“I always knew Johnny Cash had my back.”

We asked for the times the Man In Black got you through. Here are your Johnny Cash Love Stories.

“I spent seven years with an abusive alcoholic trying to raise his children, plus mine. I had a tattoo of his name; ‘Jack’. I escaped with my youngest child after the others left the nest.

“Six months later I got my tattoo fixed to read, ‘I’m Going to Jackson’. That song makes me smile every time.”
– Carol

“I was an alcoholic and drug addict. One day as I was hopped up on pills I turned on MTV and there was Johnny in all his majesty – singing his rendition of the song ‘Hurt’.

“I went to rehab, I got clean, I got real, I got the spirit and the life I never dreamed I could.”
– Rosie Heindl

“I’m now a Lay Minister in the Church of England, in part because one day in my 30s I heard the story of Johnny Cash, and Nickajack cave.”
– Joe Pritchard

“My Dad was a teen when Johnny started putting out vinyl. My dad used to style his look just like Johnny. Watching Johnny in old videos, interviews and movies I see a lot of my Dad in the way he moves, talks and dresses. I miss them both.”
– Kenneth Hans

“In 2005 my first big love had left me with a gaping hole in my heart. For the entire summer I would leave in the afternoon to wander in the forest. The forest – along with Cash and his tunes – took on magical, almost religious proportions. Johnny saved me that summer.”
– Geert-Jan van Etten

“My grandfather listened to him and some of my favorite memories are driving around with him and belting out Johnny Cash songs at the top of our lungs.”
– Jenna Seymour

“I opened for him with Duo Jerry & Joanne in September ’84 in Quebec. I was 17 years old and met Johnny back stage. So humble and kind, Johnny introduced himself and he sat beside me and then June came in and she sat beside me too.

“Here I am, 17 years old, June Carter on my left , Johnny Cash on my right. I never forgot his generosity, humility and kindness. That’s why he’s a legend. Respect.”
– Mike Goudreau

“Growing up, Johnny was and will always be my favorite all time singer. At a live show, I went to up to the edge of the stage to take a pic. When he finished the song he tossed me one of the harmonicas he had just played. I was beyond excited!”
– Pat Creswell

“He was so humble. Absolute legend.”
– Antonia Fenty

“The early 1980’s in Poland was not a happy time, it was a time of Martial Law and persecution. This was when I heard Johnny Cash for the first time. I was 13 and this was my first musical crush. A comet speeding across the grim sky above Poland.

“My brother found a photo of Johnny Cash in a magazine. It was a watch advertisement saying ‘One great face deserves another’. I cut it out and hung it above my bed, falling asleep each night under the stern look of Johnny.”
– Hanka Konopka

“I was a combat medic in the United States Army from 2004 to 2013. During that time I deployed to Iraq twice, and I became very disillusioned with my country after the things I witnessed and experienced there.

“I was in a dark place trying to reconcile my patriotism with my distrust of those in authority. Johnny Cash helped restore my sanity and my joy, and I’m forever grateful to the Man in Black. No single musician has had a greater impact on my life.”
– Greg Waldron

“I always knew Johnny Cash had my back.”
– Rick Huntress

The spirit of Johnny Cash – his passion and his pain – comes to life for a new generation on ‘Johnny Cash: Forever Words.’ The new album features Cash’s unknown poems and lyrics set to music by artists inspired by The Man In Black, from Chris Cornell to John Mellencamp to Elvis Costello.

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