Johnny Cash the Life of an American Icon

by Stephen Miller

Book Overview

From his legendary 50s Sun recordings to his latterday classic American albums, Johnny Cash was always the country voice of rock. This is his amazing story - Stephen Miller's vivid account of the life... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0711996261
• ISBN13: 9780711996267
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: Omnibus Press
• Length: 406 Pages
• Weight: 2.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

GREAT BOOK ABOUT A COUNTRY LEGEND!

It is worth to read this book about "Johnny Cash". Very detailled and well known described. I love it!

You can feel Johnny Cash's pain!

With an intention to skim, I became wrapped up in the life of Johnny Cash. This was a complete chronicle that focuses more on the entertainment side of Cash's life. Cash endured lots of pain that starts with losing his brother in a freak accident, the self destruction of a druggie lifestyle, trials & tribulations of trying to stay musically on top, exhaustive touring, pain of aging, and most of all, the anguish of poor health with debilitating disease. You won't get too much out of the very personal deeper relationship with June, only what we already knew, how she struggled to save him from himself. There is very little about his daughters, in fact, there are no pictures of the daughters except Roseanne. We only learn how absent he was in their lives, and while he was home, he was still absent! It was rumored that June was not the best singer and their son John Carter Cash lacked talent too. As a singer, Carter Cash's voice was weak compared to his father's. In the book, the author provides some quotes of sharp criticism toward young Carter Cash. Johnny Cash kept family close and they always performed with him. Many aspects of Cash's life were covered chronologically. Knowing how celebrity stories change through the years, the author provided more than one interpretation of an incident. What I appreciated is that the author gave several versions, interpretations, or stories about the man and incidences, because with celebrities, several versions exist. This book reveals so much about the album hits & misses. It is surprising how many albums he made, and how many didn't make it to the top. You get a full sense of his druggie lifestyle, and the damage that goes with that. Much is written about Cash's religious influences and how he incorporated it to his musical career. And then, of course, the health problems, you just can't help but feel his pain. Although Johnny wanted to perform til his was dead, he pretty much did that... and maybe he should not have. It's difficult for us to see our idols age!! An epilogue was inserted to reflect the death of June and mention of Johnny's death on Sept. 12, but there isn't much on the deaths. What is included is a huge selective discography and a lengthy index. The author mainly received his info from sources that included articles, books, etc. It's clear that he didn't get much from the Cash family but did speak with brother Tommy Cash and close friends. Note: Don't get distracted by the use of English spelling, such as recognise, harmonise, programme, etc. If you are into a blow by blow account of his professional and religious life, read this one!.....MzRizz

I Walk The Line...

This is a rather different approach to a biography.The author admits that he never actually met Cash,but researched a lot of what has been written by and about him over the years.It is a good place for someone who doesn't know much about Cash to start and there are numerous references and leads to follow up on.The tone of the book is very much like a textbook and has very little in the way of passion either about Cash or his music.There are a lot of references to liner notes and other written material;but little if anything that is new or original.There is also no indication that the author had any love or admiration for Cash the person or his music;but just decided to review what was available (of which there is an awful lot) and produce a book.It is a good book to add to others about Cash;but is completely overshadowed by "Johnny Cash"the Autobiography with Patrick Carr.(see my review on it). I thought it might hav been titled "An Encyclopedia of Cash";but it is too superficial for that.The list of albums and books is too incomplete for even that.Nonethelessit is still a good read.

Johnny Cash Was America - Great Book

I regret that I wasn't more of a Johnny Cash fan when he was alive. While I owned several of his records, I only had a cursory understanding of his life and the way he wrote songs and made music. After his death, I picked up Stephen Miller's book - the only book currently available that discusses Johnny's passing - and delved into the career of the Man in Black. The author interviewed many of Johnny's friends, his manager Lou Robin, and his brother Tommy. The details seem very accurate, comparing them to Cash's autobiography that I read right after this book. The best parts of the book were discussions of Johnny's early work on Sun Records, his prison concerts (especially San Quentin and Folsom), and his more recent work with the brilliant producer, Rick Rubin. If you're a fan, this book is definitely worth a read.