He performed at dozens of Billy Graham crusades and in 1977 became an ordained minister in it his own right. He was determined to stand in the light of his faith, whatever the cost. The film shows some of the setbacks Johnny suffered by insisting to follow his faith, as well as some of the victories. And Johnny said if you don’t want Jessi singing that song, then we won’t do the show.”
“The one show I remember specifically is I wanted to sing ‘I’d rather have Jesus’ and they said we don’t want that. Singer Jessie Colter recalls appearing on the show with husband, Waylon Jennings. Not sentiment-he would never-but resolve.Close friends and Christian brothers, Johnny Cash and Billy Graham Courtesy of Johnny Cash: The Redemption of an American Iconĭuring his three-years hosting the ABC variety show, Johnny pushed the envelope in terms of sharing his faith on network TV. He often lived in chaos-substance abuse, run-ins with the law, a suicide attempt, and capitulations to God. Out of a fallow ’70s and ’80s came the American series, which cast him as a mythic, almost deathless figure, a quiet fireside presence fortified by years of unspeakable weight. By the time he’d refashioned himself as the Man in Black, with 1968’s and 1969’s twin prison albums At Folsom Prison and At San Quentin, he’d already generated a lifetime’s worth of work. Never quite faithful to Nashville but never separatist either, his music seemed to exist on a parallel track, equally informed by the candor of folk and the stability of gospel, by the deference of tradition and the rugged bluntness of outlaw culture. Part of Cash’s paradox is that he was at once a definitive country artist and a persistent challenger to ideas of what country is and could be. But his music contained so much-and yet was so casually singular-that it made room for all. You could hear in Cash what you wanted to hear. When he was born to struggling cotton farmers in Arkansas in 1932, country was still considered-and outright called-“hillbilly music” by the time he died in 2003, the influence he’d had in shaping both the rebellion of rock ’n’ roll and the preservationist spirit of modern country was undeniable. There were lots of Johnny Cashes: mama’s boy, rabble-rouser, Bible-thumping hymn singer, and middle-fingered outlaw.
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