" I'm Johnny Cash"
The smile was 'intoxicating' and 'The Man In Black' started singing gospel music.
It was , if memory is correct, 1971, in Suffolk County on Long Island, and it was a pentacostal country gospel show Jayne and I went to - we were
'converts' to country music 'countrypolitan' as WHN 1050AM called it. I of course had been a 'country & western' fan for decades starting when I was a kid listening
late at night to "clear channel" radio in New York coming all the way from Wheeling West Virginia and the Grand Ol' Opera.
We'd already been on a Long Island RailRoad Country special to Madison Square Garden to see George Jones and Tammy Wynette when they were just starting to become big stars
and were still married, singing among many other song s(we still have all the LP albums) 'We're Gonna Hold On' - (they didn't).
Bill Anderson was also at the country gospel show - another favorite of ours. But Johnny Cash was the big attraction having just (again) found Jesus after
years of 'hard' living. His performance was mesmerizing. I'd been a Johnny Cash fan since my BYU days when in November 1956 - as if it was an 18th birthday gift to me,
"I Walk The Line" hit the Pop charts - I was listening at the time to KOVO Provo, KLUB 570 SLC, KNAK SLC ('You're On The Right Track with KNAK')
all of course AM radio - FM had not yet been 'invented' and stereo was still 10 years away.
Driving back to Long Beach, we were in a 'spiritual country gospel song' place and have been there since.
Many years later, Johnny Cash, as an actor on both 'Little House on the Prarie', and Columbo, a role in which he sang the Hank Williams song 'I Saw The Light', was an established star, and we had, and still have all his country albums.
2 comments:
Who knew you were so cool? I remember you telling us that you went to a Johnny Cash concert. Now I am jealous that you got to go. I know one of your son-in-laws who would greatly appreciate a CD of Johnny Cash music :)
Dear Dad-
We (Brower Family)have not seen Walk the Line, because we are waiting for it on video. I really wanted to see it, but Matt didn't- now, he does.
It was funny because one of the younger girls in our family said that they liked, the music, said that they must have heard it somewhere but didn't know where and I said, it was because you loved the Man in Black and we always had his music playing when we lived at home!
I appreciate all the music that you exposed us to. Even if we couldn't expose you to our music :) (well, that's not true, you did like Air Supply and other quieter music!)
I bet I know a daughter or two that would appreciate a CD of Johnny Cash besides your youngest son-in-law!
love you! Sandi
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