The quintessential biography of the Man in Black. Cash was a man both extraordinary and ordinary. He was a saint and a profound sinner. And Hilburn's biography is an exhaustive, honest, and touching portrait of a troubled and extremely gifted artist. It is well researched, amusing, heartbreaking, and powerful. You won't read this book and not be impacted by Cash's artistic life, his failures, his love of family (and his complications with family), and his drive to continue in the midst of severe physical struggles.

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A heavy (literally and figuratively) read about an enigmatic, complex, and conflicted man. A man of deep faith who fell to temptation. A man who used his position to champion the underdog even to the point of wrecking his career, while still striving for commercial success. A man who lived constantly with the shadow of death, and the disapproval of many of those close to him.

To quote a New York Times review included in these pages “Man in Black, outlaw of justice, friend to the downtrodden, Mr. Cash had always been poised on the cusp between right and wrong, shadow and light; he walks the line between country sincerity and rock and roll autonomy.”

This excellent read doesn’t pull any punches about Cash or the decisions he made. Naturally it parallels his career being at its strongest at the beginning (the 50s and 60s) and the end (90s and 2000s) while dragging a bit through the wilderness years in between.

Overall this is a powerful account of a man who just saw himself as “a singer of songs.” ( )

I have personal feelings, while reading this book: my younger daughter did a solo modern dance in high school to the song"Hurt," as a tribute to her dad, who had always loved Johnny Cash; I never felt much for him until then. I saw the Phoenix/Witherspoon movie a couple of times and liked it, but according to Hilburn, the movie differed significantly from his real life. For one, June was not such a resisting angel to Cash's overtures as the movie suggested. And once she had him pegged down, she wanted a lavish lifestyle that forced him to keep working and touring far longer than he wanted to. I hated how the one male baby he had was far more important than the four daughters he already had with Vivian, his first wife. Nevertheless, all his family benefitted by knowing him, getting breaks that Joe (Josephine) Schmoe never would. ( )

Excellent! ( )

Johnny Cash is both a great and an enigma to most music fans: So much public yet so much unknown. His combination of country and folk music with a deeply baritone voice entertained audiences for nearly 50 years. The timelessness of his takes on American life reached for the heavens. Anyone who can elicit praise from Bob Dylan for musical acumen deserves to be remembered.

Hilburn unearths Cash’s life in this in-depth biography. Though both explored and written after Cash’s death, Hilburn uncovers many a niche in Cash’s story that portrays how real life happens. Many of these niches were left out of Cash’s two autobiographies because he surmised they would hurt people who were living. Fortunately, Cash’s children permitted Hilburn the freedom to be honest in his portrayal of their father.

The picture Hilburn paints of Cash is one of deep respect, with deep flaws, and possessing a deep soul. Cash struggled with drugs for much of his life, and this probably cut years off of his life. The drugs probably limited his creativity, which in turn limited his mass appeal. Cash committed marital infidelities during both of his marriages – even during his “Christian” period. He was a bad father to his daughters.

Yet Hilburn’s portrait simultaneously leaves us with glimmers of Cash’s light. Cash ultimately sought redemption through honesty in almost every significant sector of his life. His expression left behind a gleaming record of songs over decades. He made perhaps the best music video of all time in the song “Hurt.” He died beloved by young singers who continued to follow his relevance. He steadfastly stood up for the common man in America. European audiences seemed to love him more abidingly than even American fans. Over the years, he became more, not less, dedicated to his wife June, his daughters, his son, and the Christian faith of his youth.

Johnny Cash expresses the American soul in a unique way, and Hilburn captures this in the nearly 700 pages in this narrative. It’s worth the time to read. I grew up listening to Cash’s music, and this biography fills in a lot of gaps that I have long been curious about. Hilburn brings forth deep research and brings out Cash’s passions through music. Many times, by quoting the songs, Hilburn wonderfully evokes in the reader a sense of the majesty of this American man. ( )