![Johnny Cash: The Man, His Music, His World [DVD]](http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj23/deeplyrootedradio/johhnycash-2.jpg)
By chance last night, I happened across the premiere of the 1969 documentary Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music on PBS last night and I felt compelled to write a little something about it this morning. If you’re a fan of Johnny Cash then this is a must-see, as the film follows Cash and his traveling Johnny Cash Show (which featured Carl Perkins, June Carter Cash, and Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters) from late 1968 through the summer of 1969. And while the live performance footage alone makes this worth viewing, the real gems in the film are the offstage moments which director Robert Elfstrom captures over the course of the documentary’s 94 minute running time. I have to think that this is one of the most up close and personal portrayals of Johnny Cash and it captures the iconic figure of American music at time when his life and career were firing on all cylinders.
One of the documentary’s true highlights unfolds in the first ten minutes of the film as the camera follows Cash into the woods surrounding his Hendersonville, Tennessee home on a hunt with shotgun in hand. As a bird flies off, Johnny raises his gun and fires, shooting but only wounding a crow. As Johnny walks up on the the frightened bird, you can almost see what was once his desire to kill turning into a sense of regret as he picks up the crow in his hand and begins to examine its injuries. He then carries the bird with him, stroking its head and trying to calm it down. The scene ends with Cash sitting at the edge of the woods, still holding the wounded crow, creating a song on the spot which he sings out loud to the wounded bird in his hand.
As it all unfolds we see the wild side of Johnny Cash, the compassionate man, and the artist in a way that is both enlightening and surprising.
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Throughout Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music we see the familar scenes of a live performance from prison, performing for an audience of Native Americans at Wounded Knee, and there’s even a late night recording session with Bob Dylan as the two men stand across from each other in the studio taking turns trading verses on Dylan’s “One Too Many Mornings”. [video below].
One Too Many Mornings by Johnny Cash & Bob Dylan
We also see Johnny driving his tour bus through the cottonfields along the Mississippi as he travels back to his childhood home of Dyess Colony, Arkansas. We see him in one moment accepting the award for Country Album of the Year for At Folsolm Prison and in the next moment he’s backstage listening intently to an unknown singer/songwriter who so impresses Cash that he offers to introduce the young man to the folks at Columbia Records.
We see the storyteller, the songwriter, the husband, and the roots of a legendary figure who as a child grew up listening to the country music stations with his ear glued against the radio, and who one day would be known the world over as The Man In Black.
Check out your local PBS listings for future air dates of this amazing documentary.
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Tagged as: 1969, documentary, Film, Johnny Cash, Man In Black, Music, PBS, The Man His World His Music
this is enough to make me want to get cable. thanks shaun.
i thought you might dig this one parlie. but who doesn’t love John Cash? If we started a list of American music legends he would be on the short list.
Caught part of it…. wish hadn’t missed first part
I believe that’s Luther Perkins, not Carl.
Actually it was Carl. Luther Perkins died prior to the making of the documentary. There is actually a point in the documentary, while playing at a prison, that Johnny mentions Luther’s death. Luther Perkins was replaced in Johnny’s band by Bob Wooten on guitar.
Carl Perkins (who of course wrote “Blue Suede Shoes”) joined the Johnny Cash tour in 68 and he would tour with the Johnny for about ten years. (If you ever get a chance to check out the old Johnny Cash TV variety show, a must see is Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Eric Clapton, who was appearing on the show with Derek and Dominos, performing Match Box together. It is fabulous.) Also if I’m not mistaken I believe it was Carl who wrote Daddy Sang Bass which became a #1 hit for Johnny Cash
[…] answer to a comment posed in yesterday’s post Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music I mentioned a performance that featured three greats from the world of country, blues, rockabilly, […]
Does anyone know the name of the singer/songwriter backstage at the country music awards?
HIs name is Don Freed. I was wondering the same. Your question prompted me to dig a little deeper and eventually I found it. Don never signed a deal with Columbia although he was signed to Capitol and recorded an album for them that was never released. It looks like he recorded and released a number of albums in Canada. At the very least you now have the answer to a somewhat obscure trivia question. Here’s the wiki details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Freed