Mr. Cash, Twenty Years Today

 Mr. Cash, twenty years on.

Twenty years ago today, I photographed Johnny Cash perform a tribute show for his wife, June Carter Cash. It is still a day that is nearly impossible to describe. The emotional weight that the room possessed, more powerful than any sport or concert I have ever been to. The way time seemed to speed up and slow down. The sea of people that filled, and spilled out of the Carter Family Fold. My own emotion of finally witnessing someone that I had waited a lifetime to see, and finding myself in the position of documenting it all for his families. Even now, it still seems beyond real.

Within weeks of the show, my photos were published by Rolling Stone, Time, Lost Highway (Cash's label at the time) and many others. What has meant the most to me is both the Cash and Carter families have embraced my work from this day, and Mr. Cash's final show on July 5th of that year. On my worst of moments, I remind myself that on those two days, I did a good job that still means something. My photos are still on the walls of the Carter Fold, and I have never forgotten how much that place, and the people that run the Fold still mean to me.

Last month, I was parking my car when I noticed that someone had left a message on my cellphone. Not recognizing the number, I listened to the message to see who it was. "Hi Daniel, it's John Carter Cash," the son of John and June Carter Cash. I'd first learned about from a comic book about his family that I purchased when I was eight years old. I called him back as fast as I could. John Carter asked if he could buy some of my photos for a lyric book of his father's work that will be out this fall. He again told me how much my photos of his dad mean to him. As I finished the call and began to text my wife, I realized that I was crying.

Yesterday, I found myself riding some of the same route that I had taken to the Carter Fold for those shows. I decided to tune to a bluegrass station that I'd listened to during those trips. Switching to AM, my car randomly landed on a distant station, and the crackly sound of Johnny Cash singing "I Walk The Line," one of the songs that I saw him perform twenty years ago. I hear you, Mr. Cash. You are still here, showing us the possibilities of life and legacy, and I am still listening. Forever changed by the days I spent around you, and the photographs that documented those fleeting moments.

-Daniel

June 20, 2023