Johnny cash biography 2013 dodge

Johnny Cash often liked to say he never let facts get in the way of a good story.

Robert Hilburn doesn't, either.

In his excellent biography Johnny Cash: The Life, the longtime Los Angeles Times music critic instead uses the facts about the American cultural icon's life to construct a story that's both larger and more fascinating than the legend.

Hilburn doesn't seek to sensationalize or scandalize or demolish the image of Cash that people have because of self-mythologizing music like The Man in Black and the Live at Folsom Prison album or the biopic Walk the Line.

Instead, he fills in the gaps between career highlights, giving context and new shape to familiar tales.

Following Cash's history from his childhood in Dyess, Ark., to the creative victory laps of his final years, Hilburn pulls together the threads of Cash's music, career and personal life.

He draws on dozens of interviews with Cash, his friends, family an