The Man in Black
As I write this week’s column, it’s Sunday, Feb. 26. Not only is it the 10th birthday of my beloved Boston Terrier, Dixie Marie, but it’s also the 91st birthday of the legendary country musician and Arkansas native, Johnny Cash.
I was raised on country music.
KSSN 96 FM played on the radio in my parents’ vehicles and on the alarm clock/radio that sat on our kitchen counter. My dad had a stack of vinyl and cassette tapes of artists such as Conway Twitty, Don
Williams, Waylon Jennings and
Johnny Cash.
By the time I became a teenager and able to choose more of what I listened to, I found myself drawn to singers such as George Strait, Alan
Jackson, Brooks & Dunn and others. Now don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy Cash’s album, “Live at Folsom Prison,” mostly because of the humorous song, “A Boy Named Sue,” but honestly, I just wasn’t much of a “Man in Black” fan in my early years.
Fast forward many, many years later to when I began working for the Group Sales Division of the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism (Heritage was its own separate agency back then). Much of what our division did was “sell” Arkansas to out-of-state and international tour operators and travel writers. I remember my boss, Tracy Morales, telling me one morning that I would be accompanying her on a “familiarization tour” focusing on Arkansas’ musical history with a group of international tour leaders and writers.
Tracy explained that because the bus trip around the Arkansas Delta would be long and tedious, we needed to be able to entertain our guests. She knew I played guitar and asked if I could perform some Johnny Cash songs on the trip. Again, as I wasn’t much of a fan, I said no. So she instructed me to learn some quickly, as the tour was just a couple of weeks away.
I got online and began printing off lyrics and chords to such songs as “Ring of Fire,” “I Walk the Line,” “Folsom Prison Blues” and my old childhood favorite, “A Boy Named Sue.” Soon I became quite proficient in Cash’s musical repertoire. Much to my amazement, when the ride started to get monotonous, I pulled out my guitar, did my best Cash impression and the people on the bus went wild. They knew the words to every song. I was shocked!
After we took a tour of Cash’s restored boyhood home in Dyess, I led the group in a medley of Cash songs as I sat on the Cash family’s old front porch swing. No doubt, this was one of my favorite memories of working for Arkansas Parks & Tourism.
Last August, I started teaching at a private school in Bryant. One of my subjects is eighth grade Arkansas history. When I began teaching a section on famous Arkansans, I was surprised that the one famous Arkansan my students seemed to be most familiar with was Johnny Cash. When I asked these young students how they knew about Cash, most responded that their parents were fans or they had seen the hit 2005 movie, “Walk the Line.”
It seems that the older I get, the more appreciative I become of Johnny Cash and his music. Perhaps it’s because his recurring themes — sin and redemption, the tragic loss of loved ones, learning from mistakes like shooting a man in Reno just to watch him die — resonate more with middle-aged me. Maybe it’s because, through my work in the Arkansas tourism industry, I’ve been able to visit and experience significant places in Cash’s history, such as his birthplace of Kingsland; his boyhood home in Dyess; Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded his first album; his home and office in Hendersonville, Tennessee; and his final resting place nearby. Maybe it’s a combination of all the above.
Whatever it is, after all these years I’ve come to understand what millions of fans (such as my dad) have known for decades — Johnny Cash is an American icon whose songs of sorrow and the plight of the common man age like a fine wine.