Johnny Cash would have been 78 years old today.
He wore black for all of us, so today a lot of folks are wearing black for Johnny. Here’s the song on YouTube if you want to know why.
Happy Birthday, Johnny. You wore black, but you made our lives a bit brighter because of it.
Today, Feb. 23, is the release date for the Man in Black’s official swan song.
American VI: Ain’t No Grave is the final installment of Johnny Cash’s legendary “American” series, and the second in the series to be released posthumously. And after this, that’s it–there won’t be no mo’.
In many ways, Johnny Cash was the consummate indie artist–not in self-releasing his records, but in his independent spirit and in his music which was almost impossible to categorize. (They loosely tried to put him in the country genre, but he never really fit there.) When I was three, I wanted to be Johnny Cash, and pretended to be Johnny Cash, and told people I was Johnny Cash–which is actually pretty funny if you think about it (imagine a high-voiced three-year-old kid with a ukelele strapped to his back).
Anyhow.
This is history, really–some of the last songs Johnny ever recorded. You can download the album from Amazon or iTunes using the links below.
One other thing–February 26 would have been Johnny’s 78th birthday. To celebrate his birthday, his record, and his voice for the down-and-out, wear black for Johnny this Friday.
In case anyone was wondering…that’s not me on the record cover. That really is Johnny Cash as a kid. 
