John R. Cash was an American country singer-songwriter. Most of Cash's music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. He was known for his deep, calm, bass-baritone voice, the distinctive sound of his backing band, The Tennessee Three, that was characterized by its train-like chugging guitar rhythms, a rebelliousness coupled with an increasingly somber and humble demeanor, and his free prison concerts. Cash wore a trademark all-black stage wardrobe, which earned him the nickname as the "Man in Black".
Cash in 1977
Cash's boyhood home in Dyess, Arkansas, where he lived from the age of three in 1935 until he finished high school in 1950. The property, pictured here in 2021, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The home was renovated in 2011 to look as it did when Cash lived there as a child.
Publicity photo for Sun Records, 1955
Cash on the cover of Cash Box magazine, September 7, 1957
Country is a music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is primarily focused on singing stories about working-class and blue-collar American life.
Vernon Dalhart was the first country star to have a major hit record
The Carter Family are a dynasty of country music and began with (left to right) A.P. Carter, wife Sara Carter and Maybelle Carter
Roy Acuff
Publicity photo of Roy Rogers and Gail Davis, 1948