Johnny Cash Band Info Plus Song Lyrics And Tutorials
You'll Find Links To 11 Johnny Cash Acoustic Guitar Tutorials In This Section
The Johnny Cash band was formed in 1955 and consisted of Johnny Cash, guitarist Luther Perkins and bass player Marshall Grant. With Johnny as the lead man, Perkins and Marshal became known as The Tennessee Two.
Before 1955, Johnny didn't know Luther and Marshall but Luther and Marshall knew each other.
All three were rhythm guitar players and jammed together.
Then it was decided that Marshall should switch to the upright bass and Luther would get an electric guitar and amp and play
lead, which he did.
Bass Player of The Tennessee Two
Marshall was an auto mechanic from Memphis and played bass in the Johnny Cash band, changing the sound of country with his boom-chika-boom playing style. He also managed Johnny's career until 1980.
Marshall tried to help Johnny thru his drug addiction later on but to no avail. In 1980 Johnny fired Marshall.
The men reconciled later and remained the best of friends up until Johnny's death in 2003.
Marshall Grant then went on to manage The Staler Brothers until 2004. Marshall is still alive today at age 81 and lives with his wife Etta in Hernando, Mississippi.
Johnny Cash Interview
Guitarist of The Tennessee Two
Luther Perkins was the guitar player in the Johnny Cash band and had a dream one night about a rainbow and a pot of gold. He took a shovel and actually went out and dug on the spot, hoping to find gold. But found a pile of bricks instead. He sold those for 2 cents ea to a construction company and bought his first guitar.
Luther was also an auto mechanic and worked along side Marshall Grant in the same mechanic shop. He and Marshall were introduced to Johnny by Roy Cash, Johnny's brother. They began rehearsing and doing some local gigs.
Luther and his wife Margie always had an open door for Johnny anytime of the day or night .. and even when Johnny was at his worst with drugs, he could always go see Luther and Margie and they would listen. Luther played a major role in helping Johnny eventually get clean from drugs around 1967.
The Bands Beginnings
Johnny had a heck of a time getting the attention of record producer Sam Phillips to take the Johnny Cash band seriously. He called him twice and got rejected. Then he showed up at Phillips studio early before any employees. When he saw Phillips he said "Mr.Phillips, if you take the time to listen to me you'll be glad you did".
Phillips invited him in because he liked a man with confidence, but Johnny's Gospel audition didn't impress Sam Phillips. He was told "go out and sin and then come back" ... Johnny did come back, this time with Marshall and Luther.
After a few numbers and not impressing Phillips, they switched gears and played stuff Johnny had written, such as Folsom Prison Blues, Cry Cry Cry and Hey Porter. Sam liked what he heard and switched on the recording equipment. He signed the boys to a contract.
The Johnny Cash Band Expands
All three quit their jobs and took up playing full time. But the long drives between gigs required amphetamines to stay awake,
and Johnny began getting hooked on those dirty little pills.
In 1960, they added a drummer to the Johnny Cash band by the name of WS Holland and then became known as Johnny Cash and The Tennessee Three. It was also the time Johnny and June Carter began seeing more of each other, in spite of Johnny being married.
In 1968 the band played a very memorable performance at Folsom Prison in California. Perkins guitar playing was bang on. In May of 1968 the band toured in England, but Luther had come down with bronchitis while on tour and spent much of the tour in a London hospital. Carl Perkins (no relation) filled in.
Tragedy Strikes The Tennessee Three
After the tour, Luther returned home a few days after the Johnny Cash band returned to the US. In spite of being exhausted and
doctors orders to slow down and rest, Luther kept playing and did his last show on July 28th 1968. Luther never used drugs
but was a smoker.
On Aug 2nd, he was almost persuaded to join a regular Fri night card game by his friend Gene Ferguson, but he declined. Awakening sometime in the wee hrs, he went down to the river to check some fishing lines he had set and he'd caught a catfish. He left it in the sink with a note to Margie that said "See I told You I Could Catch A Catfish".
But retiring to his den to relax, Luther lit a cigarette and fell asleep. The house caught fire. Luther had tried to escape
but collapsed near a glass sliding Door. He suffered severe burns but was rescued and dragged outside by his wife and neighbors.
When Johnny saw his guitar player unconscious in the hospital, he said later that he knew it was over for Luther. The guitar
player never regained consciousness and died from his burns and smoke inhalation at age 40.
Johnny and June would later be buried in the same cemetery as Luther, 35 years later, at the Hendersonville Memory Gardens in
Hendersonville, Tennessee.
Luthers pallbearers were Marshall Grant, WS Holland, Roger Miller, Billy Graves, Gene Ferguson, Charlie Dick
(Patsy Cline's husband), and Johnny.
Wootton Replaces Perkins
Guitarist Bob Wootton replaced Perkins in the Johnny Cash band because he could re-produce that Perkins sound. That came
from being Cash fan for many years and listening and practicing the Perkins style.
The band continued in various forms thru the years until Johnny's health made it impossible for him to perform any longer.
Marshall was an auto mechanic from Memphis and played bass in the Johnny Cash band, changing the sound of country with his boom-chika-boom playing style. He also managed Johnny's career until 1980.
