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Harlan Matson
Professor Wright
Mus2200
11 November 2024
Johnny Cash
The face of country music for decades, arguably the most incredible country artist, and a
person who changed the sound of music forever. Johnny Cash was a talented artist who came
onto the music scene in the 50’s and immediately gained popularity. He revolutionized country
music incorporating a mix of rock and roll, gospel, and ballads into the genre, and he is widely
considered the most remarkable country artist ever; even though he had controversies in his life,
he is still an icon.
Johnny Cash revolutionized the sound of music from the beginning of his career. His
outlaw country style was a sound that wasn’t super popular at the time because not a lot of
people sang it. This new sound he was using was a mix of a couple of different genres of music.
He had some country in there with the guitars and slow rhythm. He had rock and roll in the songs
again in the beat, using guitars and drums at times. He also had gospel music in it, which he
knew due to his upbringing. This new sound was something that people liked since it was a new
and unique style. Songs like “I Walk the Line,” “Ring of Fire,” and “Don’t Take Your Guns to
Town” were all early hits of his that used some of the new styles. In these songs he talks like he
is an outlaw who's been in and out of jail his whole life. This makes him very popular among
people who actually were criminals and lived that lifestyle. Johnny would often visit prisons and
perform for the inmates. Some of his most notable concerts and albums were recorded in prisons.
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He performed at Folsom Prison and later released an album named Live At Folsom Prison, which
happens to be a very well-known and popular album by Cash. Another notable performance was
when he performed at San Quentin, where he released an album from his live performances. That
album was called Johnny Cash at San Quentin. Those weren’t the only times he would perform
for prisoners because he performed at around thirty different prisons throughout his life. These
songs were popular among prisoners, and everyone else loved them too. All three of the songs
listed became number-one hits on the Billboard Country chart, and outside of that, he had 11
more reach number one. His songs were super popular during this time, and it shows because
other singers and songwriters started to make music like Johnny. He influenced and taught a few
notable artists like Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton, and Kris Kristofferson, and those are just a few
very popular artists on their own. Hundreds of other artists have used his sound and been fairly
successful. Because of this, Cash’s impact on the music industry, country music in particular, was
a huge thing that made country a clear mainstream genre with subcategories inside the main one.
Overall Johnny revolutionized the country music scene and made it better for decades.
Johnny Cash has been considered one of the greatest artists of all time, if not the greatest.
He was so successful and spectacular during his singing career, and most people know who he is
even today. He had a ton of accolades and accomplishments throughout his career, including 13
Grammys; many were for a male country vocal performance, which means the artist had a song
that was considered the best Western country song during that year. He had this award three
times, and each song was the number-one hit. He has won 9 Country Music Association Awards,
recognizing the achievements of a particular artist. It is impressive that he has won 9 of them
since the award is pretty hard to receive this honor even once in a career. He has also been
inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. It is a tremendous honor to be recognized and put
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into a place that will immortalize a person forever based on their accomplishments in their
career. He was inducted into the Country Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Being recognized in two halls of fame for separate genres of music is a tough thing to
accomplish. He was significant enough in both genres to garner the spot and consideration to be
put in such high honor. This shows he is one of the most excellent musicians of all time, if not
the greatest of his generation. Johnny Cash changed music and was great while doing so. But,
even with all of his fame and success, he wasn’t perfect and had his issues. During his career, he
was using drugs heavily and was addicted to them. This isn’t uncommon to hear that a musician
is using drugs, but in his case, it was hurting him severely. His music was falling off due to it,
and his marriage ended during the same time. This was a low point for him. But even with all
that adversity, he pulled through and revived his career in a sense. Even at his lowest, though, his
music was still not the worst. It still had millions of listeners; they just weren’t going number
one. He also found a new wife, June Carter, who helped him with his music. She would sing with
him and make duets that were wildly popular and still well-known today. He got his life and
career back on track multiple times, but no one remembers the man in black for that. He is still
an icon and an inspiration to many. His accomplishments outweigh the negatives in his life, and
people remember him for the good. Overall he is a legend who had his ups and downs, but in the
end, he turned back to the ups, and people know him for that.
Certain songs can impact the music industry, and he had many that were huge for the
industry. The first big song, released in 1955, by Johnny Cash was “Cry! Cry! Cry!”. This had a
new sound that people gravitated towards. This new sound was outlaw music and a combination
of a few different genres, the main one being country music with some blues. The
instrumentation in this song is fairly simple, considering it uses only acoustic guitar, bass, drums,
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and of course, vocals. The tempo of this song is moderately slow, while the beat has more of an
upbeat rhythm. That is interesting since the song is supposed to be sad but has an upbeat rhythm
to it, and it can almost seem like he is singing while telling a story rather than just singing along
to a beat. That is an impressive thing to put out for a first-hit single. This was also big for Cash
because he came into the music business as a gospel singer, which didn't impress people, so he
switched it up and classified his sound as country music. Cash wouldn’t stop there, though,
because he had many more hits that would push him into the legendary status he has today.
Another early hit that would become his first number-one hit was “I Walk The Line.” This song,
similar to his first hit, was a country song with elements of blues music. The slower singing and
instrumentation had ties to blues music. The instruments are acoustic guitar, bass, and drums.
Again a very simple few instruments that make a nice beat for the song style he was going for.
The tempo of this song was also slower, with an upbeat tone to the beat. Another part of his
songs that people liked about them was how raw they were compared to other songs that would
use effects to enhance them. He didn’t have to use anything to improve his already great music.
His hits didn’t stop there, though, because he had many more hit songs that were not a style of
country music but more of a style of rock. A song that falls into this category is “Cocaine Blues.”
This song was faster-paced and still had a layer of country to it, but its overall style was closer to
rock music during this time. The instruments in this song were an electric guitar, bass, and
drums. The electric guitar and bass in the beat show the rock style. The tone of this song was
upbeat again, and it had a mean tone to it with the lyrics and vocals, which made it sound like a
rough and tough type of song. People loved this song as well because it was something that
Johnny created and made on his own, making it a unique style compared to other popular songs
and artists around this time. These three songs shaped and changed country music in their way.
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The first two mentioned were some that started up Cash’s career and got his style out to the
public, and the third one was a sort of introduction to his versatile way of making music and
incorporating multiple genres in one song.
Johnny Cash, the headline of country music for decades, was and still is a popular singer
to listen to. His songs are classic and will never be forgotten. He changed music forever by
making a new sound in country and rock and roll, he was one of the greats during the 20th
century, and he will be remembered as a legend forever. Country music wouldn’t be the same if
Johnny weren’t a part of it. He was a pioneer of a new and improved style in America.
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Works Cited
Cash, Johnny. “Why Did Johnny Cash Play at Folsom Prison?” Johnny Cash Trail, 24 July 2023,
https://folsomcasharttrail.com/the-trail/blog/why-did-johnny-cash-play-at-folsom-prison.
Accessed 11 December 2024.
Foy, Chris. “Johnny Cash’s Real Struggle with Addiction Over The Years.” FHE Health, 7 May
2024, https://fherehab.com/news/johnny-cashs-struggle-with-addiction/. Accessed 11
December 2024.
“Johnny Cash.” Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum,
https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/hall-of-fame/johnny-cash. Accessed 11
December 2024.
“Johnny Cash | Biography, Songs, & Facts.” Britannica, 12 November 2024,
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johnny-Cash. Accessed 11 December 2024.
“Johnny Cash | Kennedy Center.” The Kennedy Center,
https://www.kennedy-center.org/artists/c/ca-cn/johnny-cash/. Accessed 11 December
2024.
Terrell, Gai, et al. “Johnny Cash - The Man In Black.” This Day In Music, 5 May 2024,
https://www.thisdayinmusic.com/artists/johnny-cash-man-in-black/. Accessed 11
December 2024.
Johnny Cash. "Cry! Cry! Cry!" Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar, Sun Records, 1955,
https://music.amazon.com/albums/B09BKPTLMS.
Johnny Cash. "I Walk the Line" Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar, Sun Records, 1955,
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https://music.amazon.com/albums/B09BKPTLMS.
Johnny Cash. "Cocaine Blues" At Folsom Prison, Columbia, 1968,
https://music.amazon.com/albums/B00IP3JAK0
