Johnny Cash died 10 years ago today. When I told my son, who was six at the time, Jake’s response was a strange combination of sadness and resignation. Turns out he’d hoped to one day take guitar lessons from the Man in Black.
Cash’s career gives us plenty of fodder for marking the occasion of his passing—from the early days when he led the Tennessee Three to his live performances at Folsom Prison and San Quentin to the Rick Rubin-produced “comeback” albums at the end of his career. (“Hurt,” from 2002’s The Man Comes Around, still gives me goosebumps.)
But to me, the full measure of Cash’s genius is seen in those he influenced:
