Johnny Cash: The Biography

An American legend's biographer must keep the story compelling and fresh, inserting new interviews, revealing details and a delicate balance of respect and criticism. Streissguth (Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison) delivers all three elements with unflinching insight into the Man in Black's life and career, drawing from the archive of Cash's former manager, the late Saul Holiff; extensive interviews with Cash's longtime record producer and collaborator, Jack Clement; the only surviving member of the original Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, bassist Marshall Grant; and numerous childhood friends and family members. Unlike the 2005 film Walk the Line, which concludes with a clean and sober Cash, this book examines the singer's continued substance abuse well into the '70s and '80s, chronicling also the singer's dedication to Christianity, his extramarital dalliances, his reliance on outside songwriters and his banishment to the tourist haven of Branson, Mo. Streissguth writes with elegance, even when citing conflicting information and details that taint Cash's image. His treatment of Cash's relationship with wife June Carter Cash, who preceded her husband's 2003 death by five months, is particularly revealing. The author also weaves his own observations and reviews of the man's work into the text and sustains interest throughout-even though readers already know how this story ends-making this an exemplary music bio for fans of the man, the music or the genre.