An illustrated biography of Johnny Cash that tells his life story through never-before-seen personal photographs and memorabilia from the Cash family
ALAN LIGHT has been one of America's leading music journalists for the past twenty years. He was a writer at Rolling Stone, founding music editor and editor-in-chief of Vibe, and editor-in-chief of Spin magazine. He has been a contributor to the New Yorker, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, Elle, and Mother Jones. He is the author of The Skills to Pay the Bills, an oral history of the Beastie Boys, and The Holy or the Broken- Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of "Hallelujah"; and cowriter of the New York Times-bestselling memoir by Gregg Allman, My Cross to Bear.
“Johnny gets the spotlight in Alan Light’s The Life and Legacy of
The Man in Black.” —Billboard
“If you have time to read only one book on Johnny Cash this year,
Light’s Johnny Cash: The Life and Legacy of the Man in Black should
be the one you pick up. The stories are familiar, and many are told
in other biographies, but these photos of Cash, his family, and his
artifacts bring him and his music to life in a way that no other
biography so far has been able to do.” —No Depression
“This book is an admirable work of loving and careful research and
Light handles facts efficiently. He is a remarkable scholar whose
understanding of American music history runs deep. Johnny Cash
continues to have a strong influence on music today, despite his
passing 15 years ago. His story continues because his music still
lives among the people.” —All About Jazz
“Almost biblical with his deep baritone and stoic demeanor and all
dressed in black, Cash was an authoritative figure, honest,
serious, moralistic, and outspoken. Signed by Sam Phillips and Sun
Records, the label on which Elvis Presley was getting attention by
mixing black and white musical styles, Cash soon found listeners
with his signature “boom-chicka-boom” sound, recording such hits as
“Hey Porter,” “Cry! Cry! Cry!,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” and “I Walk
the Line.” As a singer and guitarist, he introduced a darker,
rawer, bleaker sound to rock ’n’ roll as well as a humanist
element, speaking for the disenfranchised, in song and in life as
he championed convicts, Native Americans, and the underprivileged.
Music journalist Light deftly ties together all the different
strands of Cash’s life, his recording career, groundbreaking
television show, battles with substance abuse, marriage to June
Carter Cash, and late-life revival with the American Recordings
sessions. Aided by interviews with Cash and others and an abundance
of photographs and artifacts, this biography will be a good
companion to Robert Hilburn’s Johnny Cash (2013).” —Booklist
“A profusely illustrated volume documents a celebrated performer's
struggles and hard-won triumphs. Veteran music journalist Light
(What Happened Miss Simone?: A Biography, 2016, etc.) offers an
admiring yet cleareyed biography of Johnny Cash (1932-2003), a
composer, singer, and guitar player who crossed many genres. The
author draws on Cash's autobiographies, music history and
criticism, interviews, and writings by Cash's family to produce an
intimate and engaging portrait. By far the greatest strength of the
book, though, are the illustrations: memorabilia from family
archives and abundant photographs that capture Cash's undeniable
charisma. A treat for the Man in Black's many fans.” —Kirkus
Reviews
“Working with the Cash family, Light (The Holy or the Broken) has
gathered hundreds of never-before-seen photographs, lyric sheets,
posters, and other artifacts from the Johnny Cash archives to
produce this stunning and lavishly illustrated biography of the Man
in Black. Light’s rich collection of photos and narrative bring
Cash to life.” —Publishers Weekly
“There can never be another Johnny Cash. With close-up images and
the big-picture story, this book offers new insight into the life
of an American hero.” —Sheryl Crow
“This resonant book offers far more than an overview of Johnny
Cash’s life and legacy: it gets to the very essence of who he was
and what his life and music mean. Light’s text reads beautifully
and stands as an ideal complement to photos that inspire reveries
about the works and days of this extraordinary artist.” —Anthony
DeCurtis, author of Lou Reed: A Life
“‘Johnny Cash was like Abraham Lincoln to me,’ John Prine once
said. We all agreed, though if Prine had said the same of Elvis or
Sinatra, we wouldn’t have, because it wouldn’t have made a damn bit
of sense. But with Cash it did. He was a man, an idea, a morality,
a way of looking at the world. Though wrapped in contradictions,
Cash always stood tall, like he’d come out of the soil, one of
nature’s inevitabilities. This book gives us an intimacy with the
man. And that’s an accomplishment worth celebrating.” —Warren
Zanes, author of Petty: The Biography
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