by André Depienne

Country, Gospel, Rockabilly, Blues, Folk and Pop, these were among the music palette of Johnny Cash. His fans liked to call him “The man in black”, as he was always dressed in black. During his long career, Johnny Cash wrote more than 500 songs, sold over 50 mil- lion records, had 13 number 1 songs, in the American country-single charts, and won 13 Grammy Awards. His first number 1 hit was in 1956, “I walked to line” and the last top hit in 1976 was called “One Piece at a time”. He always managed to adapt his music to the contemporary trends of the music indus- try and therefore managed to always keep a young audience among his fans. It seems that further generations of musicians and liste- ners will be influenced by Cash’s musical le- gacy. In the biographical film “Walk the line” (2005), an excellent Joaquin Phoenix played the character of Johnny Cash. His wife June Carter was played by Reese Witherspoon, who even was awarded with an “Oscar” for her performance.