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We're rolling.

Today is Sunday morning.

Okay, I-I'm gonna have
to think about it,

see what I can think of to say
that hasn't been said before.

I sing because I'm happy

I sing because I'm free

His eye is on the sparrow
and I know He watches me.

I guess probably
the lessons of life
is what brings humility,

and that's the lessons
of pain and suffering.

In that cave in Chattanooga,

I was as far away from God

that I had ever been,
could ever be.

One of the truly
great names in music,

a stylist, a legend
in his own time,

Mr. Johnny Cash.

Hello. Well, I'm Johnny Cash.

I don't know
what the Seven Deadly Sins are,

but I've been guilty
of all of 'em.

And I got so...

strung out on the amphetamines
that, uh...

that nothing
really mattered anymore.

There's no lonelier place
on Earth for a man to be

than separated from God.

I went into this cave,

and kept walkin',
and crawlin', and climbin'
'til my light had run out.

Every fiber of my being
totally exhausted.

And I lay there
in the darkness...

the end of the line.

I lay there to die...

Johnny Cash was my hero.

The world called him "Johnny."

June called him "John."

His mama and daddy
called him "J.R."

And that's who he was
to me, J.R.

Some viewed him as a rebel.

To others, he was a saint.

And that's the story here.

But to truly know the man,

we need to go back
to the beginning.

Arkansas was
the end of the world--

rural, untamed, empty.

This is where people came
at the end of the line.

This was their final ground.

My father was born in 1932,

down in south central Arkansas.

He came from a land
where people were tough

and life was hard.

Walking back in this home...

is so bittersweet for me.

There was such love
in this house,

and tears,

and hard work.

Remembering is, uh...

sweet and it's
very heartbreaking.

Very emotional for me.

They were given the house,

and the land, and a mule,

and 40 acres to farm.

Arkansas summers
were brutal.

There was not only
no air conditioning,

there was no electricity,
there was no running water.

And so this was the lot

that the Cash family was
in the middle of,

throughout the Depression,
and after.

Life on the cotton farm
was hard, hard work.

We would pick cotton

with long canvas cotton sacks,

day by day, exhaustion at night.

Every member
of the Cash family worked,

including Mother Carrie.

Old or young,

the family was often
out there ten hours a day

working the cotton fields,
day after day after day.

And we'd sing all day
to pass the time away.

Before we knew it,
the day'd be over.

♪ Jesus is calling... ♪

And then
we'd come home at night,

and my mother would sing
gospel music around the piano.

Johnny would lead
and we'd all join in.

We went to bed,
get up the next day
and do it all over again.

Through that all,

singing the songs
of his mother's hymnal

with his family in those fields,

my father fell in love
with music.

The Biblesays,

"Train up a child in the way
that they should go,

and when they're old,
they'll not depart from it."

That doesn't mean
that we won't veer
off the path at times,

or make some bad decisions,

but it means, there's
a spiritual foundation
in our life.

Carrie Cash laid that foundation
in the life of Johnny Cash.

And those were the seeds
his mother sowed into his life.

We'd lay on Mama's
linoleum floor.

Jack would read The Bible,

and Johnny would write
songs and sing.

The story goes that
he would lay in bed at night

and listen to the radio.

Music was
the young boy's escape.

J.R. was a dreamer.
And he was artful.

My father always told me
I was wasting my time

listening to them ol' records
on the radio.

I said, "But it sounds good.
I like it."

He said, "It's gonna keep you
from making a living.

You'll never do any good

so long as you got
that music on your mind."

Family patriarch
Ray Cash

was the portrait
of a hard-hit,
struggling farming man.

As with so many artful kids,

the relationship that J.R.
shared with his father,
Ray Cash,

was difficult,
to say the least.

He had to live up
to what his father's
expectations were.

His father would
believe in him, sometimes,

and then he would fall short.

And I think
when you have a father

who is not communicative,

and is not embracing,
and is not affirming,

it affects you.

It's strange that my dad
never hit me a lick.

On the other hand,
he never hugged us.

He never, ever came close
to even telling us
he loved us.

Ray would not give him
any affirmation or affection.

And so when Ray would sink
into the oblivion that he would,

it would be J.R.'s brother,
Jack, who stepped up.

Jack was my best friend,

and my big buddy,

my protector, my mentor.

I really admired him.

They were inseparable.

Went swimming together.

They'd fish together.
They'd work hard together.

Him and Johnny
would get into scuffles

and then they'd hug
each other. True brothers.

It was a friendship.
It was a kinship.

But my dad aspired
to be like him.

Jack was
the Golden Child of Dyess

that everyone aspired to be.

He would go to school.

After school he would stay
and pick up a few cents

working odd jobs
to help pay the bills.

He was kind. He was gentle.

He read his Bible every day
and was very godly.

He'd already told us
that he'd been "called
to preach," you know?

It was that faith that Jack had

that my father looked up to.

Jack, he'd love
to hear me sing.

He told me that I was supposed
to do that with my life.

Johnny said, "I'm gonna sing.
I know I'm gonna sing."

And Jack said,
"I know I'm gonna be a pastor."

Okay,
so let's talk
about Jack's accident.

It was a Saturday
morning in 1944.

Johnny and Jack woke up
in their shared bed,

like they did
every other morning,

not knowing that this
would be their last.

Jack worked part-time
after school and on weekends

at a local wood mill,
cutting fence posts.

He happily volunteered
to make a few cents

to help pay the family bills.

He said, "Mama, I have a feeling
I shouldn't go today."

And Mama said, "Well, don't go.

Go fishing with J.R."

My father was begging
Jack to stay with him
and to go fishing.

"Please stay with me.
Go fishing."

And he said,
"No, I'm gonna go make $3.
We need it for the groceries."

So he told Johnny,
"I'll meet you at the blue hold

and we'll fish
when I get through."

And so they both
went their separate ways

and Jack went to the sawmill.

And he was sawing
some fence posts...

and as he pushed the fence post,

it jerked him into the saw.

Here comes my father
in a car with a preacher.

Daddy took
a bloody brown sack,

he pulled Jack's clothes
out of that bag,

and showed me
where the table saw
had cut him

from his ribs down
all through his stomach.

And that was the first time
I ever saw my dad cry.

He was cut
from his neck to his groin.

And survived,

even though it tore him open
very badly.

And Johnny was sitting
at his bedside, holding his
hand,

and he looked at Daddy,
and he said,

"Daddy, will you meet me
in Heaven?"

Daddy dropped down on his knees
and gave his heart to the Lord,

and so did the doctor.

As Jack lay
in his hospital bed,

he had clear visions
of the other side.

He said, "Mama,
do you hear the angels?

Do you hear them singing?"

And Miss Carrie Cash said,
"No, son, I don't hear them."

He said,
"They are so beautiful.

Heaven is so beautiful."

Jack called me "Janna."

He said, "Janna, tell me bye."

And I was scared.

And I said, "No,
I don't want you
to go anywhere."

I wish I had.

But I couldn't.

And that's when he left us.
He went to Heaven.

My father lost
his best friend that day.

Having experienced
the loss of a son
in a tragic accident,

I can understand
the devastating grief

that comes at you
like a tidal wave.

When you lose someone
and they die unexpectedly,

it impacts your life
in such a significant way,

you can actually measure
your life from before and after

that traumatic event happened.

Jack was buried
on a Sunday.

The next day,
the entire family

was back out in the fields,
picking cotton.

We didn't take days off.

You just didn't have
time to grieve.

My mother would work behind us,

and I'd look back
and she'd be down on her knees,

weeping, saying, "Why? Why?"

On her worst day,

in the mud, on her knees,

after burying her son.

And we'd go help her up
and try to console her.

And Carrie said,

"I'll get up when God
tells me to get up."

That is what J.R.
took with him, as he grew up.

When Jack died,
there was an enormous void.

And J.R. seemed
more determined than ever

to do something important
with his life,

almost in tribute to his hero,
his brother, Jack.

When times were tough,
Johnny knew what his roots were.

He started out wanting to be
a gospel singer.

I was standing
here with Mama,

and Johnny was standing
right out there,

by that iron hand pump.

And all of a sudden,
his voice lowered.

And she said, "What is that?"

I said, "That's J.R."
And she called him in,

and she asked,
"Was that you singing?"

And he said, "Yes, Mama."

He said, "I'm gonna sing."

And I saw Mama put her hand
on Johnny and she said,

"You have a calling of God."

And so Mama took Johnny
to a voice teacher,

and she listened very intently.

And she said,
"Well, you can leave now."

And Johnny said,
"You mean I'm no good?"

And the voice teacher said,

"You have a gift from God
that I wouldn't dare touch."

The biggest goal
of a dreamer
from Dyess, Arkansas

was to get out.

And so J.R. ended up doing

what many young men
from the South
and elsewhere did.

I joined the Air Force.

College was another hope
that was almost unattainable

for a cotton farm boy.

He was
a Morse Code interceptor,

and would take in the Morse Code
from the enemy

and make it into English,

so our forces
could find out what to do.

I think
it's during that three years

that I really began
seriously thinking

about a career
in the music business,

'cause it's really
all I lived for.

J.R.
was briefly stationed
in San Antonio, Texas.

And it's there he fell deeply
and totally in love

with a pretty girl
named Vivian Liberto.

They spent
a couple of weeks dating

and then the next three years,
while he's in Germany
in the Air Force,

the two of them
exchanged countless letters.

Those letters show
a man so hopelessly in love.

Much of his poetry
and his gift with lyrics

is refined in these letters.

He poured his heart out
to Vivian, and she to him.

We got married right away.

Got a very cheap car,

and a old apartment
in a rundown part of Memphis.

To some, Memphis
was the Promised Land.

Memphis was just over
the Mississippi River bridge,

but it was another world.

♪ The Mighty Mississippi
gonna take me down... ♪

There were
so many cultures
all colliding in that town.

It was wild. It was exciting.

It was a landscape filled
with creativity and diversity.

I started trying
to get on the radio,

but I had to go to work
and make a living,

trying to sell appliances
and home improvements.

And the next thing
you know, Elvis has recorded

for Mr. Sam Phillips
down at Sun Studios.

This little nondescript,
squat building
at 706 Union Avenue

was fast becoming the center
of a new style of music.

I started calling
Sam Phillips.

I never could get him.

Called once, I said,
"I'm John Cash,
I'm a gospel singer."

He couldn't see me.

Mr. Phillips
puts him off.

He calls, leaves messages,
he sits on the curb.

So one morning,
I found out what time
the man went to work.

I went down with my guitar
and sat on his steps
until he got there.

Sam is walking into the office
and he accosts the man.

I said, "I'm John Cash.
I'm the one who's been calling.

And if you'd listen to me,
I believe you'll be
glad you did."

And he said, "Come on in."

And he started
singing some covers
of gospel songs.

Sam said, "I'm just as saved
as the rest of you boys are.

But I can't sell gospel music.

I wanna hear you in your voice."

He said,
"Come back tomorrow
and bring some musicians."

So I went down to a garage
where my brother, Roy, worked.

He met Marshall Grant
and Luther Perkins,

two amateur musicians,
just as my dad was.

The next day
was our first session.

We went in, and he turned on
the recorder the whole time
I was there.

The music that he made
with The Tennessee Two

was this brilliant,
beautiful racket.

The sound was unique,

and it was something
that people had
just never heard before.

I developed a pretty
unusual style, I think.

If I'm anything,

I'm not a singer,
but I'm a song stylist.

My music had to be simple
and stay simple,

and uncomplicated
and unadorned.

I thought it was fabulous.

Dad, he wanted
to have a drummer in the band,

but he didn't wanna hire
a drummer.

Johnny
put a dollar bill
in the strings of the guitar

and made that
boom-chicka-boom sound.

You listen to what sounds
like a snare drum that's not.

That's my dad.

No,
they were not over-schooled
or over-taught,

and so naturally it was gonna
come out raw and beautiful.

I think Sam Phillips

saw the originality
in my difference,

and he'd had a lot of success

recording people
that sounded different.

I never gave up my dream
to sing on the radio.

And that dream
came true in 1955.

♪ Hey porter! Hey porter! ♪

My first introduction
to Johnny Cash
was through my dad.

I was a little girl,
and this Johnny Cash comes along

and puts out the song,
"A Boy Named Sue".

And we laughed and laughed
and laughed over that song.

One of my friend's older brother
played me this song.

I think I was, like, 15, 16,
something like that.

And I heard it
for the first time,

I said, "Yo, this dude fire!"

I would listen to eight-tracks
all the time with my stepdad

of Merle Haggard
and George Jones,

and Johnny Cash was
one of the eight-tracks
that he had.

So I heard a lot of that music
growing up.

♪ And ask everybody
that ain't asleep ♪

I remember specifically
having a CD stuck

in the CD player
of one of my work trucks

when I first got
out of high school.

And I couldn't switch
to radio or anything.

I just had to listen
to Johnny Cash

over and over and over again.

And that's where
I really fell in love
with Johnny's music.

I'd listen to him
on the radio when I was a kid.

He was growing and developing

and he was just
a bigger-than-life character.

I listened to Johnny Cash,

and nobody would go,
"Johnny Cash?"
They'd go, "Cool."

There was not one person
that didn't respect Johnny Cash.

♪ 'Cause I smell frost
on cotton leaves ♪

♪ And I feel
that Southern breeze ♪

My first experience,
1983, cassettes.

Imagine me trying to take
a drink from a fire hose.

That's listening to Johnny Cash.

This voice that I hear
is memorable.

I can't get it out of my head.

It's a raw voice.

It's almost like a rebel voice.

♪ I need nobody to tell me... ♪

I remember
"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash"

comin' out of the speakers
of my little record player
in my bedroom,

and I was mesmerized
by that sound,

and I didn't know
what I was listening to.

I just knew it had me
and wouldn't let me go.

And I remember
one day "Hey Porter"
and "Cry, Cry, Cry" came on.

And Mama said, "That's J.R.

J.R. singing on the radio.
Isn't that wonderful?"

And she had tears.

- ♪ All right ♪
-We all did.

Along about three
months later,

Elvis Presley asked me to go
on tour with him.

And from that time on,
I was on my way.

And I knew it,
I felt it, and I loved it.

Immediately he was thrust
on the road,

his young wife Vivian at home.

They would travel
in a big, long, black Cadillac.

We did not let Johnny
drive the car.

Johnny was
the world's worst driver.

Even though he owns the car,
he rides, we drive.

That's the way that worked.

We were really
having fun with our music,

and every day was a gold mine.

It was real,
it was raw.

And this was the Johnny Cash

that people were
falling in love with.

There's two kinds of people,
those that know
and love Johnny Cash,

and those that will.

His style was, he would write
conversationally.

He would write
the way people talk.

He just spoke
of common, everyday life.

Real words for real people
in the real world.

I was kinda stunned
when I would see
the record sales.

I thought at first it was
all hype, but then
every record I released,

I knew I was gonna sell
a quarter of a million.

Poetry. It was poetry, man.

Let's welcome Johnny Cash
and the Tennessee Two!

♪ I keep a close watch
on this heart of mine ♪

When Johnny Cash
and The Tennessee Two
were on tour,

working shows
with all the other bands,

musicians were talking
about their latest conquests,

their girlfriends on the side.

J.R. said, "Not me.
I walk the line."

♪ I keep my eyes wide open
all the time ♪

"I Walk the Line"
is a song of steadfastness,

and fidelity,
of love to his wife, Vivian.

♪ Because you're mine,
I walk the line ♪

And he was telling her
that it didn't matter.

Those were just fans.

'Course it didn't turn out
right, but that's
what he told her.

When Vivian saw
the effect John's singing had

on his audience
of adoring girls,

it was not
what she had signed up for.

He was embarking on this life
where the audiences
were craving him.

In simple terms, he was
fast becoming a superstar.

She was a housewife.

She wanted her husband.
She wanted her family.

Vivian had seen
the rise of Elvis Presley

with all the girls
and all the accolades.

She didn't want that.

While she absolutely
loved Johnny Cash
until the day she died,

she's got four children.

He's out on the road.

And Dad wanted
to be on the radio.

He said when he got into music,
it never occurred to him

that he was gonna have
to be traveling
day after day for years,

that that was going to become
his life, was the road life.

Being "Johnny Cash"

was something that he really
never thought about or planned,

but it was inevitable.

As the song says,
"The road is crushing,

and it goes on forever.
It's endless."

The thing about it
is, when you're in a garage
with your friends

and you're learning songs,

you never realize at some point
you're going to be on the road

for four years without a break.

Boredom had a lot to do
with it. It's very boring
out there on the road.

That two hours on the stage
is all we live for.

The rest of the time
is really a drag.

Being on the road is
this separate reality.

You're so isolated, in a way.

It is not a normal life.

There's nothing normal
about being in show business.

You do two,
maybe three shows a night.

And then you drive yourself
hundreds and hundreds of miles

through the night
on dangerous roads.

And you've got to do it
again the next night.

You got 6,000 people
in the audience

waitin' on you to come out
and sing a song,

and it gets to the point
where you wanna shut it off.

You don't wanna feel
anything, so you drink,

or you get high,

or you find yourself
with multiple women or whatever.

Anything to kinda
get rid of the feeling,
and once the feeling's gone,

it's anything to get
the feeling back.

Week after week,
hundreds of shows a year,

the white line always wins.

Johnny Cash!

Johnny Cash!

A fellow musician
slipped him a pill,

saying, "This will
keep you going."

So Johnny took it, thinking,
"This is God-sent."

We really did not think
that amphetamines
were a problem.

Poor George.

He's having a long headache.

Is this the way
you feel in the morning?

What's the best way to reduce?

Eat plenty or starve yourself?

Doctors
were prescribing
these pills by the billions.

They were prescribed
to housewives.

They were marketed
to college students.

They were marketed to people
to help them lose weight.

They were marketed
to truck drivers

to help them on the road.

It was like taking a pill
for your heart
or for your blood pressure.

It wasn't, like, a bad thing.

And nobody really thought
too much about it.

A lot of people in the South,
"If it's a prescription,
it's okay."

He wasn't
sniffin' cocaine.

He wasn't shooting heroin.

He was taking prescribed pills

because doctors told him
that they were medicine.

When you're on the road
that many dates a year,

there's all these things
pulling at him.

And after a while, you just--
you need a little help.

You know?

That's when all of a sudden,

"Well, I better take
a downer to go to sleep."

"Oh, now I better take
some speed to wake up."

And now you're on
a whole rollercoaster.

Well, if one works,
two must be even better.

But then after five, and ten,

you need to find a way
to slow it all down.

I was just
like everybody else.

I took drugs to get up,

and I took drugs to go down,
make me feel better.

And then
before you know it,

you're poppin' pills
left and right like candy.

You know, it's just
a vicious, vicious cycle.

I was taking
the pills for a while,

and then the pills
started taking me.

You know, so that's
when it starts spiraling
out of control.

The pills
give you a high,

and you feel
like you can do anything.

But when they wear off,

you feel worse than you did

before you took 'em.

When I started
drinking beer
along with the amphetamines,

I'd drink about four
or five a night,

but I got up to 12, 14.

Sometime I'd misjudge
how high I was, you know?

And I'd get on stage
and I was a wreck.

All the drugs
made him forget

that people
were counting on him.

Thousands
and thousands of dollars
of promoters' money

were at stake
if he didn't show up,

and he didn't show up
for a bunch of dates.

The Statler Brothers,
who were in his band,

he took them to California
and met Vivian and the girls,

and said he was going out
for cigarettes.

Four days later,
he wasn't back. He forgot.

At the Olympia Theater
in Paris, France,
instead of playing the show,

he took off with Joan Baez
and Bob Dylan and just partied
all over town,

while 2,000 people
are sitting in seats

for a Johnny Cash show
that never happened.

A lot of people lost money

and he was kind of lost himself.

He was a mere shell
of the man he once was.

Those aspirations to be
a gospel singer,

they're in the rearview mirror.

It was kind
of a scatter-brained
period for me.

You know, it affects
everything in your life

when you're
on mood-altering drugs.

Everything in your life
is, uh,

is not right.

In the midst
of all this, his health
is disintegrating.

He lost so much weight,
he looked like a cadaver.

And on the charts,
he's invisible.

Desperation kind of starts
setting in, here.

And so, next thing you know,
there you are,

going down the tubes
without realizing you are,

and so is your marriage,
and so is your family,

and so is everything else
in your life.

J.R. and Vivian
are in a difficult time.

I think the change
of Johnny's personality

was something else,

and then, of course,
the real change came

when he just fell madly in love
with June Carter.

She became a member
of the show cast,

and was working
all the show dates with us.

But it all started
with an automobile ride

from Oklahoma City to Dallas.

And June did not have a ride,

so Marshall Grant
had told her was,

"June, we've got six people
in that car already."

And Johnny said, "Well,
she can sit on my lap.
It's only three hours."

So, that was the beginning.

June was married
to someone else,
just as he was.

Both of them
later described it

as being something
that they simply
could not stop.

It was not something
to be proud of,

and he wasn't proud of it.

Which only added
fuel to the fire
for the amphetamine thing,

because it was tearing
Johnny apart.

J.R. was quoted saying

he would stop
taking the pills for a time,

and his conscience
would return.

He would go home,

and it became obvious the toll
that fame, fortune, and pills

were taking on his family.

And then the guilt
would overwhelm him.

And the only way
that he could ease that guilt

was to take another pill.

J.R. genuinely
loved Vivian, and June,

and his heart was torn
in two directions.

He couldn't seem
to find his way.

It was a volatile situation,
to say the least.

That is
something that is
so difficult to reconcile.

And he couldn't do it.

As a result of this situation,

June sits down and writes,
"Ring of Fire".

Cash hears it and he says,
"That's about me."

And Dad wanted
to record it himself.

♪ Love is a burning thing ♪

♪ And it makes a fiery ring ♪

Now, in addition
to the stability
of "I Walk the Line",

J.R. has got the fire,
the passion,

the raw power
of "Ring of Fire."

And this man is not
just singing about it,

he was living it
every single day.

♪ I fell into
a burning ring of fire ♪

♪ I went down, down, down
and the flames went higher ♪

The conflict
in his head just fueled
that despair he felt.

Less than two months later,

"Ring of Fire" is
the biggest song in the world.

And it cements his place
in country music.

It also tied him for eternity
to June Carter.

She and he
continued careening

through the mid-60s,

while he desperately tried

to hold on to the stability
that Vivian gave him.

In the 1960s,

the insanity of his addiction
put great strains
on his relationship

and kept him away
from his children.

Johnny's family situation

was struggling,
to say the least.

And so, an extremely
difficult time

to come home to that house
in California.

And one day in 1965,
Johnny did not come home.

In 1965, at the end
of a long tour,

J.R. was supposed to go home.

Instead, he got off
at the airport
in El Paso, Texas.

Vivian called
and said, "Where's Johnny?

He was supposed
to be home yesterday."

He decided that he was
gonna go across the border
into Mexico.

He went and found
a drug dealer,

and bought
over 1,100 Benzedrine
and Dexedrine pills.

Unbeknownst to him
at the time,

the police were keeping an eye
on this drug dealer.

But when they saw Johnny Cash
in the crosshairs,

they tracked him very carefully
until he got to the airport,

opened the guitar case,
and found the pills.

The guard said,
"You can get the pills out

or we'll tear
your guitar apart."

So Johnny got the pills out,
and he was arrested,
and it hurt.

It hurt,
not because it bothered us,

as much as we hurt for him,

because we knew that he was
right in the midst
of his downward spiral.

And we were praying daily
that God wouldn't take him.

The drugs,
the immorality,

the bad decisions
were all catching up.

Johnny Cash was
very self-destructive.

Self-destructive behavior
will either get you through it,

see the light, or kill ya.

We were all young
and wild and crazy.

How crazy were you?
I was crazy as you can get.

I mean crazy-crazy.

There were quite a few
times in his life that he nearly
died,

and would have been
possibly by his own folly.

Car wrecks. He caught
a vehicle on fire in California

and burned down many acres
of a forest there.

He did a lot of bad things
during those drug years.

The Grand Ole Opry
banned you at one time.

Well, I don't know
how bad they wanted me
in the first place,

but the night I broke
all the lights on the stage...

...they said they couldn't
use me anymore, so.

Really tough
on all of us to stand there
and watch it happen,

because you can't help
somebody like that

unless they want the help.

And at that particular time,
he didn't want any help.

If that was gonna be
a subject of conversation,
just forget it.

There's one thing
about, uh...

someone addicted
to pills, alcoholics,
you know,

they're very selfish.

You know, they don't care
about anybody but themselves

and the way they happen
to feel right now.

And that's all I cared about,
all I talked about,

how I feel,
what I want for me, you know?

We saw him at his worst.

We saw him when we didn't know

if he was gonna be able to--
to make the show the next day,

or rather he was gonna
continue his career.

Well, it must've been
just overwhelming for the man.

All these wonderful accolades
comin' at him,

but all this terrible stuff
comin' this way.

I mean, if there's ever
a devil and a god
on each shoulder,

there had to be.

The light and darkness thing
is something that we all have.

There's a mean dog
and a good dog in all of us.

And what you try to do,
and you're always
trying to do is,

feed the good one
as much as you possibly can.

The one that's gonna win
is the one that gets fed
the most, right?

So I think the thing
about Johnny that made that
even more obvious,

he was always trying
to feed the light.

But he wore the darkness
and the light on his sleeve.

He was two people.
And he'd be the first
to tell you that.

He said, "Johnny is a nice guy.

But sometime Cash
gets into trouble."

John R. Cash
came to the end of himself

in October of 1967.

His addiction
had really wore him down.

My mother had told him
that she wouldn't talk to him,

she wouldn't spend
time with him.

He was at a point
where she had no choice,

and she had shut him off.

He is
in Chattanooga, Tennessee
when his lawyer calls

and tells him that his divorce
was finalized.

She remarried just a week later.

He was full of despair.

His life was
seemingly in shambles.

His addictions had taken
their toll on his career,

his body, and his family.

And he was estranged
from his kids.

He had
some land down there,

and on that land
there was a cave
called "Nickajack Cave".

But my dad kept sinking
deeper and deeper
into a depression.

There were
these great conflicts
that seared his soul.

He was really down
at his lowest point,

and he took a flashlight,

and he said he was gonna
crawl back in there

as long as his flashlight
would burn.

And in the darkness,
laid down,

and basically, gave up his life,

gave up everything.

I kept walkin'
and crawlin' and climbin'
'til my light run out,

every fiber of my being
totally exhausted.

And I lay there
in the darkness,

the end of the line.

I lay there to die.

But he woke up
in the darkness of that cave

and felt that loneliness
and the emptiness

and realized
where he'd put himself.

And it was
like this feeling
came over me that, uh...

that He wanted
to speak to my heart.

"You do not control
your destiny,"

that "It's My will
that you do not die now."

God said,
"I'm not through with you,
by any means."

He said, "I'll show you
the way out. Come on."

Then the urging
came over me to get up
and start crawling.

I don't have any idea
how long I crawled.

Johnny said
there was some sort of light

that guided him
to the entrance of the cave.

For hours he crawled
on the ground.

He didn't have a flashlight.
He didn't have anything.

But then finally
I felt the wind.

Before long I saw light,
the entrance to the cave.

The hand of God had led me.

He faced himself,
he faced his temptations,

he faced his worldliness.

And God's love
brought him back.

He crawled out
of Nickajack Cave alive.

He saw the light.

He was given God's grace.

He came out wanting
to be right with God.

Doesn't mean he was
perfect with God,

but he wanted to be
right with God.

I was losing my voice.

I had stopped composing.

I didn't have any heart
for what I was doing.

And I realized that, uh,

that God didn't want me
to live that kind of life.

He had to put himself
into that darkness

before he would
appreciate the light.

And that's what happened,
is that he came out
a different man.

And when he finally
did give up those things
that were weighting him down,

the thing
that helped him do that

was his faith in God Almighty.

And in that cave,
he hears the Lord say,

"What are you doing here?"

This reminds me of a story
from The Bible,

a similar experience
that involved
the prophet Elijah.

Here is this prophet
of the Lord,

who's depressed and discouraged

and he goes into a cave
and while he's in that cave,

God said,
"What are you doing here?"

Johnny came out of that cave
a different man.

Now he was a man on a mission.

All that success,
all the partying,

all the money, all the fame,
it's not real anymore.

And you start realizing
what is real.

We saw him at his lowest.

But, that is where he remembered
that God was on his side.

You know,
Jesus doesn't say,

"Clean up your life
and come to me."

He effectively says,

"Come to me and I
will clean your life up."

At that moment
of despair,

he chose to get back up.

There is a light.

And if you'll hang in there
long enough,

you will get through the tunnel.

And that's exactly
what Johnny Cash did.

I came back
from Nickajack Cave

and June, she said,
"You're dying, you know?

You'll die if you don't get off
of the amphetamines
and the sleeping pills."

And I said,
"I know it. I will."

And she said,
"I'll tell ya what I'll do.

I... I wanna save your life.

And I'll be here at this house
every afternoon.

And that way you can
stay straight
and look forward to seeing me.

And we'll get
this thing whipped."

When he reached out
to people that could help him,

my mother was there.

I was on self-destruct

and she saw
what I was doing to myself

and she helped bring me
back up out of it.

I thought
he was gonna die.

He was just skin and bones.
I worked with him.

There was something
that just wouldn't
let me give up.

He's detoxing
and there's June.

I can just see her, like,

"You'll have to come
through me."

Call it old-fashioned.

Call it tough love.

That's what you do.

Without question,
June Carter saved
the life of Johnny Cash.

She helped him
to get off the pills,
and she stood by his side.

And June,
her mother and daddy,

and all my family and friends
were downstairs,

sleeping in sleeping bags,
and it kept me going.

They were praying together.

And the Lord brought him
through that.

It was the spirit
of the love of God

that made a survivor
out of me.

And not only a survivor,
but a sustainer.

My father had a moment

where he went back to the cross.

The Lord
was drawing him back to himself.

He was on his road back
to the Lord.

So Joanne invited
her brother, Johnny, to church.

Joanne's life had been changed
by Christ in this church.

She wanted it to happen
for her brother.

I could see him

just drinking in
the pastor preaching.

When I finished my message
that morning,

I gave an altar call
and I said, you know,

"If you want to find Christ,

if you want to do the right
thing with the Lord,

put up your hand."

So his hand went up.

Johnny stood up
and made a public profession,

and walked forward and said,
"I'm gonna follow Jesus Christ."

A public profession means
you're saying,

"I believe,
and I don't care who knows.

In fact, I want others to know."

And then a person coming
to Christ may pray

what we sometimes call
"a sinner's prayer",

and it goes along these lines.

"Lord Jesus,
I know that I'm a sinner,

but I know
that you're the Savior

Who died on the cross for my sin

and rose again from the dead.
I'm sorry for my sin.

I turn from that sin,

and I choose to follow You
from this moment forward."

Johnny prayed
a prayer like that,

and his life was changed
for time and eternity.

And the good news is,
anybody can pray that prayer,

and they too can have the hope
that Johnny Cash had.

Johnny and June
and all the girls were down
at the altar.

Johnny told me,

"I think it's about time
I led my family back to Jesus."

I watched the man
cry his heart out
down there in that altar,

and all of 'em together,
every one of 'em.

And when they opened up
their hearts to the Lord,

it changed everything.

He came to us
and he said,

"Guys, I know this has been
rough out here."

He said, "I just wanna
tell you all,
I'm gonna clean up."

And from that point on,
he rededicated his life
in many different ways,

and redoubled his efforts
into spreading the word
of Christianity.

It's a scary sight.

It's towering above ya.

And we all walk
in there that morning,

and hear the clang
of the metal doors

closing behind you.

Through the pain,

throbbing melody
draws compassion

and care and concern

for myself
and for my fellow man.

Johnny Cash had found
a new purpose and focus.

He wanted to say and do
something with his music,

and more importantly,
his life.

His pastor, Floyd Gressett,
came to him

and asked if he'd be interested
in a prison outreach program.

He preached up there
every fourth Sunday
of the month,

and he knew all those people,
the officials and--

And he set up
this prison concert.

He didn't wanna
just get up and do
a regular Johnny Cash show

at Folsom Prison.

He wanted to touch
men's hearts

and to capture it on tape.

I knew if I could ever
get a live recording
at a prison,

it was gonna be a great album.

He took June Carter,

The Statler Brothers,
and Carl Perkins,

and they went
into Folsom Prison.

And we would like to continue
with the Johnny Cash Show

and bring to you
the man that you've actually
come to see.

He seems to have a lot of things
in common with you.

Mr. Johnny Cash!

♪ I hear the train a-comin' ♪

♪ It's rolling
'round the bend ♪

♪ And I ain't seen the sunshine

♪ Since I don't know when ♪

♪ I'm stuck in Folsom prison ♪

♪ And time keeps draggin' on ♪

J.R.
was very sensitive

to those who were down
on their luck.

He knew that he had faced
the same kinds of troubles
and situations

that had led many of them
there.

He wanted to get the feelings
of the men on tape

and let them know
that somebody cared.

♪ ...don't ever play
with guns" ♪

♪ But I shot a man in Reno ♪

There was
a hopelessness,

a nobleness,
and there was a dark side.

And you could feel
all of those things,
and you could feel

all those emotions
toward the character
that he was singing about.

A lot of people
throw money at the forgotten.

They feel good from their safe,
gated-off world.

What made Johnny special was,
he actually spent time
kickin' it with these people.

Johnny didn't discriminate.

That's Johnny Cash in a prison
singing to the inmates,

and I think that's probably
where he felt most comfortable.

The reaction I got,
it was far and above anything

I had ever had in my life.

The complete explosion
of noise and reaction

that they gave me
with every song.

But they felt like they could
identify with me, I suppose.

Those guys in prison went,

"It's Johnny Cash.
We can trust him."

You see these people
hanging on every word,

and you can see the hope
in their eyes

and the vulnerability
in their eyes.

I think they felt
he was one of them.

And in many ways, he was.

He had had his struggles

with a lot of the same issues
those prisoners struggled with.

They saw his humanity.

They saw his authenticity.

And really,
they were seeing his faith.

He could relate to them

by who he had been
and how he had struggled,

and how he always kept
coming back to Christ,

and how there was hope
in that for him.

And he found, I think,

almost like his own ministry
in that.

There's no filter.

There's just Johnny,

giving you his guts
and his glory.

Folsomis recorded in January
and again, you know, a little...
some ambivalence--

Is this gonna be commercial?
Is it gonna-- is it gonna sell?

Well, in March, he marries June.

The love that they developed
for each other

was one of the greatest
saving graces for each of them
in their lives.

My mother saw
my father's kindness.

She saw who he was
on the inside.

She knew him, I think,
better than he did

'cause she saw him
through it all.

They finished up
some dates on the road,

and then, in May,

they went on a honeymoon
to the Holy Land.

And he tells the people
at Columbia Records

that he wants to make an album
in the Holy Land.

"We're not doing that,"
they said. He said, "Fine."

He took a little handheld
microphone,

and he and June went
and they visited the sites.

And he comes back home,

and Folsom Prisonis
the number one album
in the country.

And he's king.

Johnny Cash sold
more than six million records
in 1969 alone,

besting The Beatles,
Elvis Presley,

The Rolling Stones,
Jimi Hendrix,

Janice Joplin, Led Zeppelin,

and every other musical act
in the world.

It wasn't even close.

He said, "I'm gonna be
the biggest thing
in the business."

And with that statement, he was.

The album of the year,
Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison.

After he got back, you can bet
your butt that they put out
his next record,

whatever it was that he wanted.

And that was The Holy Land.

And he got a Top-10 record,

and a number one single
from a gospel album.

That had never happened!

Johnny's gotten
his priorities back in order.

He's returned to the faith
of his brother, Jack.

And Johnny is putting
Jesus Christ

first in his life again.

AfterFolsom Prison,

ABC came calling to do
a summer television show.

Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.

And I'm glad to see ya, David.

Just as he did
with everything else
in his career,

Johnny Cash turned the concept
of variety shows upside-down.

Glad to have ya.

He wanted the show
to be filmed at the Ryman,

the mother church
of country music,

and the home
of The Grand Ole Opry,

the same stage
he first met June Carter.

The impact
of the show itself,
it was a catapult,

not only for John and his show,

but for a lot of other artists.

Joni Mitchell,
and Bob Dylan, and Eric Clapton,

as well as luminaries
from country music

and the gospel world.

In fact,
there are over 70 people

who were on The Johnny Cash Show

who are currently in either
the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame,

or the Country Music
Hall of Fame.

But one of the things
that really drove
ABC executives crazy

was the fact that John R. Cash
rebelled

against the tightly-scripted
corporate TV show concept.

At the beginning of the show,

you see a more tentative
Johnny Cash.

They told him how
and where to stand,

what to sing and say.

So they were always
on his back,

and sometimes he was told,

"Don't do this"
or "Don't sing that song"

or "Don't say that word."

You knew he was gonna
do it, then.

All you had to do
was tell him not to do it.

I was 17 years old.

I came in the back door
of the house singing,

♪ Everybody gonna have
religion and glory ♪

Well, you see, I'd been
a real high tenor up to then.

And I didn't know
that my voice had dropped.

And my mother turned around.

She said,
"Who was that singing?"
I said, "That was me."

And she said, "Keep it up."
So I did.

♪ Everybody gonna have
religion and glory... ♪

John's faith showed up
on the television show

because that was his roots.

He even did a gospel special!

He wanted to do
and say something more
with his life.

He had messages
that he wanted to share.

And that was when his faith
stepped out into the light.

So as Johnny
is performing this song,

right here on this stage
at the Ryman Auditorium,

he has Billy Graham
read a scripture.

Who does that?

♪ Everybody gonna have
religion and glory ♪

♪ Everybody gonna be
a-singin' that story ♪

♪ Everybody gonna have
a wonderful time up there ♪

And Johnny made
a statement one time
to the network,

that if you don't want
God, country, faith, and family,

you don't want me,
because that's not what I do,

it's who I am.

- ♪ A wonderful time
up there. ♪
- Yeah!

The people at ABC were aghast.

"What in the-- is he doing?

People don't watch these shows."

For him to say, "Hey,
I wanna close the show
with a gospel song."

And that was kind of,
"Well, are you sure
you wanna do that?"

And he held out,
"Yeah, I'm gonna do that."

Now he would do that.

Boy, he'd put his foot down.

The one show
that I remember specifically is,

I wanted to sing
"I'd Rather Have Jesus."

And they said,
"We don't want that."

But Johnny says,
"Then if you don't want Jessi
singing that song,

that we won't do the show."

You know, he didn't like
somebody to tell him

he couldn't do something,
or "this is not gonna work."

Then he would prove,
"Yes, it will work. Watch this."

And he would do it.

Well, here lately,

I think we probably made
the devil pretty mad

because on our show
we've been mentioning
God's name,

we've been talking about Jesus.

But, I'll be ready for him.

In the meantime,
while he's coming,

I'd like to get in
one more good lick
for Number One.

The TV show is where we see him
introduce "Man In Black."

♪ Well, you wonder why
I always dress in black ♪

A journalist once asked,
"Tell me about your closet."

J.R. replied,
"It's dark in there."

Black was so much more than
the clothing that he wore.

It represented something
for him. It told a story.

♪ ...that I have owned ♪

♪ I wear the black for the poor
and the beaten-down ♪

♪ Livin' in the hopeless,
hungry side of town ♪

I remember the first time
I heard it, I went,

"He sealed the deal right there,

for he will forever be
'The Man in Black'."

♪ But still is there
because he's a victim
of the times ♪

This was Johnny Cash
speaking to college students
from Tennessee.

♪ Or listened to the words
that Jesus said ♪

"This is
what I want people
to know of me."

♪ About the road to happiness
through love and charity ♪

I wear all black because of him.

Because I just was enamored,
he has a presence.

Some people just have
that "it" thing, and he has it.

When you mention
Johnny Cash,

people will immediately think
of a guy that helped people
who had no voice.

He stood for things
that nobody else
seemed to care about

or had the authority
to stand on and talk about.

When Johnny Cash wrote
"Man In Black"

and made the decision
to put that suit on

and wear it
for the rest of his career,

he looked darkness
in the eye and said,

"Not only will I take you on,
but I will wear you.

And I will win."

♪ ... everywhere you go... ♪

That was the image
that people remembered.

They remembered him standing up
on stage with his manifesto,

speaking of the Lord,
and speaking
of the downtrodden.

Johnny wanted people to know
what he believed,

and why he believed it.

He had no embarrassment
whatsoever about his faith
in Jesus Christ

and wanted others
to share it, as well.

Television series probably
would've lasted longer

if he hadn't a fought ABC
so hard.

The Johnny Cash Show
was on fire.

He had big plans to take
his show to the Holy Land,

but ABC had other plans,

and cancelled his show
before he had that opportunity.

When I professed
my faith in Jesus Christ

on network television,
and in my concerts,

it turned a lot of people off.

You see, the whole thing
about being a Christian

is being willing
to give up the world.

And that's what I was doing.

So he said, "All right.

I'm gonna put my money
where my soul is."

And he went
and did it himself.

He put a half a million dollars
of his own money

to create his film,
theGospel Road.

Now come along with me
in the footsteps of Jesus.

Johnny was no stranger
to the silver screen.

In fact, throughout his career,

he was in dozens of shows
and movies,

but Johnny wanted to make
a film about Jesus Christ.

Jesus was to suffer
much criticism

for his association with people
of questionable character.

"He dines with publicans
and sinners," they said.

And to that Jesus replied,

"It's the sick
that need a physician,

not the healthy."

John walked up to me
one morning, early,

'cause we always had to be
out there for sunrises,

and he said,
"I wanna get baptized."

And I baptized Johnny Cash
and June Carter Cash
in the Jordan River.

That was one of the highlights
of my life.

The Bible
likens baptism
to a burial service.

Think of a happy funeral.

The old you is going
into the water.

The new you is coming out.

Baptism is an outward showing
of an inward doing.

The old Johnny Cash
was immersed,

a new Johnny Cash was emerging,

one committed to his faith,

one committed
to scripture study,

one committed to telling others
about Jesus.

He made a great effort
to show his faith to the world.

And that was his dedication,

that was his reaching out
with his faith and doing
what he believed in.

J.R. was quoted
as saying,

"My record company would rather
I be in prison than in church"

In many ways, that's true.

His rebel persona
was easier to sell.

People found
his constant struggles

and his willingness to bare
his humanity intoxicating,

but Johnny Cash
was always a rebel.

In his early years,

his rebellion took him
on a journey away
from his family and faith.

But now, his rebellious spirit

was bringing him
back to his faith.

The Gospel Road
was not well-received.

In fact, it was
a financial disaster,

and almost bankrupted
Johnny Cash.

But his good friend,
Billy Graham, stepped in

and used his platform
to take it to the world.

The Gospel Roadwas made
by my friend Johnny Cash

and his lovely wife June
as a labor of love,

so that they, too,

could share with the world
the Gospel.

Without your prayers
and without your support,

we could not continue.

...in their lives.
We need your...

...importantly,
to remind the church

that the old-time Gospel
is relevant to this generation!

Billy Graham,
though he was

the most famous evangelist
in all of the world,

had his own prodigal son,
Franklin.

And Franklin was rough
around the edges.

And Billy was not
connecting to his son.

And then one day,

Billy noticed that Franklin
was listening
to Johnny Cash music.

I think
my father was trying
to find a way

to connect with me
in a different way,

and he thought,
"Well, if I could meet
Johnny Cash,

that would impress Franklin."

And so, I think
it was '69 they met,

and had a dinner
at Johnny Cash's home.

And I was impressed.

So what started
as an attempt by Billy
to help reach his son,

ended up in a deep
and lasting friendship
between Billy and Johnny.

Johnny was at a place
where he needed a person
in his life

that would be like
a mentor to him, spiritually.

My father felt very comfortable
in Johnny's presence,

and Johnny felt very comfortable
in my father's presence,

because both grew up on farms,

they both grew up poor.

And so, there was
a lot in common.

They were both southern boys
who grew up with respect
for their elders

and listening to the same music.

They called
each other often,

they vacationed together,

studied scripture together.

They were very, very clo--
I mean, absolutely best friends,

because they found
that they could really be real,

you know, where John
didn't have to sing

and Billy didn't have to preach.

Does he ever preach to you?

To me? No.
We talk about life.

We talk about everything,
whatever's happening.

He's always anxious to give me

any spiritual advice
when I ask him.

But, no, he's not
that kind of person.

A very human person,
very humble.

Billy has been
a great inspiration to me.

And his friendship
has been something
I've leaned on

from time to time
over the years.

And in some ways,

Billy Graham was that brother
that Johnny had lost.

Johnny could bare
his heart to Billy,

he could ask questions of Billy.

Billy loved Johnny,
was not judgmental of him,

and helped give him
the spiritual guidance

that, had he lived, Jack
might've given him.

Their friendship
was very precious,

and it brought Johnny
closer to the Lord.

Johnny
once said to Billy,

"If there's anything
I can ever do for you,
just let me know."

Billy said, "Well, as a matter
of fact, I have a Crusade
coming up

and I was wondering
if you would come and sing."

Johnny quickly agreed.

That's just
the way John was.

If he's your friend,
he's your friend at all times.

He doesn't think about
his career or anything else.

He just, "Oh, that's my friend.

He wants me to do this.
I'm gonna do it."

It didn't matter to him
what the music industry

thought about him
being with Billy Graham,

because that was where
Johnny's heart was,
with the Gospel.

And I'm proud and honored

and thrilled and flattered
to present tonight

my very good
and warm friend in Christ,

Johnny Cash.

I spend a lot of my time

working with drug addicts
and alcoholics.

And only someone
who has had such a problem

can have complete love
and compassion

and understanding
for such people.

I love drug addicts.
And I love alcoholics.

If some lost, lonely person
somewhere out there

in a dirty bed and a dark room

can see the light
of Jesus Christ in me,

then that is my reward.

Johnny was there
to help my father evangelize.

People came to hear my father,

but when they heard
Johnny Cash was coming,

it gave them an opportunity
to bring certain friends

that probably wouldn't come.

And it's the kind of people

that my father wanted
to preach to.

It was almost eight years ago

that we renewed our total
commitment to Jesus Christ.

And I just wanted to say,
in case anybody had any doubt,

that I'm a Christian,
and I'm awfully proud to say so.

Johnny came to 30
of my father's Crusades.

I went to Billy,
and I wanted to know more

about his friendship with Dad,
what made it so special.

And he just said,
"We were brothers in Christ.

We found something
we believed in together."

And I will never forget that.
It was such a simple summation.

But it really told the truth
of their relationship.

J.R. didn't say,
"I'm forsaking everything
in the secular world."

The great evangelist
Billy Graham told him
not to do that.

Billy Graham said,
"No. This is exactly
where you need to be.

You need to speak
to the world."

He was
just on fire for Jesus.

He wanted to do something
for God that would last.

And you have to understand John,
he wanted to do it right now.

That's just the way he was.

In 1977,
John was ordained a minister.

And privileges
appertaining thereto.

Thank you, Dr. Hamon.
Thank you very much.

Think about this.
The Reverend Johnny Cash.

That's what he was now.

He was an ordained minister
of the Gospel.

That doesn't go with the image
many people have of Cash.

And it's my privilege,
as a Christian,
to study the Word of God.

But I accept the degree
as recognition of the fact

that I am in the Word of God
and trying to grow in it.

You know,
it's an interesting thing.

Johnny's brother, Jack,
wanted to be a pastor,

and Johnny wanted
to be a singer.

But now, Johnny Cash was
realizing Jack's dream,

and he was both a preacher
and a singer.

It was not a renunciation
of his career,

but certainly,
the focus distracted him
from his commercial career.

It was a price that
he was willing to pay.

I am a professional entertainer.
That's what I am.

If I have a calling,
that's what it is.

But I'm called to be
a Christian entertainer,

to be a Christian
before the world.

You see, entertaining
is communicating,

just like a preacher's job
is to communicate.

But I communicate through
the spirit of the song,

the meaning of the songs,
the words.

In the late '70s
and the '80s,

you would think John R. Cash
is at the top of the world.

He should've been.

He gets inducted into
the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Ladies and gentlemen,
the Country Music Hall of Fame

welcomes Mr. Johnny Cash.

I'd like to say to
all the new entertainers

that are coming on the scene,
to the young artists,
the singers,

do it your way.

Don't let yourself
get caught in a bag.

And I'd like to also say this
to all the new artists,

that, if you're concerned
about competition,

don't write me off yet,

because my dad, Ray Cash,
is sitting here tonight.

He's 83 years old,
and if God lets me live
that long,

that's 35 more years
that I'm gonna be out there
singing country songs.

During that time,
Ray is getting sick.

He is having to come to terms

with that relationship.

Johnny always
wanted the approval
of his father, Ray.

So when Johnny began
to be successful,

he took his mom and his dad.

He took them to the White House
when he was invited
by President Nixon.

Johnny was always trying
to impress his father.

And he said, "My father never
told me he loved me."

There. You gonna find--

During the time
that Ray was dying,

that was a very difficult time.

And you listen to Rainbow,
the last Columbia Record,

he sounds tired.

There's no other word to say
that he was tired.

He's gone from constant
chart-topping hits

to nothing on the charts
in just a few short years.

That's a strange place

for one of the biggest-selling
artists in the world to be.

Johnny was on top
for such a long time.

And then, one day,

Columbia Records dropped him.

It was devastating.

He felt betrayed and lost.

You're like a train
going forward, you know,

and now you have no track?

The label
he had been with for 28 years,

and whose doors
he kept open, was saying,

"We don't want you anymore.
You're not needed."

He suffered for his faith.
He didn't have to.

He could've kept that
to himself.

He did it because he thought
that that's what people needed,

to hear from somebody
who had lived a life
like he had,

a life of confusion,
a life of trouble.

He was
very disappointed
and lost for a while there.

The critics had
kind of turned away from him.

He was not happy
with that position.

The crowds at his shows
are shrinking.

Radio air play is
virtually non-existent.

It was
a humiliating experience
auditioning for 25 year olds

when he had already been

in the Country Music
Hall of Fame for six years.

And that left John
kind of back to where he was
with those producers

who didn't know him
and didn't get him
and didn't want to.

And just wanted product

and "let's just get the next
Johnny Cash record out."

And he stopped caring
and going into the studio,

and he had nothing
to say anymore.

They didn't wanna listen to him,
and he didn't wanna
tell them anything.

He thought
his career was over.

While he was doing
one of his regular shows
in Southern California,

this character
with a big beard
came backstage,

and the man's name
was Rick Rubin.

And that was the beginning.

I got hungry
to be back in the studio,

to be creative,
to put something down
for the fans to hear.

And about that time
that I got to feeling
that way,

my manager came to me
and talked to me about a man
called Rick Rubin.

Rick came back
after the show and said
basically to my father,

"I wanna make the music with you
that you've always
dreamed of making.

Let's focus on you.

Let's make this album
the most beautiful music
you've ever made."

When I said,
"What're you gonna do with me

that nobody else has been able
to do to sell records with me?"

And he said,
"Well, I don't know
that we will sell records."

He said, "I would like you
to go with me

and sit in my living room
with a guitar
and two microphones,

and just sing
to your heart's content

everything you ever
wanted to record."

I said,
"That sounds good to me."

The next ten years,
from 1993 to 2003,

by some, was claimed
the Second Coming,
some, the Third Coming,

some said it was
the Fourth Coming
with Johnny Cash.

He went into the studio
with Rick Rubin

and the first
American Recordingsalbum

was just my father
with his guitar.

Johnny Cash was that good.

He could just sit down
with a guitar and sing,

and it was powerful.

You can hear
the intimate story of the song.

You can hear the beauty
of my father's voice.

And if I didn't like
the performance on that song,

I would keep trying it
until it felt...

that it was coming out of me
and my guitar
and my voice as one,

that it was right for my soul.

Under the guidance
of Rick Rubin,

Johnny Cash took it
all the way back to the sound
that he had in the beginning.

Just the man and song
and guitar. Authentic.

That authenticity spoke
to an entirely different
generation of people

who had never heard
of Johnny Cash before.

It also spoke to a generation
of Johnny Cash followers

who longed to see him ride
the top of the sunrise
one more time.

But while everyone was
looking at John,
June slipped away.

June went
through a heart valve
replacement surgery,

but the next night,
it, uh, it fails.

It was hard.
It was real hard for John.

As you get older,
you lose so many friends.

And every time
you lose a friend,

you feel a little piece
of your own life has been lost.

And when my mother
passed away, Dad came to me
and he said,

"You know, I was more in love
with your mom
than I ever had been."

When people
would come in to try
to comfort him,

he was comforting
them even more.

He understood the race
had been run well,

and that she was
in a better place.

He was still teaching us
about life

up until the very last day
he was on this Earth.

- Are you bitter?
- Bitter?

- Yeah. Angry?
- No.

You know, you're a young guy.
You're only 70.

No, I'm not bitter.
Why should I be bitter?

I'm thrilled to death with life.

- So you have no regrets?
- No regrets.

And no anger at,
"Why did God do this to me?"

Oh, no. No.

I'm the last one
that would be angry at God.

He was steadfast in that.

He did not waver in that.

He took what God wanted him
to bear, and he did.

I have unshakable faith.
I've never been angry with God.

I've never turned my back
on God, so to speak.

I never thought
that God wasn't there.

See, He's my counselor.
He's my wisdom.

Only good things in my life
come from Him.

- Looking back
at all that you've done...
- Ahem.

...do you have any regrets
about what you've done?

I used to,
but I forgave myself.

When God forgave me,
I figured I'd better do it, too.

Where do you think
we go, afterwards?

Where do we go?

- When we die, you mean?
- Yeah.

Oh.

Well, we all hope
to go to Heaven.

I ask him, I said,
"You mad at anybody?"

He said, "I'm not mad
at anybody."

And I said, "Do you got
any forgiveness

you've not yet been able
to do with anybody?"

He says, "No.
I've forgiven everybody

and I hope everybody's
forgiven me that thought
that I should."

Everything inside me
felt peaceful

after that conversation,
that he settled up.

He was in good standing.

The final triumph
for him was the masterpiece
called "Hurt".

That was a big moment.

I think what was shocking
for a lot of people was
how frail Johnny was,

but at the same time,
how he still maintained

that strength
that we knew him for.

But more than that,
what struck me

was the bravery
that he was willing
to let it all hang out.

♪ I hurt myself today ♪

♪ To see if I still feel ♪

When he was recording,
I say, "You sure
you wanna do this?"

I said, "It's heavy. It's dark."

You know? He said, "It's real."

It just was true. It was true.

He was wearing his humanity
on his sleeve

for everyone to see.

That's where art is
at its most impactful,

is when it strikes someone

and they have to ingest it,

digest it enough to understand

"how does this make me feel?"
and "where am I in this"?

Dad was excited.
He was just like a kid.

He was just like,
"Man, this is great! It's gonna
be a big hit!

Everybody's gonna love it!"

The guy was as willing
to show up real as it gets.

To expose himself
that way,

at the age that he was,
and after the career
that he's had,

it was just all things at once.

♪ And you could have it all ♪

♪ My empire of dirt ♪

This is so honest that it's
devastatingly beautiful.

I mean,
it makes you emotional
just thinking about it.

Every artist wish
they could have

sort of a swan song like that.

But we have
to realize something.

He didn't necessarily
see it as a swan song.

He saw it as just an accurate
statement about his life

and who he was
and where he'd been.

♪ I would keep myself ♪

♪ I would find a way. ♪

He was
always the realist.
He was always the artist.

He always wanted truth,
all the way until the end.

Johnny asked me
what I thought about the song.

I said, "I think
it's the greatest song
in your whole career,

because you poured out
your life.

The good, the bad,
and the ugly."

In an unusual way,
"Hurt" was a gospel song, too,

because it set up
what he wanted to say,

the way he looked at things.

I think
there was something
in Johnny's mind that said,

"I have to leave people
with a thought."

It makes perfect sense

that that was the last song
we remember Johnny for.

He grew old full
of grace and full of strength,
spiritually,

which kept him as long
as it did physically.

But "Hurt"
was kind of, I suppose,
the beginning of the end.

Didn't wanna admit it,

but I saw that light fading
in his eyes a little bit.

He was getting tired.

Family
would come and visit

and those visits,
they had an air
of finality to them.

He does not expect
that he's going to live.

He called me
over to his house one day,
just close to the end.

And he said, "Baby, sit down.
I gotta talk to you."

And when he said that,
I knew it was serious.

He said, "I wanna
ask you a question."

He said, "If you walked
on the shores of Galilee

and you looked up and you saw
Jesus walking toward you,

and you knew He was gonna say
just one thing to you,

what do you think He'd say?"

Well, chills went all over me.
I didn't know how to answer it.

I said, "Well,
I would hope He'd say

I'm doing
what He called me to do,

and that He's pleased
with that."

And Johnny looked at me
and he said,

"He would say to you,
'Feed my sheep.'"

I said, "Yeah, He would.

What do you think
He would say to you?"

And he said, "Oh baby,
that's easy."

He had tears
rolling down his face
and he said,

"Come unto me all you that labor
and are heavy-laden

and I'll give you rest,
for my yoke is easy

and my burden is light."

Johnny had many burdens
that he carried
throughout his life.

There's the burden
of losing his brother Jack
in a tragic accident,

the burden of the failure
of his first marriage,

the burden of the bad decisions
he had made throughout
his life and his career,

and the people that he had hurt.

But here's Jesus saying,
"Come to me,"

and as another translation
puts it,

"I will refresh you with rest."

Johnny was telling me,
"I'm going home.

You do what God calls you to do.

I'm going home. It's okay."

I went
over to his house

and I was about to go
on the road,

and I just wanted to go
check in on him, hug his neck,
tell him I love him.

And I had recorded
a song of his called
"The Walls of a Prison"

that I wanted to play for him.

And so, I played it for him
and I sat at his feet.

He put his hand on me and said,
"Excellent, son."

He said, "You got it."

I knew he didn't wanna
hang out too long,

so we talked a minute,
and before I left the room,

he said, "Is there anything
in this room you want?"

I said, "Just your love."
He said, "You got that."

And as I was about to leave,

he was sitting in his wheelchair
with his back to the window

and the late afternoon light
was coming in.

And I had my camera
all in my bag.

And I said, "J.R.,
let me take your picture."

And there was, like,
four frames,

and the first three
he just kinda looked
like this. I said, "J.R."

He reared up and he looked
like an old president.

And when I got the negatives
back,

I went, "There's the picture."

Before I left the room,
I said, "How's your spirit?"

He said, "Good." I said,
"You got plenty of rope left?"

He said, "I got plenty of rope."
I said, "All right.

I'll be home in 10 days,"
whatever it was.

I didn't think it would come
while I was gone on that trip.
But it did.

It's the death of a legend,
our top story this half hour.

Johnny Cash is gone.

The country music world
is saying goodbye

to the legendary Man in Black.

I was on the way home
from a concert
on the East Coast.

And at three in the morning,

somebody pulled the curtain
back in the bus and said,

"Johnny Cash died."

I cried and cried and cried,

I felt the cutting of the pain,

and then I quietly
said goodbye,

"so long, in Jesus' name.

Dark bird, watch you fly

Dark bird, to another sky

And I'll bet you were a sight,
when you hit that cloud of love

And flew out the other side

In the form of a dove

Dark bird."

I know
we'll see him again.
I know we'll see him again.

And that's my blessed hope.

That was a hard time. It's hard.

I can live in a world
without "Johnny Cash,"

but I miss my brother.

I sure do miss him.

On his tombstone,
Johnny Cash had Psalm 19:14
written down,

which says,
"Let the words of my mouth

and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable
in your sight, O Lord."

You know, David, in his Psalms,
would write about his doubts,

his struggles,
the challenges that he faced,

and he would cry out to God.

Well, Johnny wrote
about those things, too.

He sang about trains
and murder and betrayal.

But he also sang about faith,
hope, and redemption.

To me, Johnny Cash is
the face of Redemption.

All of us who are believers,
have sinned,

we've all needed
that redemption. I know I have.

He showed us the way to go.

He gave us an example.

Even though my father
didn't necessarily

always live every step
correctly and true,

he knew the truth,
he believed the truth,

and he could speak the truth.

And just
because you have faith

doesn't mean you always make
the right decision.

But what it does guarantee is,
you'll have that foundation,

something that,
when you do fall,
something that will catch you.

And it's easy to point
to someone like a Johnny Cash,

and say,
"Oh, that guy took drugs."

Well, we all screw up,
every last one of us.

But God gave him the strength,
God gave him the grace,

and good people around him
to encourage him.

He tried,
to his last breath

to live right
and do the right thing.

But he was a human being
along the way.

Johnny's story is--
If that's not proof
that there is hope,

then I don't know
where else we can find it.

The strength
to get up and keep going,
it took more than energy.

He didn't have any energy.
It was faith.

I have had
many people come to me saying,

"I'm born-again
because of Johnny Cash,

because of his life
and his stand for Christ."

He gave them
something to believe in,

hope that there's a better way.

I don't think
that you can find a musician
over the last 50 years

that hasn't been influenced
in some way by Johnny Cash.

The Bibletells us
that the Christian life
is like a race.

There were
some stumbles and falls,

but the key is,
he ran his race to the end,

and he finished well.

That's what I love
about Johnny Cash,

is the fact
that he's willing to say,

"You know, I'm just a guy."

I think a lot of people
are realizing

what a great man he was
and what a good man he was,

and that he was a Christian
throughout it all.

He would want people
to see his story

and find a way to strengthen
their own life,

to show love.

He was a man
after God's heart,

and that's who John R. Cash
from Arkansas was.