Dan Poush photo taken at Folsom State Prison, January 13 1968.

Johnny Cash, at times, has been known for his many sides.  Johnny Cash was a patriot. Johnny Cash was a disciple.  Johnny Cash was a legend.  Johnny Cash was an American Icon.  For all of the constructs that made up the man known simply as, “The Man in Black,” Johnny Cash has been most remembered for being a middle-finger-wielding rebel.  That stereotype is largely incorrect.  Cash was a man of strong spiritual convictions all of his life, yet he struggled with the same personal conflicts that people battle with on a day to day basis, the decision whether or not to succumb to temptation.  Johnny Cash fell prey to the evils of sin.  When a fan hears Cash's signature phrase, “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash,” they should know it was more than an introduction, it was an invitation to know who Johnny Cash really was.  Those words echoed from the booming baritone voice that resonated with a people across party lines, class hierarchies, color lines, and many other “ties that bind.”  Cash's temperament was not a product of his “bad boy” persona, but rather, it came from his humanitarian side—the side that was founded in deep spirituality. 

Hints of John’s belief in a higher power subtly surfaced when his life was dramatically documented in the film Walk the Line (2005).  The film did more than tell a story of his life biographically, it underscored the importance of, not only his rabble-rouser moniker, but skillfully told a true story of his devotion to more than himself.  Walk the Line showed that Johnny Cash was more than Nashville’s dark prince; he was also a shining light.  With all of his fallacies and strengths, travails and triumphs; Johnny Cash's spiritual core attributed to his characterization as an American icon.

 Walk the Line

In the fall of 2005, the life of Johnny Cash (and June Carter Cash) made it to the silver screen.  Director James Mangold’s vision of telling the Man in Black’s story had finally grown to fruition.  A story of human tragedy, turmoil, and triumph, Walk the Line exposed Cash’s life for what it was—bittersweet.  The story followed young J.R. Cash from his humble upbringing in rural Arkansas to his life as a musician and his love for June.   The movie did not just paint a pretty picture of Cash, it also revealed his faults and bad decisions.  Mangold used film to create a narrative to tell a love story. And fair to Cash’s legacy, without blatantly pointing to the fact, the film carried overtones that spirituality was a vital part of Cash's and Carter’s lives.  The movie illustrated that human urge often works against better judgment at various times in one’s life. 

James Mangold was fortunate in that he had John and June to guide the story in the last few years of their lives.  Cash and Carter had already written autobiographies, but their input was elemental in the authenticity of their stories.  Mangold said in an interview, “John [told me]…I don’t care where you go. I just don’t want to hurt other people…These where my mistakes, so if you’re going to make anyone look bad, make it me” (NPR).  The director saw something genuine in telling the story of man who yielded to the forbidden fruits of drugs and desire, but somehow—someway he rose above.  In the DVD extras of the movie, Mangold told of the time he talked to John after June had passed away.  Mangold said, “I asked [John] what his favorite film was and he told me, ‘Frankenstein… because it’s a story about a man made up of all those bad parts and yet he still tries to do something decent.’”  The director continued, “I think all his life…[John] felt like he was struggling against the fact he was made up of the bad parts… against his nature he was fighting to be good” (Walk Extras).

Johnny Cash understood what it was to be "lesser than."  Cash's upbringing helped him easily identify with those less fortunate.  Cash grew up poor, had battles with drug habits, and knew what it was like to be an “average Joe.”  Lawrence W. Levine noted that there is crucial information in understanding the “soundless voices” that have fallen through the cracks of historical documentation (1369).  Levine illustrated “that by examining folklore one could recover the voices of the historically inarticulate” (1369-70).  What he means here is there is more to history than just studying well known figures like Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, or even Johnny Cash.  American culture is in its “songs, tales, proverbs, jokes[, etc,]” and should be given a closer look to know what is important to the culture as a whole (1369).  Johnny Cash was doing this outside of academia for his entire career.  His songs lamented about everyday sinners and saints, and the need to represent them.  Cash's 1971 ballad for the downtrodden, “Man in Black” exposed the somber reality that life has a gray lining and someone needs to sing about it.  In an interview after the famous Folsom Prison concert, Johnny’s wife June Carter said, “You know why the prisoners like Johnny so much?  They know he’s been in trouble before and looks as mean as they do.  They identify with him” (Virginia Quarterly 226).  John empathized with those bound in literal lockdown, as well as metaphorical prisons.  “Man in Black,” said so eloquently what his years of poetry had already symbolized.  John wore black for “the poor, the prisoner, those without Jesus, those held back, the sick and reckless, and the dead” (Black 200-01).  The black he wore was not only an element of his mystique, it also represented a voice of those who cannot speak.  Cash's use of black was not for its ominous darkness, but rather, he used black as a beacon of light—in reverent respect for those oppressed by the conditions of living in a callous world.

Mangold used Walk the Line to show the dark and light sides of Johnny Cash.  He exposed Cash's sinister side by reinacting his drug fueled rages, when he tore apart his dressing rooms, and the infidelity to his first wife Vivian.  James Mangold also highlighted the humanitarian side of Johnny Cash when he played for society’s castoffs; the prisoners.  Cash was more than just a “bad boy” who sang "Cocaine Blues" and "Understand Your Man," he was “a man after God’s own heart” who sang "Greystone Chapel" and "Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)." 

 Johnny Cash “salutes” country music

 On March 14, 1998 Billboard magazine published a controversial advertisement featuring a photo of Johnny Cash, but there was an ironic twist.  The twist was that Johnny Cash and his record label, American Recordings, had purchased the ad (USA Today 2D).  The now infamous picture of Johnny Cash “flipping the bird” had reached a new audience and solidified a rebel image of the Man in Black.  This image is the “Cash” that many people identify with, but is largely inaccurate to the real man Johnny Cash embodied.  Originally the ad was to “poke” fun at the way contemporary country music and country music radio had treated the old-timers of Music Row and the lack of airplay on syndicated radio.  The message of the advertisement was temporary but the image has had long term popularity among many people, particularly white North American men under 40 years of age.  This iconic photograph has taken on a new identity and reinforces the American ideal of what is it to be “manly” and how American values have sculpted a new definition of masculinity.

Cash's finger wagging conjures the feelings of, what Gail Bederman outlined as, one way of looking at masculinity.  She documented that some historians believe that turn-of-the (twentieth) century manhood has been “characterized by chest-thumping virility” (Manhood 7).  That societal illusion is still present today and is reflected in Cash’s gesture.  In the essay, “Reading the Visual Record,” Elspeth Brown talked about the importance of historicizing the image (367) and the need to get at the deeper meaning of an image by asking probing questions focusing on the  “How” and “Why” (369).  The original photograph of Cash was taken by Jim Marshall in 1969 during a Johnny Cash concert at San Quentin prison (Rueters).  The historical context of the image is significant in that it places relevance to the underlying “Why” the picture is presented in such a pose.  1969 was full of late sixties dramatics.  By this time the media now documented outspoken ideals and made them public for others to hear and see.  Vietnam was still hot on the minds of Americans and the Civil Rights movement was just a few years prior.  With these kinds of contemporary issues occurring in America at the time, it’s hard to imagine Johnny Cash playing at an adrenaline soaked show in a maximum security penitentiary, and him NOT flipping off the camera in protest to the treatment of prisoners and the general presence of authority.  All entertainers are products of exhibition once they take the stage, so playing for a packed room of prisoners, in many ways, raised the bar of “giving the people what they came for.”  The context of the image exposes the intensity of the performance for a locked down room of convicts.  At the time the original photo was shot, the “chest-thumping” middle finger was more oriented to the notion that others should protest what binds society.  The post-1998 interpretation has taken on a more individualist, acrimonious, personal feeling of acting on impulse.  This is a direct contradiction to early nineteenth century views of masculinity that “to build a strong manly ‘character’… [was] through repetitive exercises of control over impulse” (Bederman 11).   

Understanding the context of the era in which the image is viewed greatly articulates the understanding of what the image means at that particular time.  This factor is important in understanding who America thinks Johnny Cash is for each time period.  Ever since the troops returned home from World War II, the American culture and its ideals have progressively changed.  America moved away from the idea of teamwork and collaborative efforts, to the idea of self serving success and providing only for one’s immediate self (self and family of the home).  The America of the 1940’s was not the same as the late 1960’s America, just as the America of the late 1960’s was not the same as Y2K America.  America today has gone global; connected to anywhere within seconds.  This turn of events has accelerated the growth of a self-centered, self-serving society.  The image of Johnny Cash flipping the bird has changed from “f—k you authority” (1969) to “f—k you country music establishment (1998) to simply “f—k you” (modern day).  When American Recordings published the ad in 1998, the internet had newfound popularity and widespread accessibility.  The image went viral and developed a new meaning in the process.  Not very many people know that the photograph was taken at San Quentin in 1969 or that the Billboard ad was to draw awareness to the lack of airplay for seasoned country artists, it simply became an image of acrimony, an anger-filled impatience for a different point of view.  Most people who wear the t-shirt, have the poster on their wall, or set the image as a screen saver could do little to tell about the image’s origin (nor do they care); it merely became popular just because Johnny Cash said “f—k you.”             

Jay Mechling wrote about culture and that the people who participate within a culture “have agreed to an implicit contract to behave according to the rules of the frame for as long as they sustain the frame” (20).  This means that within each culture and each subsection of each culture, there is an unspoken agreement to participate under unspoken rules.  The culture sets those rules and the figurative body acts according to those rules.  Lawrence W. Levine said that “people are no more likely to be the exclusive architects of their own expressive cultures than of their own houses or furniture or clothing” (1373).  In a nutshell, these authors are saying that living within a culture is all about adaptation.  Johnny Cash’s aggressive display caught on film has been repurposed and readapted to fit into the “contract” of being “cool.”  Under the umbrella of a certain culture, the agreement is, “Anger and quick tempers are cool” and “Johnny Cash is tough,” this takes on the life that “being tough and quick to rage” are acceptable traits and Johnny Cash’s image represents that mentality.  Similar to the workers in remote camps of rural Florida that changed the words and music to satisfy the community’s own singers (Levine 1377), Johnny Cash’s mythical image has been reappropriated beyond its original context.

Ideas of what it is to be “manly” and masculine change from time to time, often contradicting previous eras.  Johnny Cash’s photo depicts a modern meaning of “what it means to be a man” to many people.  It would not be a far-fetched notion to imagine Cash pumping his chest right before he gestured the camera.  Though this likeness of The Man in Black may represent ideal maleness to some men, it would not be fair to say this is the only way men view Johnny Cash.  There are several ways to interpret Cash’s manhood and how his status as an icon defined modern maleness.  John's gentler side also exemplified another facet of masculinity, "manning up to address social issues."  It takes courage to stand up to the status quo and speak out about injustices.  Johnny Cash's personal and spiritual convictions lead him to vocalize about various inequalities.  He formed his career around those ideals.

 More than himself

The name "Johnny Cash" evokes images of hard luck and  rebellion, righteousness and poverty.  Those elements symbolized Cash’s legacy that tackled the inequalities of classes. He sang about political issues, but never sided with one particular political party.  Johnny Cash’s career embraced the somber reality that life is not always a happy ending; sometimes there are dire consequences for skirting the straight and narrow, but even in the wake of bad decisions, God loves anyway.  Most know him as the man who sang about prison and trains, but few know about the gospel side of Johnny Cash.  Two recent films to come out in this millennium, feature film Walk the Line (2005) and documentary The Gospel Music of Johnny Cash: A Story of Faith and Redemption (2007), captured the essence of Johnny Cash as a man of complexity, but also as a man of great spirituality.  Cash’s spiritual foundation fueled his compassion for the unfairness of society.  Johnny Cash’s story was not specifically a drama about a celebrity, it was more the expression of a human matter.

Many influences helped sculpt the importance of religion in Cash’s life.  From his humble beginnings in the Delta of the Mississippi River, born in Kingland and raised in Dyess, Arkansas, God was not far from Johnny Cash (Cash.com).  His mother would read the Bible and sing hymnals to the children of the Cash household.  John’s older brother Jack even wanted to become a preacher (Black 31).  Tragically that would not happen, for Jack died in a sawmill accident at age 14 (Black 47).  The loss of his brother gnawed at Johnny Cash’s psyche and propelled him to live a more purposed life.  He felt the need to live for two people, himself and his late brother Jack.  The melancholy of his loss permeated through his songwriting and the way he sang the songs.

Several accounts distinguished Johnny Cash as a man—a human being—and not just a superstar.  His interactions with others (famous and non-famous) gave voice to his humble position that we are all created equal in the eyes of the Lord.  The well-known Folsom Prison concert was a good example of how Johnny Cash put words into actions.  While he was reinventing himself—kicking the drug habit—he extended himself to the plight of others.  He recognized the Biblical significance of “visiting the prisoner” and that Folsom was where he needed to go.  Likewise, San Quentin was not far behind. 

Those recorded concerts were not the first time John played for the men of lockdown, he had played prisons before the live records publicized the fact.  In a chance occurrence, Merle Haggard was an inmate in the audience when Cash played at San Quentin early in his career.  Merle remembered it fondly, “Johnny Cash came to San Quentin and the year was 1958…of course I became a Johnny Cash fan” (Walk Extras).  After Merle became a free man, he became a country musician.  Early on, Merle was ashamed of his past, but as MerleHaggard.com reports, “I didn’t want to talk about being in prison but Cash said I should talk about it.  He said ‘It’s just owning up to it’” (Bio 2).  Merle Haggard’s story shows that John cared for humanity. 

On the day that Johnny Cash died, Bob Schieffer said, “He just knew life was hard, and we knew that he knew.  That’s why he gave hope to anyone who ever went through a hard time…what you saw on TV was what you saw when cameras turned away” (227). Bob Schieffer’s eulogy connected Johnny Cash to real people.  In the 1970’s, long before Cash had became a cultural icon, the outlaw David Allan Coe tipped his hat to Mr. Cash in his famous song “Longhaired Redneck.”  Spoken with a universal sentiment and with a Cash-esque "boom-chicka-boom," Coe’s “Johnny Cash helped me get out of prison” said what many felt in seven simple words.  Johnny Cash’s drummer of nearly forty years, W.S. “Fluke” Holland characterized Johnny as “the man dressed in black.  Came down the road with a Bible in his hand, guitar on his back” (TN3). These first hand experiences from several people across the American spectrum were eyewitness accounts that testified to the character that beamed from Mr. Cash’s spirit.  Johnny Cash's spiritual core permeated from him even when he wasn't "testifying."

Old Time Religion

Music has long been an essential part of worship.  The Pentecostal mannerisms that shaped Rock and Roll (and Country) music seeped into Cash’s melodic portfolio.  Craig Mosher’s essay, “Ecstatic Sounds: The Influence of Pentecostalism on Rock and Roll,” documented the intensity of worship regenerated into the passions of Rock and Roll.  Johnny Cash and many of Rock and Roll’s forefathers came from the Heartland of America.  Religion, especially conservative religions like Pentecostalism, Holiness, Church of God, and even Baptism, have long been strong in the moralistic “Bible Belt.”  These ingredients assisted in the flourishing of a newfound sound.  Contrary to the Cash mystique, many sources account that Johnny Cash was passionate to record gospel music from the very beginning of his career.  Cash lamented, "[In 1954] I told [Sun Records owner] Sam Phillips on the telephone that I was a gospel singer... Once we were in the studio, I sang 'I Was There When It Happened'...[and] Belshazzar" (Cash 101).  Phillips balked at the idea.  Sam said, “I love those hymns and gospel songs, too, John, but we have to sell records to stay in business” (Black 74).  Cash revealed in his first book, Man in Black, that his love for the gospel developed as child from his love of the worship music in the rural (Pentecostal based) Church of God, "They'd have guitar, mandolin, and banjo to accompany the singing...As far as I was concerned, the service might as well have ended when the songs were over... the music carried me up above the mud, the work, and the hot sun" (Black 25,31) (Mosher 102).

Through the Johnny Cash gospel documentary, the viewer can see Johnny Cash in a different light.  The information has always been out there, but the film compiles those accounts from a narrative perspective.  Religion in Cash’s life is relevant because it breathes new life into the subject of Johnny Cash.  Johnny Cash’s life is now a fabled story of poverty and success, defeat and redemption and how God used him for a greater purpose.

Cash’s spiritual compass may have been recalibrated after he sidelined his drug habit, but even before he gave up the pills, he tried to walk in the steps of Jesus without being noticed.  Longtime friend of Cash, Bill Miller, reported the story of Johnny Cash providing for those without.  He said, “On a summer night in the 1960’s, the Johnny Cash Show was in town for a performance at the local high school gymnasium… Tommy Cash, who was part of the show…found Johnny walking slowly and peering deliberately into each of the mesh-wire lockers, a rolled $100 bill tucked between his thumb and index finger… [Cash said] ‘I’m looking for the dirtiest, rattiest tennis shoes I can find… I figure the boy could use this’” (Miller 45).

Once Johnny Cash rebuked his addiction to amphetamines, he focused on being a better Christian—even when it wasn’t popular.  Harold Reid of the Statler Brothers told of the time when Johnny Cash used his show as an outlet to have a full on gospel celebration with several gospel singers singing, “When the Saints Go Marching In.”   Harold said, “It was certainly a bold move to do a whole Gospel show, but I’m sure that ABC was not jumping up and down in New York saying, ‘This is great, we’ve got a Southern Gospel music show going on the network’” (Gospel).  From the 1970’s and throughout his career until the day he died, Cash stood solid on his personal beliefs.  In 1972 Johnny Cash fully funded, co-wrote, and produced a film portraying the life of Christ called The Gospel Road.  He also contributed to bulk of the soundtrack (Road).  Through the 1980's Cash spent several years writing a historical novel about the apostle Paul's change from a zealot to an advocate for Jesus Christ (White 10).  Moved to continue in the steps of the righteous, in 1990 John recorded the entire New Testament for those to hear (New).  He said of the experience, "[Recording the New Testament had] long been my dream... I have strived against reading any personal interpretation... Give it a try and share with me a new dimension of blessing (New).  The endearing element to his convictions was that he did not harbor judgment of those who choose not to believe.  John thanked non-believers in the introduction of his novel about the apostle Paul, Man in White (1986).  He said, “Thanks to the agnostic, the atheists, the unconcerned, and the uncaring.  These…have been…inspiring” (White 1).  He saw the need to improve and use his knowledge to hopefully persuade them into believing what he believed to be truth.  In Man in Black (1975), Cash said, “if only one person can be saved from the death of drugs, if only one person turns to God through the story which I tell, it will all have been worthwhile” (Black 14).  Johnny Cash saw the benefits of redemption in faith, not damnation.

In the twilight of Cash’s career, he found new ways to subconsciously relay a message of a higher source.  Like the fans who have repurposed Cash’s image to their own meanings, John used modern secular songs to convey a gospel message.  Two great examples of such work were in his covers of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” and Nine Inch Nails “Hurt.”  He even changed the line, "I wear this crown of shit," in Trent Reznor's "Hurt" to "I wear this crown of thorns."  John would also use his final years to record songs that had deep spiritual connotations, like "God's Gonna Cut You Down."  Cash's faith did not waver, it only gained strength through the years.  And just as Walk the Line orchestrated, June Carter helped him along the way.  Much like the grandfather who knows just what to say at just the right time, Johnny Cash used his talent to uncondemningly preach to a Godless world. 

Modern Day Jekyll and Hyde

There is a duality in Johnny Cash’s public persona.  One is the fiery, middle-finger-slingin’ rebel outlaw that bucks authority and empathizes with the working folk, and the other is the stoic, Lincoln-esque man of faith who stands firm upon his spiritual conviction.  The two polarities combined in one man to symbolize a twentieth century “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”  John Wooley, who co-authored the article, “The Man, the Myth, the Legend,” described Johnny Cash as, “the Abraham Lincoln of country music…his craggy countenance would look right at home on Mount Rushmore…He’s about the closest thing country [music] has to a true statesman” (14).  Longtime friend Kris Kristofferson said of Cash, “I used to call him Abe Lincoln with a wild side.  He had all the integrity and the power of one the fathers of our country, but he was a wild man!” (Walk Extras). 

This Abraham Lincoln comparison is interesting in that it further mythifies the idea of Johnny Cash beyond human tangibility.  John Cougar recognized that there is a myth that surrounds Johnny Cash.  He said, “I’m not even sure the John Cash I think of really ever existed because he, in my mind, is such a mythical person” (WalkExtras).  For many people Cash was an American pillar, and the idea of an America without The Man in Black was unfathomable.  Record exec Andy McLenon said on September 12, 2003, the day Johnny Cash died, “I guess I’ll try to get numbly through the day as I start trying to adjust to the total alien concept of a world without Johnny Cash in it” (Circle 345).  Johnny Cash became an American icon, outside of space and time.  Ironically just like Abraham Lincoln and many other founding fathers, Johnny Cash transcended from a child born in rural Arkansas into an ideological representation of what America can be.

It should be noted, Johnny Cash was not always looked upon in a reverent light.  In the story, “Folsom Prison Blues,” Gene Beley chronicled, “Before the Folsom Prison album changed his life, our newspaper tended to write negative stories about Cash” (219).  Inevitably, fans choose what kind of persona the celebrity will have.  Now that Johnny Cash is gone, fans seem to fixate on all the redeeming qualities and hardly mention his fallacies.  Johnny Cash was a little different, in that, his bad decisions helped sculpt “who” he was; the idea that he was in love with another woman while he was married and the fact that he had a drug problem that gnawed on him even after he was sober—were valuable characteristics to Cash fans.  Erika Doss mentions in her book, Elvis Culture: Fans, Faith, & Image, that “Elvis…is an American emblem, and debates and conflicts over who Elvis is and what he means are comparable to the debates and conflicts over what America is and what America means.  If an ‘official’ image of Elvis comes to dominate… Elvis will just wind up joining all the other hollow American icons, from George Washington to JFK” (259).  Doss goes on to say, “If Elvis remains elastic… [he] may well survive into the twenty-first century as America’s premiere icon” (259).  The same held true for Johnny Cash, yet in a way, he remained elastic through his human idiosyncrasies, but also joined the realm of America’s “hollow icons” through his mythified stature.  This flexibility allowed Cash to be “Abraham Lincoln with a wild side” and regular “John Cash” all at the same time.

Religion in Cash’s life was always of great importance.  In Man in Black he said, “It takes a lot of faith to walk daily with Jesus Christ… [I went] through a long period of running from Him—never denial, but lots of running” (Black 39).  John’s spirituality was just as important to his career as his image of rebellion.  His faith was an important factor that separated him from his peers because it gave new ways to understand his connection to people of all classes.  Johnny Cash’s life was a fabled story of poverty and success, defeat and redemption and how God used him for a greater purpose.  There’s a saying that, “God loves the sinner, but hates the sin.”  Cash’s spirituality compelled him to do the same.  Johnny Cash’s presence and moral character had a profound way of encouraging others—whether a pauper or a president, a close friend or fan by television and radio—his personality challenged those to be a better individual.  He knew that: “There is no better light by which to read what is really on a person’s face than a spotlight.  From the beginning I realized the importance of staying straight and walking with God, not only for myself, but as an influence on others” (Black 77). 

Ultimately Johnny Cash was just as complex as those who find themselves outside of the limelight.  Johnny Cash represented American masculinity, but a different kind of maleness.  America has long been a country of contradiction—Johnny Cash was too.  Johnny Cash embodied America's strong sense of spirituality, the deep seated faith in Christianity,  Both abide by the motto that there is hope and redemption should we backslide.  America still harbors hate, class hierarchy, corruption and more, but Johnny Cash built a bridge to commonality among peoples of differing views.  Johnny Cash played the Devil’s advocate but also preached a higher goal.  America hates war but also produces war to defend freedom.  Johnny Cash was a bad husband and unfaithful to his first wife, but he also loved and cherished his second wife until he met his maker.  America is strong yet fallible.  Johnny Cash was sturdy yet vulnerable.  Johnny Cash is America.  His legacy still carries on today.

Works Cited

Abargle. "YouTube - "Belshazzar" by Johnny Cash." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 30 July 2009.

          Web. 8 Dec. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pAvKBwCTTU>.

AlanPaladin. "YouTube - UNDERSTAND YOUR MAN by JOHNNY CASH."

          YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 4 Jan. 2008. Web. 12 Dec. 2010.

          <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipjaLMd8TqM>.

American Recordings. Johnny Cash advertisement. Digital image. 27 June 2006. Web. 10 Dec. 2010.

          <http://scottmcdaniel.org/w/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/johnnycash.jpg>.

"Americanwiki / Civil Rights Act of 1964." Americanwiki / FrontPage. Ed. PBworks. 2008. Web.

          13 Dec. 2010. <http://americanwiki.pbworks.com/w/page/12595212/Civil-Rights-Act-of-1964>.

"Americanwiki / Class Dynamics and Vietnam War Protest." Americanwiki / FrontPage.

          Ed. Stacy Takacs. 2009. Web. 13 Dec. 2010.      

         <http://americanwiki.pbworks.com/w/page/12595214/Class-Dynamics-and-Vietnam-War-

          Protest>.

Bederman, Gail. Manliness and Civilization. Chicago: U of C Press, 1995. Print. 

Beley, Gene. “Folsom Prison Blues.” Virginia Quarterly Review 81.1 (2005): 218-227.

Biblegateway.com. "Matthew 25:35-36, 44-46 - Passage Lookup - New International Version,

          ©2010 - BibleGateway.com." BibleGateway.com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 100 Versions and 50

          Languages. 2010. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew

          25:35-36, 44-46&version=NIV>.

Billboard. Music News, Reviews, Articles, Information, News Online & Free Music | Billboard.com. 2010. Web.

          12 Dec. 2010. <http://www.billboard.com/#/>.

“Bio.” Merlehaggard.com. Wordpress, 2009. Web. 30 Oct. 2010.

           < http://merlehaggard.com/bio/>

“Biography.” JohnnyCash.com. Bill Miller, 2009. Web. 30 Oct. 2010.

           < http://76.12.177.9/flash//>

Brown, Elspeth H.  “Reading the Visual Record.” Looking For America. Ed. Ardis Cameron.

          Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005. 362-370. Print.

BVMTVOutlawCountry. "YouTube - Johnny Cash - God's Gonna Cut You Down." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

          2010. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxh-FfElY0M>.

Carters01. "YouTube - Johnny Cash - I Was There When It Happened THP 1958." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

          2 Mar. 2007. Web. 8 Dec. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EaYzJFuXRM>.

Cash, Johnny. Cash: The Autobiography. New York: HarperCollins, 1997. Print.

---. Man in Black. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975. Print.

---. Man in White. New York: HarperCollins, 1986. Print.

---. Johnny Cash Read the Complete New Testament. Nelson, 1990. CD.

Coe, David Allan. “Longhaired Redneck.” David Allan Coe—17 Greatest Hits. Columbia, 1985.

          CD.

Conner, Thomas, and John Wooley. “The Man, the Myth, the Legend.” Tulsa World

          29 November 1996: 14. Print.

Costra88. "YouTube - Johnny Cash - Cocaine Blues." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 9 June 2008. Web.

          12 Dec. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq344ks1ieg>.

Doss, Erika.  Elvis Culture: Fans, Faith, & Image.  Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1999.

          Print. 

Earl, Andy. Johnny Cash - Hands. Digital image. Andyearl.com. 2008. Web. 13 Dec. 2010.

          <http://www.andyearl.com/music/music/johnny.html>.

Frankierocks1. "YouTube - Johnny Cash Hurt." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 20 June 2009. Web. 12 Dec. 2010.

          <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clq01TXQR0s>. 

Fritz. Johnny Cash Middle Finger by Jim Marshall. Digital image. Blog.albumartexchange.com.

          24 Mar. 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2010.

          <http://blog.albumartexchange.com/2010/03/rock-photographer-jim-marshall-passes-away.html>.

The Gospel Music of Johnny Cash: A Story of Faith and Redemption. Dir. Michael Meriman.

          Spring House Music Group, 2007. DVD.

The Gospel Road. Dir. Robert Elfstrom. Twentieth Century Fox, 1972. DVD.

Hill, J P. Johnny Cash Wallflower. 2010. Photograph. Virginia Beach, VA. 2010. Web. 5 Dec. 2010. 

          http://americanwiki.pbworks.com/f/cash.jpg.

Hymns by Johnny Cash. Digital image. Yahoo Musik. 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2010.

          <http://new.de.music.yahoo.com/johnny-cash/albums/hymns-by-johnny-cash--60516647.

Janson Media. "YouTube - The Gospel Music of Johnny Cash - Trailer." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

          7 Jan. 2009. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-4U9bOcNoM>.

Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, 1968. 1968. Digital image. The Selvedge Yard. 6 Nov. 2009. Web. 10 Dec. 2010.

          <http://theselvedgeyard.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/johnny_cash_folsom_prison_10-x600.jpg>.

Johnny Cash Is a Friend of Mine. Digital image. Ebay.com. 99volts.com, 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2010.

          <http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=380298055686>.

"Johnny Cash Memorabilia up for Auction in L.A.| Reuters." Reuters.com. 26 Oct. 2010. Web. 30 Nov. 2010.

          <http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69P07620101026>.

JohnnyCashVEVO. "YouTube - Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 01 Nov. 2009.

          Web. 5 Dec. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr0Vt7E7U7w>.

Kingsbury, Paul, and Alanna Nash. Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music in America.

          New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2006. Print.

Levine, Lawrence W. “The Folklore of Industrial Society: Popular Culture and Its Audiences.”

          The American Historical Review 97.5 (1992): 1369-1399.

Mangold, James. Interview with Steve Inskeep. Morning Edition. NPR, 2005. Web.

          21 October 2010.

Mechling, Jay. “Some [New] Elementary Axioms for an American Cultur[al] Studies.”

          American Studies 38.2 (1997): 9-30. 

Miller, Bill, Mark Vancil, and Jacob Hoye. Cash, an American Man. New York: Pocket, 2004. Print.

Mosher, Craig. “Ecstatic Sounds: The Influence of Pentecostalism on Rock and Roll.”

          Popular Music and Society 31.1 (2008): 95-112.

NonoKun21. "YouTube - Walk the Line Trailer." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 21 Aug. 2008. Web. 10 Dec. 2010.

          <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsvZGwd8vrI>.

Odysee. "YouTube - Johnny Cash - Personal Jesus." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 19 May 2007. Web.

          12 Dec. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQcNiD0Z3MU>.

Peterfrovik. "YouTube - Where You There When They Crucified My Lord." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

          17 Apr. 2007. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmBqIlXUo2A>.

Poush, Dan. Johnny Cash outside the Gates of Folsom State Prison. Photograph.

          BlueHorizon Productions Photography. 2009. Web. 13 Dec. 2010.

          <http://www.petecosenza.com/images/JohnnyCash1_large.jpg>.

Schieffer, Bob. Bob Shieffer’s America. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2008. Print.

SirHonII. "YouTube - Johnny Cash - The Gospel Road." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 31 May 2007. Web.

          13 Dec. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbIBEvSIYrQ&feature=related>.

Smerlinare. "YouTube - Greystone Chapel, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

          20 Jan. 2009. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udDNtOf_wrM>.

State of California. "CDCR - Folsom State Prison (FSP) - Home Page/Mission Statement." State of California.

          2010. Web. 8 Dec. 2010. <http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Facilities_Locator/FSP.html>.

State of California. "CDCR - San Quentin State Prison (SQ) - Home Page/Mission Statement." State of California.

          2010. Web. 5 Dec. 2010. <http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Facilities_Locator/SQ.html>.

Statler Brothers. The Statler Brothers Official Web Site - Country Music Hall of Famers. 2010. Web.

          12 Dec. 2010. <http://www.statlerbrothers.com/>.

Staum607. "YouTube - Aint No Grave - Johnny Cash." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 24 Feb. 2010. Web.

          5 Dec. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPmxg2j6Ri4&feature=related>.

Stewdbaker001. "YouTube - Long Haired Redneck - David Allan Coe." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

          22 Dec. 2008. Web. 8 Dec. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOP8j8vJAkE>. 

Sun Records. "About." Sun Record Company | Where Rock & Roll Was Born! 2009. Web. 10 Dec. 2010.

          <http://www.sunrecords.com/about>.

Tennessee Three. “A Legend.” The Sound Must Go On. TN3, 2006. CD.

TheCaveman57. "YouTube - JOHNNY CASH 1989 TALKS ABOUT PT 8 RECORDING THE NEW

          TESTAMENT." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 11 Oct. 2009. Web. 13 Dec. 2010.

          <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH__YvuZi0M>.

Thomas, Karen. “Cash Fingers Critics.” USA Today 13 March 1998: 2D. Print.

Twentieth Century Fox. Walk the Line. Digital image. Imdb.com. 19 Apr. 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2010.

          <http://www.imdb.com/media/rm244157696/tt0358273>.

Walk the Line. Dir. James Mangold.   Twentieth Century Fox, 2006. DVD.

"Walk the Line." Imdb.com. Imdb.com, Inc, 2010. Web. 30 November 2010. 

          <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0358273/>