What We Learned From John Carter Cash's Reddit AMA

johnny-cash-kitten-john-carter-ama-reddit

With this week's release of Johnny Cash's lost record, Out Among The Stars, his son John Carter Cash took to Reddit to answer some questions from fans. He responded a great variety of questions, and he was charming, funny, gracious, and earnest throughout. He also shared the above photo of Johnny Cash with a kitten. Here are some of the awesome things we learned.

Johnny Cash led by example:

"The best advice my father gave me was not something he said. Or instructed. It was the way he lived his life. Towards the end of his life, my father was struggling and in pain, going blind, and sickness was taking over his body. Still he endured, and not only that, he excelled. And created some of the most beautiful recorded material he ever did for the American Recordings series."

Rick Rubin didn't "produce" Johnny Cash:

"I knew Rick Rubin from specifically the Cult's Electric album. I appreciated his genius. Rick gave my father the opportunity to follow his heart and make the records he always wanted to make. He and my father had an agreement on the basic philosophy of the way the records would be released. They were also dear friends, and actually took communion together over the phone daily during the last part of my dad's life. They worked well together, but any producer will tell you, you really don't 'produce' Johnny Cash."

Bob Dylan was a fanboy:

"My father told me he met Bob Dylan in a New York City hotel room in the early 1960's. They had corresponded, writing letters back and forth, dad said that when he met Bob that Dylan rushed into his room, jumped on the bed, and began bouncing up and down chanting I met Johnny Cash, I met Johnny Cash. They had a dear friendship. And although they didn't spend a lot of time together in the last part of my dad's life, they never ceased being friends."

John Carter Cash almost drowned on a fishing trip:

"I was on a fishing trip floating the Tikchik River in Alaska, with my parents at the age of 13. It was a wilderness float, 5 days. Camping out every night. It never got dark. Typically each evening, there would be a brown bear watching us from across the river. One day I was standing on a gravel bar, fishing, and fell in the water. The water rushed into my waders, and I began to sink. The guide grabbed me by the shoulders and forcefully pulled me out of the frigid water.
Glad I made it through that one."

Carter Cash is also a prolific artist in his own right:

"I recently have been working with Loretta Lynn producing in the studio music for her with her daughter Patsy as co-producer. Since 2007 we have recorded 93 songs, these will be coming out over the next few years as a series of records. I also record my own music, and travel and perform. I also have 6 published books."