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Johnny Cash
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Johnny Cash was born J. R. Cash in Kingsland, Arkansas, to Ray and Carrie Cash, and raised in Dyess, Arkansas. He was reportedly given the name "J. R." because his parents could not agree on a name, only on initials. Giving children initials-only names, or a first name and middle initial only, was a common practice at the time. When he enlisted in the United States Air Force, the military would not accept initials as his name, so he adopted John R. Cash as his legal name. Then when signing with Sun Records in 1955, he took Johnny Cash as his stage name. His friends and in-laws generally called him John, while his blood relatives often continued to call him by his birth name, J. R.
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Want to hear part of the reason why Johnny Cash is an icon, a singer respected and influential in country, folk, and rock & roll? THIS is it! In 1968--one of the most tumultuous years in American history since the Depression years--Cash recorded an album live in front of a (literally) captive audience, in Folsom Prison, in front of a wildly appreciative audience. With two guitars, bass, drums, and a small vocal group (including Cash's wife June Carter Cash and the Statler Brothers), Cash sings his hits and lesser-known songs ("Send a Picture of Mother") and some haunting country standards ("Dark as a Dungeon") and songs about REAL outlaws ("Cocaine Blues") to a rapt audience that hangs onto every word. That boom-chicka-boom sound is sharp as the first mean wind of winter, and Cash is in fine voice (though his voice cracks from time to time). With its unique setting, this is as harrowing an album as any ever recorded.
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J[O]hnny Cash was born February 26,1932 in Kingsland,Arkansas.By age three he moved to Dyess. By the time he was 12 years old Cash began writing his own songs,inspired by the country songs he heard on the radio. And while in High School Johnny sang on the Arkansas radio station KLCN. After graduating from college in 1950 Johnny moved to Detroit to work in an auto factory for awhile. Then with the start of the Korean War he enlisted in the Air Force. While in the Service Cash bought his first guitar and taught himself to play.
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[T]he German connection for Johnny Cash doesn't end there. In 1950, Johnny Cash was stationed in Landsberg, Germany as a radio operator with the U.S. Air Force. While in Germany, his hearing was permanently damaged by a German girl who had playfully stuck a pencil in his left ear. But it was ... in Germany that Cash bought his first guitar and put together his first band, the Landsberg Barbarians. (Events missing or only touched on briefly in the 2005 film Walk the Line. See the DVD below.)
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Johnny Cash was born in the small town of Kingsland, in the hill country of southern Arkansas. Life had always been difficult there, but when the Great Depression destroyed the fragile agricultural economy of the region, Johnny's parents, Ray and Carrie Cash, could barely earn enough to feed their seven children. In 1935, the New Deal administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt encouraged marginal farmers from the hill country to resettle in the more fertile soil of northeastern Arkansas. The Cash family took the government up on this offer and made the move. Working together, they cleared 20 acres of land to grow cotton. Johnny worked side by side with his parents on the farm.
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Shawn Barker, star of the popular "The Man In Black a Tribute to Johnny Cash show" will be joined by WS Holland fora special perfomance in January. Shawnhad beenslated to bea “Special Guest Vocalist” at the 40th Anniversary of Folsom Prison Concert which had been recently cancelled.WS Holland has accepted to perform inthe show at the Santa Fe Station Casino in Las Vegas. The overall run for the show is the 18th and 19th of January, with two shows per night at 7:30PM & 9:00PM. WS has graciously offered to perform at the 7:30PM show on the 19th.
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Johnny Cash