It's been nearly a dozen years since we lost the most important voice in country music history.

Except, of course, we haven't lost that voice.

Johnny Cash died in September of 2003. And yet that voice echoes throughout country music (and if truth be known, all music). There's probably artist's today that are making country music, or at least their version of it, that don't even know that a man named Cash influenced what they do, who they are.

There are many words to describe The Man In Black. Legendary. Iconic. Bigger than life. But the word I think that makes him the most important artist that country music has ever known is:

Fearless.

Before there was an 'Outlaw Movement' in country music, there was a country music outlaw. And I mean 'Outlaw' in the very best sense of the word.

Johnny Cash was able to do two things to perfection.  He didn't care and he cared a whole lot, both at the same time. He was the epitome of 'telling it like it is', come hell or high water. And he sang about, and lived, both. He was not afraid to talk and sing about his demons and in many ways that made this icon human. And perhaps that's one of the reasons we loved him

And when I say 'we', I mean generations. Think about it: There aren't many artists (or many anything) that my Grandma loved, my Dad loved and I loved, too. And I know that if my kids and Grand Kids listen to Cash, they'll love him, too.

It wasn't long after his passing that Johnny's friends and family took to the stage of the Ryman Auditoium to pay tribute to the man, the legacy. One of his friend's, a legend in his own right, Hank Williams Jr. talked about the man and then paid honor by singing what many consider Johnny's signature song.

It was in the early 1980's that Johnny's longtime label Columbia/Nashville dropped the artist. While Johnny had made Columbia/Nashville, when he was no longer selling millions of albums, they dropped him from the label. Music is a cruel business in many ways. And yet, Johnny went on to record some of his most important music in his later years.

In this video clip from the tribute concert, Sheryl Crow performs her tribute to Johnny Cash, singing his painful and beautiful 'Hurt'.

 

 

But the song that may be the most beautiful Johnny ever recorded was written by a man, a fellow Hall of Famer and friend, Kris Kristofferson. Here Kris talks about his friend and sings 'Sunday Morning Coming Down'.

 

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