Book summary

With an introduction that includes giving thanks for a pair of comfortable shoes, as only someone who spent the first 15 years of his life mostly barefoot could, the autobiography of the late Johnny Cash is, like his music, simple and eloquent. Discovering country music via Roy Acuff and the Louvin Brothers, among others, he became part of the immortal Sun Records stable of musicians that also included Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins; he recounts his initial meeting with legendary Sun Studios owner and producer Sam Phillips, his shaky attempts at recording his debut single (it took over 30 takes), his thrill at performing his first hit "Cry, Cry, Cry" on the LOUISIANA HAYRIDE radio show, and his first Cadillac. He's also candid about his amphetamine and alcohol addiction, admitting the constant conflict between his darker impulses and his long-standing religious convictions. Throughout, Cash leaves detached analysis and precise recounting of minute detail to music scholars; but what is lost here in objectivity is gained in a series of remarkable vignettes steeped in country music history, all told through the filter of co-author Patrick Carr's superb prose recreation of the singer's trademark laconic, baritone drawl.

Media reviews

"Occasionally [Cash] lets his pompadour down, and then the stories sing."