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Piece #97 - "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash."

Way back in an earlier posting, I wrote about music. This posting was music in general and some of the influences I had when it came to music, but I decided that one particular artist needed my full attention on my blog because he is very special to me. I must first preface by saying that I'm not a country music fan. There are very few country artists I can actually say I 'like'. Johnny Cash is one of those very few artists that really can't be placed in a certain musical category. Think about it, Johnny Cash is the only person to be inducted into 4 different music Halls Of Fame: The Song Writers (1977), The Country Music (1980), The Rock-n-Roll (1992) and The Gospel Music (2010)! To me, Johnny is more than just being in four Halls of Fame, it's the message and the music that really reached out to me like it did for millions of other people.

I have to echo my sentiments when Justin Timberlake won the MTV award for best video over the video Johnny Cash made from the song 'Hurt'. When Justin went up to receive the award he told the audience this: "This is a travesty! I demand a recount. My grandfather raised me on Johnny Cash, and I think he deserves this more than any of us in here tonight." My parents brought me up on Johnny Cash and I remember actually liking his music because in all honesty, I really didn't like much music that my parents played. At that time, I was big into KISS, Aerosmith, and other rock bands from the late 70's. Johnny Cash was not on my musical hit list, but once I heard some of his music I just loved it at that instant. I do remember watching Johnny Cash's variety shows. I did find them rather entertaining.

Years went by and Johnny kind of fell off my radar until the movie 'Walk the Line' came to theaters. I really love this movie. It's a real down to earth portrayal of Johnny and his life. The movie did a great job of showing his struggles with drugs and women; but also his successes and triumphs he had to overcome since he was a kid...especially the untimely death of his older brother. Johnny's father had put a lot of pressure on him all the way to adulthood and just didn't matter how successful Johnny was, his father always seemed to judge him rather harshly. I'm very sure that Johnny didn't have Asperger's but, it was bad enough on what he had to endure in his life. I believe if he had known more about the plight we as people with Asperger's had, I think he would have been completely in our corner. Johnny had always stood up for the people who were being wrongly treated; a good example was the Native Americans. Johnny would advocate for the Indian Nation on the mistreatment from the government or people in general. Johnny would write songs to educate people on how bad life really was for them. 

For me, one of my greatest respects was that he embraced Christianity with the help of his wife June Carter. I know Johnny had a long period in his life before he could make his full commitment, but this just made him even better. Johnny wasn't perfect, none of are, but he still was a great example on overcoming his demons and making it through to the other side. Johnny was an amazing man with an amazing voice and a true gift of song. Johnny still influences millions of people even though he has been gone for several years now. The Man in Black still lives on in all of us.


Song of Inspiration [Check it out on iTunes and Android!]:

Song: "Man In Black"

Artist: Johnny Cash

Album: The Legend of Johnny Cash  


Here is a video of a live performance on the selected song back in 1971:








OKAY...So one more video...the song: "Get A Rhythm


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