THE Man in Black turns 70 today – and Johnny Cash has lots to celebrate.
His health is improving, he’s recording a new album and his old ones are finding new life.
Sony Legacy is releasing a series of remastered Cash albums and “The Essential Johnny Cash,” which covers four decades, and two independent tribute albums are in the works.
“It’s like trying to give Mount Rushmore a facelift,” said country star Marty Stuart, who’s producing one of them. “The songs were perfect to begin with. How can you top them?”
Cash is grateful just to be here, particularly with the recent loss of his friend Waylon Jennings, who performed with Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson as the Highwaymen.
“Yeah, it is hard to see them go. But for every one that dies, I just thank God that he let me live,” Cash said. “I’ve been richly blessed.”
Cash has chalked up more than 130 hits in the last 40 years, selling more than 50 million records.
The artist, who married June Carter after a near-fatal drug overdose in 1968, is now a born-again Christian.
He stopped touring in 1997, but he hopes to return to the stage as his health allows. (He’s prone to pneumonia from a condition called diabetic neuropathy.)
He’ll spend his birthday with family and friends on his farm in Jamaica, where he goes to escape the Nashville winters.
The son of sharecroppers in Arkansas, Cash began writing songs at 12.
He’s been churning them out ever since, earning spots in both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
But he’s never overcome his performance anxiety.
“Every time he went on stage, he wondered if people would accept his music that night,” recalled Lou Robin, his manager of 30 years.
“He had no expectations. He always had hope.”With Post wire services