performance tonight at The Underground in Duluth Minnesota. Though it was
entertaining, it wasn’t what I expected depicted by the design of the poster which shows
a railroad track and CASH in the big letters that symbolizes the “biggest”
county icon who ever lived.
The music of Johnny Cash was indeed presented with some narration between
the characters telling a bit about the songs in a “I am Johnny Cash/he was
Johnny Cash/you are Johnny Cash/this is about Johnny Cash” type of theme threaded
through approximately 90 minutes. It was certainly worth going to if you like Johnny Cash songs and can appreciate them presented in a different style; like a cross between something heard in a coffee shop and the vaudeville comedy of the early Grand Ole Opry.
With this being the second to the last night of the performance, I would have liked to have heard the musicians a bit more “together” and hitting the correct notes more of the time. They were all versatile and each could play a little bit on several instruments, including the standup
bass, lap steel guitar, banjo, and guitar of course and fiddle. (One even played the “jaw harp” which I’ve not heard since the 70’s!)
See the cast by clicking here:
I did appreciate the way each performer altered the Man in
Black’s songs to fit their style, and add interest to the selected hits from
the library of this prolific writer which, probably made them easier to perform.
For all the simplicity of Johnny’s songs, they are not necessarily easy to sing
or play. Anyone who has sung some of Cash’s songs will testify that his singing
of some song lyrics is on the offbeat and his inflections so naturally fit
right “in the cracks” of the beats; and this is not easy. All of which was “just
Johnny” and would later become the elements of early and subsequent rock and
roll.
A wonderful serendipity for me was meeting the two people in
the audience seated next to me. Ed and Karen Jennings (no relation to Waylon;
and with her maiden name being Nelson was not related to Willie) live in Nashville and are
good friends with the wife of Johnny’s original guitar picker Luther Perkins. Meeting them both and conversing about Luther was a treat for me and now I have a place to stay when I visit Nashville! I told them about the song I wrote in tribute to both Johnny and Luther and told them to search YouTube for “Johnny Cash Me and My Heart” to find it. They said that Luther’s wife (who has
remarried and now widowed a second time) will get a real kick out of it.
Ed and Karen, you’ll remember that I said I would mention you in this blog. If you can’t
find the video, here it is:
Back to the Cash Ring of Fire play, performance or what you’d
call it. Even though this was not what I expected when I saw the poster publicizing
the event, it’s hard to find better entertainment for $16 (times two as I took
a guest). It appeared that the audience liked it and for sure the cast enjoyed doing it.
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