Cash J Life Of An American Icon (miller)

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From his legendary 50s Sun Studios recordings to his latterday classic American albums, Johnny Cash was always the country voice of rock. This is his amazing story - Stephen Miller's vivid account of the life and times of a journeyman who started out with stablemates Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins, and who would later collaborate with musical friends such as Bob Dylan, Wylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson.
Once on the point of death from drug addiction, Cash turned his life around his life around and went on to further successes from music that grew out of those original Sun Recording Studio sessions.
Here are all the anecdotes behind the rowdy years, the prison albums, the relationships and the music. Country king, movie actor and activist, Cash enjoyed a rolelrcoaster career that lurched between million-selling albums and periods of dark obscurity. Through it all The Man In Black remained a hero to discerning country and rock fans all over the world.

THIS IS HIS UNIQUE STORY


Johnny Cash was always a genuine American icon. An independent spirit who turned away from a self-destructive, drug-fuelled lifestyle to become a musical hero to new generations, Cash always remained a dark and contradictory man.
In his perceptive book Stephen Miller explores the conflicting life and times of a country music hero whose long career saw him work alongside both Elvis Presley and Elvis Costello as well as receiving honours from the Country Music and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.
An early supporter of the Native American cause, Cash also played legendary concerts for the inmates of San Quentin and Folsom prisons, championed Kris Kristofferson and Bob Dylan in their unfashionable days and was a staunch supporter of Nixon's Vietnam policy. He made several religious albums but divorced his first wife Vivian, a staunch Catholic, to marry June Carter who was already married to his drinking buddy Carl Smith when they first met.
In 1969 Cash sold more records than The Beatles, but towards the end of his career, when his iconic status was greater than ever, American radio would not play his music at all. Such reversals and ironies were part of a unique musical life that began with a clutch of haunting 50s recordings made at the Sun Recording Studios which took Cash on a country-influenced participatory journey through a half century of the rock 'n' roll music he had helped to found. There is simply no other story like it in the history of popular music.

Stephen Miller has been a fan of country music for more than twenty years and for six years he reviewed albums and interviewed artists for Scot FM.
In the course of his research for this book he spent time in and around Nashville interviewing people in the music industry who have worked closely with Johnny Cash as well as members of his family. He is married and lives in Edinburgh.

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