#tbt: Remembering Johnny Cash

I wrote this piece for PopMatters when Johnny Cash died in September 2003 — so long ago. I thought i’d reshare — not for any other reason than I like the piece and I’m in an essay-writing mode.

The Man in Black

It would be too easy to call him an everyman, too cliché, too trite.

And yet, that is what he was, an everyman, a singer and songwriter who plumbed our souls and made each of us real and alive in his music.

Johnny Cash, country icon and rock and roll founder, died Friday of complications from diabetes, leaving behind nearly 50 years of remarkable music and a legacy of innovation.

Read more here.

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Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet