Cash, Johnny - With His Hot And Blue Guitar

Johnny Cash was one of the most imposing and influential figures in post-World War II country music. With his deep, resonant baritone and spare percussive guitar, he had a basic, distinctive sound. Cash didn’t sound like Nashville, nor did he sound like honky tonk or rock & roll. He created his own subgenre, falling halfway between the blunt emotional honesty of folk, the rebelliousness of rock & roll and the world-weariness of country.

Cash’s career coincided with the birth of rock & roll and his rebellious attitude and simple, direct musical attack shared a lot of similarities with rock. However, there was a deep sense of history - as he would later illustrate with his series of historical albums - that kept him forever tied with country. And he was one of country music’s biggest stars of the 1950s and 1960s, scoring well over 100 hit singles.