JOHNNY CASH! THE MAN, HIS WORLD, HIS MUSIC (TV)
Summary
This is a 1969 documentary about singer Johnny Cash as he tours the country following a late-‘60s career comeback. As the production opens, Cash makes bird calls in the woods as he readies his gun. Later, he finds a crow which he has wounded. Discovering that it now has a broken wing, Cash sings a song to the crow, then takes it home to be nursed back to health. Going to the studio, Cash works on songs and listens to an earlier recording of “The Land of Israel.” Later, he joins his musicians on their tour bus to Memphis. Cash prepares for the concert as a recording of “Daddy Sings Bass” plays. In concert, Cash performs “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Five Feet High and Rising,” and “Orange Blossom Special.” Wife June Carter Cash joins him to sing “Jackson.” Later, he talks about recurring themes in country music, signs autographs backstage with his wife, listens to a fan’s song, and sings “Great Speckled Bird” and “Flesh and Blood” for friends. After going apple picking with his family, Cash returns to the tour bus and talks about childhood memories. At the Grand Ole Opry-based Country Music Awards, Cash sits in the audience and watches as Roy Rogers and Dale Evans sing “Deep Within My Heart Lies a Melody.” Upon winning Country Music Album of the Year for “Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison,” Cash is presented with the award by Jeannie C. Reilly and he makes a brief acceptance speech. Cash then listens to an aspiring songwriter’s tunes backstage before offering to set the young man up with an audition at Columbia Records. In a concert for Native Americans, Cash sings “The Ballad of Ira Hayes,” then gets a blessing from a Native American “medicine man.” Cash recalls why he wrote “Big Foot” about the Wounded Knee tragedy, after which he tours the historic area and sings the song. Later, Cash goes to the studio to perform “One Too Many Mornings" with Bob Dylan. In concert, Cash and a choral group sing “Were You There?” En route to the next concert, Cash drives the tour bus to Dyess Colony, the Arkansas area where he lived as a teen, now populated by sharecropper houses, and explains that lifestyle to his crew. He then performs the intro to “Cisco Clifton’s Filling Station” before visiting old friends with his sister, Louise Garrett Cash. Before leaving the area, Cash looks inside a rundown house and recalls moving there with his parents in 1935. Cash sings “Busted” before filming an interview in which he talks about recording “Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison.” He sings “Walls of a Prison” as footage from within a maximum security facilty is shown. At a penetentiary-based concert, The Carter Family -- "Mother" Maybelle, Anita, Helen, and June -- sing "The Last Thing on my Mind” before Cash takes the stage for “Big River,” “Long Black Veil,” and a reprise of “Jackson” with his wife. Finally, back in the studio, Cash sings “Devil to Pay.”
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: August 5, 2008 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:26:46
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:86747
- GENRE: Music; Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Music
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV, 2008
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Arthur Barron … Producer
- Evelyn Barron … Producer
- Roy Hyrkin … Associate Producer
- Harry Wiland … Associate Producer
- Robert Elfstrom … Director
- Anita Carter
- Helen Carter
- June Carter Cash
- The Carter Family
- Maybelle Carter
- Johnny Cash
- Bob Dylan
- Dale Evans
- Louise Cash Garrett
- Jeannie C. Reilly
- Roy Rogers