{"id":52,"date":"2014-02-26T09:25:14","date_gmt":"2014-02-26T14:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bothkindsradio.com\/?p=52"},"modified":"2014-02-26T09:45:49","modified_gmt":"2014-02-26T14:45:49","slug":"today-is-johnny-cashs-82nd-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bothkindsradio.com\/?p=52","title":{"rendered":"Today is Johnny Cash’s 82nd birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Johnny<\/a><\/p>\n

As a child who’s formative musical years were the 1990’s, I dismissed “Country Music” as bubble gum pop, hidden beneath a cowboy hat and a fiddle track.\u00a0 Billy Ray Cyrus and his mulleted prancing, Garth Brooks becoming Chris Gaines and the hokey and jingoistic anthems following 9\/11, only further solidified my opinion.\u00a0 I had a taste for 60’s country-rock, via my parents and my love for the Grateful Dead<\/a>, Bob Dylan<\/a> and Neil Young<\/a>, but I never looked to my musical left to see that Country road running parallel.\u00a0 This all changed in 2002.<\/a><\/p>\n

Hearing a song<\/a> that had fed my teenage angst and was there to wrap around me when my heart would break and rage, sung by that craggy, clear and dying<\/em><\/strong> voice was a revelation.\u00a0 And then, the video.\u00a0 Goddamn, I still cry.\u00a0 Then and upon every subsequent viewing.\u00a0 The pain, the joyful images of the virile and manic past.\u00a0 Who was this man?\u00a0 I had seen the poster with the middle finger in Spencer’s Gifts<\/a>.\u00a0 I had heard “Ring of Fire” and “I Walk the Line”, in passing but had always nodded and moved along.\u00a0 Now I HAD to know.\u00a0 I had to know it all.<\/p>\n

Johnny led me to Hank.\u00a0 Hank led to Marty.\u00a0 Marty led to The Possum.\u00a0 The Possum led to Tammy, and the rest is history.\u00a0 I fell hard for Country Music.\u00a0 And Johnny Cash pushed me through that door.\u00a0 Happy birthday, Mr. Cash.\u00a0 And thank you for everything.<\/p>\n

I recommend the BBC documentary, “Johnny Cash – The Last Great American” and the A&E documentary, “Johnny Cash’s America (links below)<\/p>\n