Review by Mike Gange

Ring of Fire: The Johnny Cash Reader
edited by Michael Streissguth
Da Capo Press, $39.50, 310 pages

As a young Telegraph Journal reporter in the 1970's, I was assigned to interview Johnny Cash during one of his tours to New Brunswick. I waited outside his hotel for two hours in the hot summer sun. Finally, Mr. Cash drove up in his motor home and I introduced myself. He shook my hand and introduced me graciously to his wife, June Carter, in a tone that suggested she was the real star of the show and he was just along for the ride. Mr. Cash, then the host of an ABC television program and one of the most successful of all country stars, apologized for keeping me waiting. And, in spite of having driven most of the day, Mr. Cash agreed to an interview on the spot, and insisted we sit down on the curb in front of the hotel. I was charmed by his unpretentiousness and his openness.

Ring of Fire: The Johnny Cash Reader, edited by Michael Streissguth, shows that same charming side of the perennially popular singer/songwriter. Mr. Cash, who turned 70 this past February, is immortalized in more than 30 articles by a variety of well known music writers whose stories span four decades and show us aspects of Mr. Cash’s character. Mr. Streissguth weaves these stories together to tell a poignant tale of how Johnny Cash went from rural Arkansas farm boy to Sun Records up-and-comer backed up (at first) by "The Tennessee Two" to Nashville’s Grand Ol’ Opry recording and performing star. Mr. Streissguth humbly says he lets the other writers tell their stories because many voices make for a better observation. In this case he is absolutely right.

Ring of Fire contains many powerful stories. Johnny Cash’s own account of realizing how many times he’d been arrested is an eye opener. While playing Las Vegas, Mr. Cash had to complete a Nevada state work permit. The form asked "Have you ever been arrested? When? Where? For what?" He had to turn the page over to complete the list and when he saw it written there in ink, it finally dawned on Mr. Cash he had been arrested seven years in a row for drunkenness and pill abuse. Mr. Cash touchingly and candidly relates in the story how the kindness of strangers and his own belief in God got him through those hard times.

While all of the stories are well written, one in particular is a nugget worth sharing. Writer Dan McCullough takes his two buddies, Bobby and Gordon, both of whom are teenagers with Down’s Syndrome, to see their long time hero, Johnny Cash. He arranges through some media contacts to get Mr. Cash to meet the two backstage at the Boston Garden arena for an autograph, prior to a performance. Mr. Cash and the two boys chat merrily for half an hour until the band calls him to get ready to go on stage. Just at the last minute, the two special boys tell Mr. Cash they pray for him every night.

Mr. McCullough writes: "Cash couldn’t speak. His eyes filled up. He looked at me, reached over, took me by the arm and shook my hand. "Thanks," he said. "Thanks very much." I didn’t feel much like talking myself. We turned and walked away. Cash hollered after us, "What song would you boys like to hear?" Bobby and Gordon said at once, "Ring of Fire." Minutes later, we were in our seats with the other 15 000 fans as Cash strode on stage. I don’t have to tell what his first song was, do I?" writes Mr. McCullough.

Johnny Cash’s perseverance and charisma have taken him a long way from his hard scrabble childhood on a subsistence farm. One of the stories relates how Mr. Cash, while in jail, had to sing all night long to keep a mentally unbalanced but physically powerful cell-mate from going berserk and breaking Mr. Cash’s neck. Michael Streissguth lets stories like this show us that Mr. Cash is no high falutin’ country star, but a singer with personal foibles whose work is a reflection of his life and experiences. Johnny Cash has certainly had his moments when he was a scoundrel and they are mentioned but not dwelled upon here. Most of the stories are about his strength of character and his charm. Unpretentious and honest, the entertaining journalism pieces Mr. Streissguth has chosen are truly as good as gold.

Mike Gange teaches media studies and journalism at Fredericton High.