n027  0934  19 Nov 76
 
BC-CASH 1stadd
NEW YORK: Black.''
    But later on, during the 1950s, when Cash had begun his
performing career, he ''got on the wayward path'' - taking
amphetamines and drinking heavily, breaking windows and missing
concerts.
    The prison mythology surrounding him may be somewhat overblown.
Johnny Cash has, in fact, spent seven nights in jail, mostly
for drinking, and wrote his theme song, ''Folsom Prison Blues,''
not after a stay there, but after seeing a film about the
place.
    But it is a fact that by 1967, he had been divorced by his
first wife, kicked off the Grand Ole Opry and was taking
so many pills he was down to 160 pounds.
    The story goes that June Carter, who had been performing
with Cash for years, got him off the pills. Then one night
in London, Ontario - in the true country music tradition,
living out the dramas of his life on stage for the fans -
Johnny Cash asked June Carter to marry him, and June Carter
said yes.
    For eight years now, they've been opening the duet segment
of their show with a song called ''Jackson,'' which begins
''We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper drought.''
    ''I sure like the way you talk,'' Johnny will say to his
wife.
    ''I'm talking with my mouth,'' she will answer, with a smart-aleck
kind of Appalachian drawl.
    Then Johnny Cash will rumble, ''You sure do look pretty,
honey,'' and it would be difficult even for Eastern cynics
not to believe that, in Nashville, this is the kind of marriage
people write love songs about when they aren't writing songs
about heartbreak.
    After Cash married June Carter he also began to take his
religion seriously again, making trips to Jerusalem and performing
on Billy Graham's crusades.
    A few years back, he produced a film called ''Gospel Road,''
about the life of Jesus, which has been shown to religious
groups and convicts around the country.
    Cash also takes correspondence courses in Bible studies,
turning the stories he reads into uptempo country songs,
like ''The Fourth Man'' which is about Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego, and has the refrain ''They wouldn't bend, they
wouldn't break, they wouldn't burn.''
    He says there are still moments when he feels swayed by
Satan and craves pills, but he believes he's on the right
track now.
    On the state of the nation, Johnny Cash is a little less
confident, even with a born-again Christian who is a Carter
- though not a related one - about to take office as president.
    ''It's not for the politicians to lead a spiritual revival,''
said Johnny Cash, who performed ''A Boy Named Sue'' at the
White House, at the request of President Nixon, in 1970.
    Johnny Cash appears anxious to stay away from talk of politics.
What he likes is fishing with his son, John Jr., or trading
songs with Kris Kristofferson, or singing with the family
at his home in Hendersonville, Tenn., or alone in his car,
speeding down a flat stretch of Tennessee highway, singing
along with George Jones on the radio.
    
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