First published 2014
Johnny Cash commanded more than musical admiration. Fans believed in him with religious devotion. Yet beneath the public persona lay a far more complex figure than most realized. Robert Hilburn, longtime music critic for the Los Angeles Times, draws on decades of personal access to Cash to expose the unvarnished reality. Hilburn attended the legendary 1968 Folsom Prison concert as the sole music journalist present. He conducted extensive interviews with Cash shortly before the singer's death in 2003. Using never-before-seen materials from Cash's inner circle and his own firsthand experiences, Hilburn constructs an intimate portrait that reveals both the darkness of Cash's personal demons and the depth of his artistic vision. The biography strips away the mythology to show how Cash's troubled life fueled his music and made him a towering influence across country and rock genres.
Genres: biography, 20th-century, american, non-fiction, music, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: biography, celebrity, music
Period: 20th-Century, 21st-Century
Audio CD · Hachette Book Group