I had the pleasure of listening to a two hour special the other day about the life and music of the legendary Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash died in 2003 on September 12th, that would have been 11 years ago yesterday. It's funny how to me Johnny Cash has never left us.

Tonight on Classic Country Saturday Night I know Brother Craig will slip in a Johnny Cash tune or two. It's amazing how some of John's tunes simply get better with time or maybe the reason they get better is I am finally growing to understand the passion and emotion that the seemingly stoic Cash integrated into everyone of his songs.

I am a casual Johnny Cash fan, or should I say I was a casual Johnny Cash fan. Hearing the stories behind his music and learning about the spirit that motivated the man have certainly made me want to learn more about the performer we've come to know as The Man In Black.

My one connection with Johnny comes from an incident that happened in  my hometown of Starkville MS. Johnny had played a concert in the area and was staying overnight. Johnny I guess had gotten a little restless, maybe a little drunk, maybe a little something else and for some reason thought it would be a good idea to walk the streets of Starkville in the wee small hours of the morning. Johnny was wearing only his underwear and he told the arresting officers he was "picking flowers". He wrote a song about it.

Just so you don't think people from Starkville are like those butt-chappers up at Ole Miss and Oxford, the city did pardon Johnny and actually created a festival in his honor.

Johnny Cash was an icon in music and a great metaphor for the pain of the performer. His simplistic lyrics captured the pain of the down trodden, the spirit of the soul in love, the fight of man with nothing to lose, and the spirit of a soul waiting to soar.  He might be gone from this Earth but his spirit is living on in performers of today.

More From 97.3 The Dawg