Thursday, July 5, 2007 1:28 PM CDT
Tommy Cash pays tribute to Johnny
By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer
rstroud@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON -- Tommy Cash was there when his brother Johnny Cash and nephew Roy Cash Jr. brainstormed lyrics for “I Still Miss Someone” over a meal of roast beef and mashed potatoes.
“If I had know it would become such a million seller I would have put my two cents in too,” Tommy Cash joked about this 1958 hit by his brother, country music’s legendary “Man in Black.”
Cash played “I Still Miss Someone” and many other Johnny Cash songs, as well as some of his own hits, during a Wednesday afternoon concert at Red, White & Blue Days in Morton Park.
“As I was singing that song, I thought how much I missed my brother,” Cash told his audience. Johnny Cash died in 2003. “He left us with some marvelous songs that will live on forever on their own merits.”
The tribute to Johnny Cash took place before an audience festival organizers estimated was one of the largest ever for a Fourth of July concert at Red, White & Blue Days. Music fans filled the space in front of the ball field stage and even more found shade under trees throughout the park.
In the afternoon heat, Cash and his five-piece band wore their signature black suits. As Cash took off his jacket a half hour into the concert, he noted it was hot on stage, but even hotter out on the ball field.
“As long as you want to sit there and listen, we will sing for you,” Cash pledged. He dedicated this Fourth of July concert to military service members of the past, present and future.
More than four decades ago, Cash got started in the country music business after getting out of the Army. He said his brother asked him to open a music publishing company for him in Nashville, Tenn.
Cash said his brother called one day and asked him to close the publishing office early so he could attend a Columbia Records’ recording session for what the country star predicted would be a big hit. Cash was there as his brother recorded “Ring of Fire.”
“The first time I heard that song coming through the speaker, I knew he was right,” Cash said as he and his band launched into this mariachi-tinged 1963 hit.
On another occasion, Johnny Cash received a call from Carl Perkins. Cash said Perkins explained he had written a song, ” Daddy Sang Bass,” that would bring Johnny Cash back. Cash said his brother replied, “I did not know I had been anywhere.”
During Wednesday’s concert, singer Lisa Kirkpatrick of St. Louis, Mo., gave a spirited performance on the June Carter Cash sections of “Daddy Sang Bass” and “Jackson.”
Cash also played a hit song of his own, “Six White Horses,” dedicated to John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. He said he is always thankful to music fans for the single and its album becoming gold records.
“Everywhere I go people still want to hear that song even though it is 35 years old,” Cash said as he expressed his appreciation.
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 KEVIN KILHOFFER(JG/T-C)
Tommy Cash entertains the crowd at Morton Park during Red White and Blue Days in Charleston on Wednesday.
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