Entertainment, Music - Air Force Times

Johnny Cash’s band gets rhythm on the road with old hits

When American icon Johnny Cash retired from the concert stage because of failing health, the two longest-serving members of his Tennessee Three backup band thought that four decades of unforgettable music might be silenced.

“When it was all over in 1997, everybody went their separate ways,” says drummer W.S. Holland, who was Cash’s only drummer.

Guitarist Bob Wootton, who joined Cash after original lead picker Luther Perkins died in 1968, says Cash’s retirement, followed by the legend’s death in 2003, left Wootton feeling that “the music truly died.”

But luckily for lovers of such classics as “I Walk the Line,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Ring of Fire” and “Get Rhythm,” Holland and Wootton were talked into reuniting in 2004 for a performance at Tennessee’s Rockabilly Hall of Fame. It became clear that the pair could keep Cash’s music alive in concert.

That reunion led to the creation of a new version of the Tennessee Three, now a five-piece touring outfit featuring Wootton handling vocals that sound eerily close to those of his former boss. Wootton’s “boom-chicka-boom” guitar and Holland’s shuffling drums remain two of country’s most recognizable sounds.

During his shows, Cash occasionally had let Wootton sing a Gene Autry or Hank Williams tune, but he and Holland had no idea that the guitarist also could sing like the Man in Black.

“That’s one of the problems we have now — people don’t know what to expect,” says Wootton, 65. “They don’t know that someone is actually going to do the singing.”

Indeed, for decades, Holland says, “We followed [Cash] around the world, and I never said a word. I sat there on the drum stool and Bob played the guitar, ... and nobody really realized we were there.”

Cash connected with young listeners in the twilight of his life by recording four albums with rock producer Rick Rubin, playing simple folk songs and covering music by such noncountry acts as Nine Inch Nails, Tom Waits, Soundgarden and Beck.

Others were turned on to Cash by the 2005 film “Walk the Line,” starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, who won an Oscar for her role as June Carter Cash.

“The kids that come out to the shows are between 17 and 35 years old,” says Wootton’s wife, Vicky, who plays rhythm guitar and sings in the new group. “It’s really an amazing thing to watch because they’re just starting to get involved in what I grew up listening to.”

Holland, 72, says it amuses him to look out and “see an audience like we had 50 years ago.”

But older fans of Cash’s music needn’t shy away from the group’s show. Videos on the band’s Internet site (tennesseethree.com) give a sample of what to expect - a straight-ahead evening of Cash magic.

Holland was at the site of Cash’s jumping-off point in 1955 — the legendary Sun Records studio in Memphis.

“I started [at Sun] in 1954, working with Carl Perkins [of “Blue Suede Shoes” fame]. Then in 1955, here comes John, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee [Lewis] and Sonny Burgess,” Holland says.

Wootton and Holland witnessed Cash’s ups and downs as he fought a lifelong battle with drugs. The singer periodically quit using amphetamines and painkillers after discovering them in the ‘60s, Wootton says. But in the late ’70s, partly because of a leg injury, Cash “got really bad on [painkillers].”

“We almost lost him two or three times,” the guitarist says.

Cash’s death at 71 was attributed to complications of diabetes, but Wootton is convinced drug abuse cut Cash’s life far short.

“He just couldn’t leave it alone,” Wootton says. “He’d be here today if he could have left the painkillers alone.”

Holland says his private time spent with Cash allows him to remember the legend as a “gold, old Arkansas boy.”

“Most of the time, he was just a plain old, have-fun, cut-up guy,” the drummer says. “When he got onstage, he turned into a different person. I guess you have to do that.”