Johnny Cash (1932–2003) went from Sun Records alongside Elvis to becoming the Man in Black of American music. At Folsom Prison (1968) is the definitive live document, and the Rick Rubin-produced American Recordings series — especially American IV with his Hurt cover — is a stunning final act. Dig into Johnny Cash vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
J.R. Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas on February 26, 1932 (the initials later became Johnny after he enlisted in the Air Force, which required a name rather than initials). He served in the US Air Force from 1950 to 1954 in West Germany. He signed with Sun Records in 1955 alongside Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis, recording his Sun catalog before moving to Columbia Records in 1958. His landmark prison albums At Folsom Prison (1968) and At San Quentin (1969) became defining commercial successes. He hosted The Johnny Cash Show on ABC from 1969 to 1971. His late-career resurrection with producer Rick Rubin through the American Recordings series (American Recordings, 1994; Unchained, 1996; Solitary Man, 2000; American IV: The Man Comes Around, 2002; A Hundred Highways, 2006; Ain't No Grave, 2010) reestablished his cultural and critical position. He died of complications from diabetes on September 12, 2003 at age 71 - four months after his wife and longtime partner June Carter Cash. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1992), Country Music Hall of Fame (1980), Songwriters Hall of Fame (1977), and Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2010). The Walk the Line (2005) biopic starred Joaquin Phoenix as Cash.
Johnny Cash's sound combines country, country rock, rock and roll, rockabilly, folk, gospel, and Americana with his distinctive deep baritone vocal delivery (the man in black aesthetic), his signature boom-chicka-boom rhythm guitar approach, and lyrical content engaging with American working-class experience, prisons, religion, and personal struggle. His foundational influence on country, rock, and broader American music is widely documented.
Original Sun and Columbia pressings of the Johnny Cash catalog are foundational items in country, rock, and broader American music collecting. Multiple anniversary editions, audiophile reissues (Mobile Fidelity), and the comprehensive American Recordings reissue programs through Universal Music have been released.
Listeners new to Johnny Cash typically start with At Folsom Prison (1968) or American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002).
