Johnny Cash - book "Johnny Cash He Walked The Line 1932 - 2003" by Garth Campbell

Johnny Cash
He Walked The Line
1932-2003

Johnny Cash is the Man In Black - the most recognisable voice in the history of country music, and indeed in the history of recorded music itself. Building musical bridges between the worlds of country, folk, rock and even gospel, Cash's influence is as immeasurable as his fanbase. His story is an amazing rags-to-riches tale about the kid ho battled against poverty and depression to end up performing on the same stage as Elvis Presley...

If anybody has experienced the life of the hard-living music star, that man is Johnny Cash. Brought up as one of six children on a cotton farm in northeast Arkansas, he joined the Air Force after leaving school and formed his first band - The Landsberg Barbarians - whilst stationed in Germany. On being discharged, he married and settled in Memphis, Tennessee where he worked on a variety of jobs - including that of appliance saleman - before trying to break into the music business.

Before long, Cahs was in Sun Studios recoring with his band the Tennessee Two. A succession of hit singles followed, including the career-making 'I Walk The Line', which would end up selling more than 2 million copies.

But success would take its toll on the hard-living Cash. As his marriage collapsed, the wild man of country turned to drugs to keep up his hectic pace of 300 shows a year. Having never encountered alcohol or drugs, he became hooked on speed, and for the Man in Black, the sixties passed in a drug-fuelled haze - he spent a lost year and a half with Waylon Jennings - and yet some of his most memorable work was produced, including the immortal 'Ring of Fire'. The drugged-up country star became a notorious troublemaker: he wrecked hotel rooms, toyed around with guns and even started a forest fire for which he was charged $85,000.

By the seventies, Cash had converteed to fundamentalist Christianity, and his spectacular career kept on rolling. Two albums recorded in front of imprisoned convicts went gold, and were followed with his own TV show - The Johnny Cash Show - one of the most popular spots of the decade. His popularity continued into the new millennium as he became a powerful influence on the younger generation of up-and-coming musicians.

"Johnny Cash: He Walked The Line" is the definitive biography of the man. It is the only book to delve deeply into the personality and work of this prolific yet elusive artist, and it's no-holds-barred look at the more uncomfortable aspects of Cash's life provides the first truly rounded portrait.

Printed in England in 2003. This book is sold used in great condition, hard cover with dust jacket.