Johnny Cash grew up chopping cotton in a small town in\u00a0southeast Arkansas. Every Sunday in a little church, he was\u00a0transported by gospel music from the hard world he knew to a\u00a0far horizon. And he transformed the trouble he had known into\u00a0gruff music of ache, heart, and hope, even against the odds.<\/p>\n
He was still just a kid in the Army when he wrote “Folsom Prison Blues” and just out of the service when “I Walk the Line”\u00a0hit the charts. Fifty million records and 27 albums later, Johnny\u00a0Cash has redefined the boundaries of country music. He is the\u00a0loner, the man in black, a hard edged writer with a soft heart.\u00a0With his wife, the very gifted June Carter Cash, and family\u00a0often by his side, he has traveled all over the world to give a\u00a0voice to the feelings of farmers and workers, prisoners and\u00a0lovers.<\/p>\n
From the heartland of America, he’s sung for the people who\u00a0are the heart of America. Through his music, he has proved\u00a0again and again the redeeming power of struggle and faith.\u00a0And he has made country music not just music for our country\u00a0but for the entire world. Johnny Cash, you have our applause,\u00a0our admiration, and we have your records.<\/p>\n
– Bill Clinton at the Kennedy Center Honors, December 8, 1996<\/p>\n\tngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bill Clinton Quote Johnny Cash grew up chopping cotton in a small town in\u00a0southeast Arkansas. Every Sunday in a little church, he was\u00a0transported by gospel music from the hard world he knew to a\u00a0far horizon. And he transformed the trouble…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n