Keen readers of this blog (which is sporting a new name today, both of you will notice) will know I have been on a reading binge lately that focusses on musical heroes of mine. I have been reading biographies of the normal and the auto variety. There were two different Dylan books, a Stompin’ Tom book, and most recently I finished reading Johnny Cash’s autobiography, I think it was just called “Cash”. It was written and published sometime in 1997 I think.

I’m a casual fan of his, I enjoy most of what I hear but I will admit I know only a very few songs well. I really didn’t know how much of his own stuff he wrote, or how long he had been singing, or anything like that. His early career I knew nothing about. So this book was a fun read in that respect. There is some good stuff in here about how he was around at Sun Records at the very beginning of it all, Elvis was there, Carl Perkins was there, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, a bunch of others, and Cash. All by itself that’s news to me. Also, some interesting tidbits according to Johnny:

– Elvis started refusing to be onstage following Carl Perkins after he got completely upstaged by him at a show. The audience was calling for Carl to come back onstage during Elvis’ set, and he had to stop playing and let Carl come back. Now that’s kind of neat.
– Cash’s big vice was amphetamines and of course they almost killed him before he kicked them for good. Some of the stories around the drug addiction are amazing and yes, funny.
– On Ring of Fire, the record company almost didn’t let him release the song because it used horns. That wasn’t considered very country at the time. John was adamant though because he heard the song in a dream and it had horns, so that was how it had to be.
– Johnny also lists some of his favourite songwriters, and you’ll never guess who is in that very short list of luminaries. None other than Mr. John Prine.
– On his list of desert island records is The Freewheeling Bob Dylan. Cash and Dylan corresponded for a while once they met and said they were fans of each others work.

Lots more neat stories in this one. It’s also very clear that Cash is a religious man, which I guess you would have to be after what he’s seen.

Anyway, a good read if anybody wants to borrow it…..