Austin Music
The night Johnny Cash rocked Sixth Street By Ed Crowell Austin American-Statesman He had a face like a beet that March afternoon in 1994. Not healthy looking. Puffy. His deluge days of drugs and drinking were well behind him, but he seemed too frail for a man of 62. There wasn't much he had to say at a press conference in a small, crowded room in the Austin Convention Center. Yes, he was delighted to be at South by Southwest, happy to have a new album by rock producer Rick Rubin, and he was looking forward to his show that night at Emo's. So was every badge-strung music fan in town. The buzz surrounding Johnny Cash's scheduled appearance at a cool Austin punk club had reached earplugs level. It would take a special pass, above and beyond any badge or wristband, to get in to see the Sun Records legend rock . In truth, no one really knew what to expect. Could the old and tired-looking guy still deliver on a little stage unaccustomed to anyone from Nashville? By showtime the narrow Sixth Street room was a sweatbox of anticipation, with perches on the railings and raised platform at the back occupied for more than an hour. Maybe the Man in Black knew how special this show was going to be, but he looked utterly surprised when he walked on stage, alone with his guitar. A grin spread from sideburn to sideburn as hoots and hollers and applause welcomed his new, spare "American Recordings" era. Don McLeese, then the music writer for the American-Statesman, reviewed the show: "While fighting a jet-lagged case of laryngitis, Cash looked like he was having the time of his life, bantering with a crowd that was so close and intimate it could touch him. . .. "After reaching all the way back for the traditional 'Delia's Gone' (and emphasizing the murderousness of the tale in a way that 1960s folk revivalists rarely did), Cash reached into the contemporary songbooks of devil-metal labelmate Glenn Danzig, as well as Nick Lowe, Tom Waits and Loudon Wainwright III, making selections from such disparate sources all sound like Johnny Cash songs. In fact, the Lowe song was even scarier than the Danzig contribution, while Cash's weathered delivery rendered the Wainwright tune more wickedly funny than Loudon's mugging does.. . . "The solo set would have been enough on its own, but Cash and the Tennessee Three then embarked on a bass-slapping, chick-a-booming romp through a bunch of his favorites from the '50s and beyond, bringing the sort of reckless energy to 'Get Rhythm' that is more common to Emo's than Cash's usual concert haunts." Cash left that stage looking years younger than when he walked onto it (he returned to Austin the following December for what would be his last show here, at the Erwin Center). He had conquered a crowd in the most unlikely of places even beyond expectation,s and he was almost cheering in triumph when he sang the encore line: "And if I ever have a son, I'm going to name him Emo!" | ||||
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