Fred Mills on Johnny Cash
Posted on September 15, 2003 at 7:33 am | No Comments
As the reality of a world without Johnny Cash settles in, I thought I’d pass along this anecdote from music writer Fred Mills. He wrote it Saturday to an email discussion group we’re on, and with his permission, I wanted to share it here…
I was privileged to meet the Cashes once. It was in January of 1990 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The Tom Cruise race car flick Days Of Thunder had been shot there and in and around Charlotte � the Observer was shitting itself so thoroughly every time the merest word of a Cruise sighting came in that folks took to calling the paper The Charlotte Cruise Watch � and, with filming now completed, local roots-rock kingpins The Belmont Playboys had gotten the nod to play the cast and crew wrap party. The Playboys snuck me and my wife in as �roadies,� thinking maybe I could finagle a quote from Cruise about them for their presskit and for Creative Loafing, the weekly paper where I worked as the music editor.
And while I got my quote (Cruise: �Man, they [the Playboys] were rockin�!�), we all got a lot more than that. Just before the first set, who should walk in but Cruise�s co-star Robert Duvall, with an entourage of Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter. Jaws dropped. People gawked. Me included. Once they were all settled in at their table I had to go speak to them.
Shaking Duvall�s hand, I told him I enjoyed his singing in Tender Mercies. He grinned and pointed at Johnny. �Well thanks, but there�s the real king right there.� So I went over to Johnny, shook his hand, and, by way of welcoming him to Charlotte, offered, �Mr. Cash, I think you�re gonna like this band that�s fixing to play.� In that unmistakable deep baritone of his he replied, �Thank you son, I�m sure I will.� His wife smiled at me and accepted my handshake as well.
Midway through the first set the Playboys performed �Rock �n� Roll Ruby,� an old, somewhat obscure rockabilly tune of Cash�s. Sneaking a look at Cash I saw him standing beside Jennings, and both of them had huge grins and were nodding their heads. Between songs Cash walked over to the Playboys to thank them. Before we knew it, Cash and Jennings were onstage with the Playboys, launching into �Folsom Prison Blues,� followed by �Mamas Don�t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys� and several other tunes. Pure electricity. The dancefloor was suddenly loaded with enthusiastic hoofers � Cruise, Duvall, and Randy Quaid, the film�s other co-star, included. By the time June got up to harmonize and then duet with Johnny for a version of �Jackson,� followed shortly after by Colter getting up to sing one of her songs too, most of us probably thought we were leaving our bodies. By set�s end even Duvall was onstage, doing a solo number (�I Overlooked A Rose�) and leading the entire room in a group singalong of �Will The Circle Be Unbroken.�
It was a show to tell the grandchildren about.
And the Man In Black has now left the building.
Sometimes, if you�re a music fan, you just know without anyone telling you. The instant I flicked on the radio this morning and heard the familiar sound of a Johnny Cash song, I knew�
When I asked Fred if it was ok to reprint this, he said “It’s kinda amateurish, I guess, compared to a “real” article on Cash, but it’s still from the heart”. And it says more than any standard obituary could, Fred. Thanks.
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