I had always heard about Johnny Cash, hell, even my friends band was Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Three one year for a halloween show, but it wasn't until I saw Walk the Line a few months ago or w/e that I really started taking an interest in Johnny Cash and discovering his music. This isn't just an appreciation thread, or an introduction thread for those who don't know shit about Johnny Cash and Walk the Line. But also, I'm a bit curious about a few things... I just finished reading Cash's autobiography, and I have to say that the way he recounts his life, is a lot different then the way it's portrayed in Walk the Line. For one, he makes it seem that June was down from the start and that his drug habit happened way before that. When in the movie you see him chase and chase after June and how much it rips him apart and how he gets into drugs and becomes self destructive because of his obsession with her. Also, even though they touch on it at the begininng of the film when JR is a child, they don't express how much of his life was shaped and based around his devotion to christianity, and how (in the book at least) he claims he was saved by God eventually, not June. Now, I haven't read Man In Black, so I'm not sure if that book is a lot closer to the movie and delves deeper into his drug abuse and obsession with June or what. Has anyone read Man In Black, or has done any kind of research to clear any of these differences up? Whether or not his life happened like how he explains it in the book, or the movie, it's still an interesting story, and amazing music. I reccomend the complete sun recordings 2 disc set for anyone whose never heard his stuff before, and if you haven't seen the movie go check it out.

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Johnny Cash was one of the people that I grew up listening to through my step father's very broad taste in music (along with Queen, Frank Sinatra and Deep Purple). But, Johnny Cash as a whole didn't get alot of credit until the very end of his career and then when he died he almost literally exploded in popularity. When 12 year old girls and moody little kids are saying that Johnny Cash is one of their favourites, you know something happened.

Walk the Line is just Hollywood's take on his life. Most of it is distorted. Should check out his Wiki or something, probably has a list of differences from reality the movie has.