's Rico Wade: He 'Saw Something in Us'

• 'big brothers'
• By Daniel Kreps

See Charley Crockett Showcase His '$10 Cowboy' on 'Saturday Sessions'

• 'good country music'

Sean Combs Seeks to Dismiss 'Revenge Porn' Claims in Sexual Assault Lawsuit

• crimes and court

How St. Vincent Unlocked Her Realest Album Yet

• By Brian Hiatt

Most Popular

Anne hathaway says 'gross' chemistry test in the 2000s required her to make out with 10 guys: that's the 'worst way to do it' and 'now we know better', louvre considers moving mona lisa to underground chamber to end 'public disappointment', 'the lord of the rings' trilogy returning to theaters, remastered and extended, saweetie exposes dm from quavo following latest chris brown diss that shades her, you might also like, harvey weinstein hospitalized after rape conviction overturned in new york, abby phillip flows in gold pleated dress by sergio hudson on white house correspondents’ dinner 2024 red carpet, the best yoga mats for any practice, according to instructors, bob bakish expected to resign as paramount ceo amid skydance merger talks, vince mcmahon lists final tko shares for sale.

Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.

Verify it's you

Please log in.

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Lost Johnny Cash songs from 1993 to be released as a new album

The country star’s son co-produces Songwriter, worked up from demos with a group of former bandmates and guests including Vince Gill and Dan Auerbach backing Cash’s vocals

Eleven previously unreleased songs by Johnny Cash , which the country star recorded as demos in 1993 but never completed, are to finally see the light of day on a new album entitled Songwriter, due to be released on 28 June.

A single, Well Alright, was released today alongside the announcement: a saucy, strutting number about lust amid laundry with a classic Cash opening couplet: “I met her at the laundromat, she was washing extra hot / I said don’t you need a little help with that big load you got?”

Featuring guest appearances by country singer Vince Gill and rock band the Black Keys, the demos have been worked up into finished versions, and recorded by a crack team of musicians who previously played with Cash including guitarist Marty Stuart, drummer Pete Abbott, and – prior to his death in 2023 – upright bassist Dave Roe. Cash’s vocal performances from the demo recordings have been added on top.

Cash’s son John Carter Cash has co-produced the project, alongside David “Fergie” Ferguson, the studio engineer who worked alongside Rick Rubin to record Cash’s awe-inspiring suite of songs towards the end of his life, American Recordings.

“Nobody plays Cash better than Marty Stuart, and Dave Roe of course played with dad for many years,” John Carter Cash said. “They knew his energies, his movements, and they let him be the guide. It was just playing with Johnny once again, and that’s what it was. That was the energy of the creation.”

The demos were of songs Cash had written over a number of years prior to 1993, while he was between recording contracts. Before he could work them up into a finished album he met Rubin, and became engrossed in the American Recordings project, which consisted of Cash numbers alongside modern song standards by Paul Simon and Leonard Cohen, and unexpected cover versions of the likes of Nine Inch Nails, Danzig and Bonnie “Prince” Billy. Cash died in 2003 from complications due to diabetes, following the release of a fourth American Recordings album the previous year.

The new album’s opening track, Hello Out There, finds Cash fretting about the state of the planet, singing: “Hello out there, this is planet Earth calling calling calling calling calling / Hello out there, our net worth is falling falling falling falling falling”. He focuses on his own woes, too, on Drive On – which was written amid chronic pain following a broken jaw in the early 1990s – and Like a Soldier, which reflects on his drug addiction. “It’s something that that he wrote after his first stint in a recovery centre – he felt like he was like a soldier getting over a war,” John Carter Cash said.

I Love You Tonite was written as a love song to wife June Carter Cash, while Poor Valley Girl – with Gill adding vocals – is about June and her fellow country musician and mother Maybelle Carter. Cash references James Taylor on She Sang Sweet Baby James, his home state of Arkansas on Have You Been to Little Rock?, and reworks a Cash song from 1962, Sing It Pretty, Sue. Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys plays a guitar solo on the song Spotlight.

Promotional materials for the album promise songs about “love, family, sorrow, beauty, spiritual salvation, survival, redemption, and of course, some of the lighthearted humour Johnny was known for”.

• Johnny Cash

Comments (…)

Most viewed.

New Johnny Cash Album, ‘Songwriter,’ Brings to Light 11 Original Compositions He Recorded but Never Released in 1993

By Chris Willman

Chris Willman

Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic

• At Stagecoach, Eric Church Brings a Full Choir, Saves His Band for the Finale and Has His Polarized Fans Debating a Love-It-or-Leave-It Set 7 hours ago
• At BMAC Event in L.A., Mickey Guyton, INK and Other Panelists Assess What Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy’ Moment Means for Black Female Country Artists 23 hours ago
• Taylor Swift’s ‘Tortured Poets’ Becomes First Album to Get One Billion Streams on Spotify in a Single Week 3 days ago

More than 20 years after his death, there are treasures in the Johnny Cash vault that have remained unmined, despite assumptions that everything interesting might have been brought into the light in the posthumous recordings that came out in the years following his 2003 death. On June 28, Universal Music will issue “Songwriter,” a collection of 11 previously unreleased recordings that Cash demo-ed in 1993, all of them self-penned originals.

Popular on Variety

The recordings Cash made in 1993 at LSI Studios in Nashville were demos, not completed tracks. To bring them into public view now, the singer’s son, John Carter Cash , gathered musicians at the famed Cash Cabin in Hendersonville, Tenn. to create new backing tracks to augment his newly rediscovered vocals. Carter Cash found his co-producer for the fresh sessions in David “Fergie” Ferguson, who intimately knew the Man in Black’s sound, having engineered projects for the star for 30 years (including work on the final albums with Rubin).

There were backing musicians on the ’93 sessions, the sound quality was was said to have made the songs sound dated. The new cast of musicians that recently completed these recordings for release include country star and historian Marty Stuart , Average White Band drummer Peter Abbott and Cash’s touring bassist, Dave Roe, who died last year after working on the new album.

There is also an additional guest part, from beyond the grave, as Waylon Jennings sang vocals on two songs during the original ’93 session, “I Love You Tonite” and “Like A Soldier.”

The first preview track for the album, “Well Alright,” a humorous song about finding love at the laundry mat, has been released for streaming today.

“We just went rudimentary,” said John Carter of the approach to recording, in a statement. “We went straight to the roots, as far as the sound, and tried not to overly enhance it. We built as if dad was in the room. That’s what we tried to do. Between the both of us, Fergie and I have spent thousands of hours with dad in the recording studio, so we just tried to act like he was there: WWJCD, right?”

Said Ferguson, ““I think this record is the way I would have liked to have made one if I would have ever been in charge of one, before Rick Rubin or after Jack Clement. I’ve known John Carter since he was a boy, so it was great to finally work with him. He gave me a lot of leeway, especially in terms of grooves and things. We went right along the same page. There wasn’t ever a conversation or plan about an end product, it was just let’s do the best we can do.”

The track list:

1. Hello Out There

2. Spotlight

3. Drive On

4. I Love You Tonite

5. Have You Ever Been to Little Rock?

6. Well Alright

7. She Sang Sweet Baby James

8. Poor Valley Girl

9. Soldier Boy

10.Sing It Pretty Sue

11. Like A Soldier

More From Our Brands

Here’s where to watch the bruins vs. maple leafs nhl playoff series online, inside a $3.3 million one-bedroom condo in l.a.’s famed sierra towers, vince mcmahon lists final tko shares for sale, be tough on dirt but gentle on your body with the best soaps for sensitive skin, fire country: did luke’s bombshell blow up [spoiler]’s future michael trucco teases what’s ahead, verify it's you, please log in.

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Johnny Cash songs, originally recorded in 1993, are set to be released

The project called "Songwriter" was initially shelved, but Cash's son recruited some of his father's oldest collaborators to finish the project. The album comes out June 28.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Leila Fadel. In his nearly half-century as an artist, Johnny Cash made a lot of music. A lot of it you may have heard, but many records never saw the light of day. Well, an album he initially recorded in 1993 is finally set to release. The project is called "Songwriter." It was initially shelved, but Cash's son recruited some of Cash's oldest collaborators to finish the project. The album comes out June 28. It's MORNING EDITION.

Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.