Johnny Cash, The Man in Black, the famous singer/songwriter and guitarist. All of his run ins with the law and struggles with drug abuse in his early career helped him establish his “outlaw” image. His music influences the world. This wonderful person was brought to this earth on February 26,1932 in Kingsland, Arkansas. As a son of the poor Southern Baptist sharecroppers, Cash was one of seven kids born to Ray and Carrie Rivers Cash.
Cash was three years old when he and his family moved to Dyess Colony in Northeast Arkansas. His father took advantage of the Roosevelt farm program in order to get his family to Dyess. The Cash family moved into a five bedroom house and farmed twenty acres of cotton and other crops. For the next fifteen years
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He set off to Detroit as a young man in search for a job. He ended up working at an automotive plant in Pontiac, Michigan. He didn't live there for long until he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. He met his first wife (Vivian Liberto) while at basic training.
Johnny Cash was discharged in 1954, he returned to stateside and married his first wife. He and his wife moved to Memphis where cash worked a variety of jobs. While in Memphis, Johnny Cash met a bass player and a guitarist( Marshall Grant and Luther Perkins). They did form a band and were very soon hired to perform once a week on a radio station. Cash toured mostly in the tri state area of Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. He often toured with other artist like Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins. Cash ended up quitting his part time job as an appliance salesman and pursued his music
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The year of 1954 Johnny auditioned as a solo artist for an artist named Sam Phillips’ sun records. There he recorded gospel music for the label. Immediately after that Phillips ditched that idea and by the spring Cash was in the Sun Studios to record with his band The Tennessee Three. Kernodle bailed on Cash’s first release, Hey Porter, which failed to chart. His next song released, Cry Cry Cry, managed to make it to number fourteen on Billboard's top twenty. His music soon made it to the top ten. For example, Cash’s fourth charted single, I Walk The Line, hit Billboard's number one position and stayed there for a total of forty three weeks and selling over two million copies. He had a shock when he noticed that a longtime dream was ahead of him when he was invited to perform on the Grand Ole Opry. By the year of 1957 he was working more than 200 dates a
After his discharge from the army he went back to carnival life. In late 1939 and early 1940 he became the manager of Gene Austin and traveled with Gene's "Models & Melodies" show.
Crump was born October 2, 1874 to a poor family in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Crump attended public schools until the age of fourteen when he dropped out. In 1892 at the age of 18, Crump moved to Memphis. Crump got educated in bookkeeping and worked a few clerical jobs. It was there that he began dating and eventually married his wife Bessie McLean.
In 1884, Joplin left home and traveled the Midwest for some time as an intinerant pianist playing in saloons and brothels. He settled in St. Louis a few years later and continued his studies. He found employment there in the city's prostitution district playing as a cafe pianist.
Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas on February 26, 1932 (Enslow 19). He began to take an interest to music when his father bought a radio. His mother loved listening to music and his mother and Johnny would sing songs all throughout the house. Taught by his mother and childhood friend, he learned to play guitar (Enslow 19). Working hard and practicing, he became very good at guitar and singing. However, he grew up through the Great Depression and this was very difficult for him and his family. In Edward Enslow’s “The Man in Black” Johnny Cash states, “We were very poor, and I almost died of starvation as a child.” This quote shows how life was a struggle for Cash in his early life. Facing all the many challenges was difficult for him but he found a way through it. Through his older brother Jack, he was able to cope with his life growing up. Jack was a huge role model to Johnny growing up, he would teach...
Hank William’s Sr. decided the start to his musical career was more needed and desired than his education. So Hank simply dropped high school to start ...
Almost a year later after Jennings recovery, Johnny Cash gathered Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings together and formed a band. This wasn’t a typical band: it had 4 of the greatest legends as members. They had many hits including “Highwayman,” but the song that proved themselves was “Desperados Waiting on a train,” (Dansby). They split up for a couple years, but reconvened and re-formed the Highwaymen once again. The Highwayman only came out with two albums, Highwaymen and Highwaymen II, but the second one wasn’t as successful as the first
Addiction is one of the hardest problems to overcome, yet people often find some reward in abusing drugs. We all ask the question to what makes a person an addict, or why is it so hard for drug addicts to kick a drug problem. However, can we say that getting a hold of drugs is much easier in today’s society, or is it made available to easy. In this day and age, heroine seems to be a major epidemic; furthermore, opiates have been around for centuries. Therefore, people have been battling addiction for as long as opiates have been around. In Drugstore Cowboy, the film takes a look in to the life of four people who rob drugstores in order to support their habit; however, this lifestyle
When he got to Philadelphia he bought his own alto saxophone.(A) Coltrane soon went to school at Ornstein School of Music.(E) He later was inducted into the navy in 1945 when the United States went into war. He was stationed in Hawaii. The next year he made a recording with a group of his fellow sailors. Shortly after the recording he was discharged. He decided to go back to Philadelphia. For the remainder of the year he played in the Joe Webb Band.(D) In 1947 he meet Miles Davis for the first time and performed with him a few times.(A) That same year he joined the King Kolax Band but only stayed with the band for one year. From 1948 to 1949 Coltrane played in the Jimmy Heath Band.(D) John Coltrane said he felt that Jimmy Heath and him were alike.(A)
Hank Williams Jr as we know him was born Hank Randall Williams, born in small town Shreveport, Louisiana, on May 26, 1949. Hank Jr was only three when his father Hank died, but that did not stop his music dream. At just the age of 8 Hank Jr began singing his dad songs on stage. “Williams made his stage debut at the age of 8 and his first appearance at Nashville's famed Grand Ole Opry at age 11. At age 15, Williams had his first Top 5 hit on the country charts. " (http://www.biography.com/) Even though his father was gone, Hank Jr helped carry on his legacy through music. His mother being his biggest supporter, helped him along the way.
It was the late 19th century when a lot of conflict for families from the Industrial Revolution and illegal drugs had easy access to anyone in the United Sates. These illegal drugs like morphine, cocaine, and alcohol were available through manufacture, delivery, and selling. It was proved that the over use of alcohol and violence in families’ homes were linked together around the 1850’s and that women and children were being abused by the father and husband from the letters and journals that were wrote. These were times when women were stay at home mothers and it was the man’s responsibility to be the provider for the wife and children. Because of the abuse in the household it led up to the temperance movement. The purpose
Elvis took on the responsibility of helping his family financially by taking various jobs, including working at Parker Machinists Shop after he graduated high school. While employed there, he decided to stop by the Memphis Recoding Service to create a record (EPE, 2014). Sam Phillips, the owner of Memphis Recording Service, with the persuasion of his assistant who previously heard Elvis in the studio, called Elvis to record a song. Howeve...
Johnny Cash was born February 26, 1932. His parents called him J.R. because they couldn’t settle on the name of John or Ray so they called him JR. His father was a poor farmer who moved the family several times while Johnny Cash was a child. This made for a lot of instability in his younger years. His father farmed and when the farms were not doing so well in the beginning of the 30’s his father packed his family up and moved them to Dyess County in northeastern Arkansas. There was government assistance there to be had. The government provided Johnny’s family with a house, barn and some farm land. This was so that their family could raise cotton. His family stayed there and made a home finally.
In life, we never know what a person may be challenge with or going through. You may
When first reading “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, it may initially seem that the relationship between musicians and drugs is synonymous. Public opinion suggests that musicians and drugs go hand and hand. The possibility lies that Sonny’s passion for jazz music is the underlying reason for his drug use, or even the world of jazz music itself brought drugs into Sonny’s life. The last statement is what the narrator believes to be true. However, by delving deeper and examining the theme of music in the story, it is nothing but beneficial for Sonny and the other figures involved. Sonny’s drug use and his music are completely free of one another. Sonny views his jazz playing as a ray of light to lead him away from the dim and dismal future that Harlem has to offer.