Marriage, sex, drugs and rock n’ roll: Johnny Cash and June Carter

Johnny Cash’s marriage with June Carter is one of the most celebrated love stories of all time.

It’s a story of redemption, romance and the power of love over sex, drugs and rock and roll. Johnny fell in love at first sight when he met June, way back in 1955, but June took a lot longer to come around – partly due to the fact that they were both married at the time! They grew incredibly close, with June supporting Johnny through his on
– off battle with drug and alcohol abuse. A number of years later, Johnny proposed to June on stage in front of a large audience – she said no. But after another 30 attempts, until she finally said yes!

John R. “Johnny” Cash, born on 26th February 1936, was one of seven children. Johnny’s family settled in Arkansas when he was three years old: he started working in cotton fields at age five, singing along with his family while working. The family farm was flooded out more than twice, which led to the inspiration behind “Five Feet High and Rising”, a song he wrote later in life. The family’s economic and personal struggles during the Great Depression inspired many of his songs, especially those about other people facing similar challenges.

Johnny was very close to his older brother, Jack. Tragedy struck when Jack was pulled into a whirling-head saw in the mill where he worked almost cutting him in two! He suffered for more than a week before he died aged 15. This incident impacted Johnny tremendously, and he spoke often of the terrible guilt he felt around the incident. His book Cash: The Autobiography, explained how he and his mother, and even Jack himself, all had premonitions about that day. His mother had urged Jack to skip work and go fishing with his brother, but Jack insisted on working, as the family needed the money. On his deathbed, Jack said he had visions of heaven and angels. Decades later, Cash still spoke of looking forward to meeting his brother in Heaven.

Cash was raised under the Southern Baptist church: some of his earliest memories were had a ‘backing track’ of radio and gospel music, and his mother and childhood friend taught him to play guitar. By age twelve he was playing guitar and writing songs in his spare time. In his youth Cash had a high-tenor voice, before becoming a bass-baritone as he aged into a young man. Whilst in high school he sang on a local radio station; and in later years he released an album of traditional gospel songs, titled My Mother’s Hymn Book.

Cash enlisted in the United States Air Force for Military Service on the 7th of July 1950, and after basic training was deployed to Landsberg Germany as an operator for Radio Squadron intercepting Soviet army transmissions. During this post he created his first band, “The Landsberg Barbarians”. Whilst busy with his Air Force training during 1951, Cash met 17-year-old Vivian Liberto, and they dated for three weeks until Cash’s deployment for his three-year tour. During that time, the couple exchanged love letters. Upon Cash’s honourable discharge as staff sergeant in 1954, he returned to Texas and one month later he and Liberto were married. As his musical career developed, the couple had four daughters. But due to Cash’s drug and alcohol abuse, constant touring, affairs with other women, and his close relationship with June Carter, Liberto filed for divorce in 1966.

As his career was taking off in the late 1950s, Cash started drinking heavily and became addicted to amphetamines and barbiturates. He briefly shared an apartment in Nashville, with Waylon Jennings, who was also heavily addicted to amphetamines. Cash would rely on using ‘uppers’ to stay awake during tours, and his drug addiction worsened. In a behind-the-scenes exposé of The Johnny Cash Show, Cash admitted to having “tried every drug there was to try.”
Though he was spiralling out of control in many ways, Cash’s frenzied creativity still produced hit after hit. His version of “Ring of Fire” was a crossover hit, reaching both No. 1 on the country charts and entering the Top 20 on the pop charts.

Cash met June Carter of the famed Carter Family while on tour. At the time they were both married to other partners, but they quickly became infatuated with each other. Carter hid her feelings during those early days, but she later revealed that she admired him from afar. In 1968, some 13 years after they had first met backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, Cash proposed to June, during a live performance in London Gardens, Ontario, Canada.

The couple married one week later on the 1st of March 1968 in Franklin, Kentucky. By that time, Cash had “cleaned up” his act sufficiently for Carter, and after a spiritual epiphany in the Nickajack Cave – when he attempted to commit suicide while under the heavy influence of drugs – she agreed to marry him. The couple had one child together; John Carter Cash, born 1970, who would also become a notable musician in his own right. Though he did not completely stop the use of amphetamines, Johnny stopped for a period of seven years, inspired by the birth of his son. Happily Cash and Carter continued to work, raise their children, create music, and tour together for 35 years until her death in May 2003.

Throughout their marriage Carter attempted to keep Cash off of amphetamines, often taking his drugs and flushing them down the toilet. Throughout the multiple rehab visits and years of drug abuse, June’s love and devotion never wavered. Reflecting on his past in a 1997 interview, Cash noted: “I was taking the pills for awhile, and then the pills started taking me.”

Johnny Cash was an institution in country music, though the multi-talented Cash’s songs spanned the genres of rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and gospel. This crossover appeal won for Cash the rare honour of numerous inductions into the Country Music, Rock and Roll, and Gospel Music Halls of Fame. In 1980, Cash became the Country Music Hall of Fame’s youngest living inductee at age 48.

Cash’s deep, calm bass-baritone voice is quite possibly the most recognisable voice in country music. The distinctive sound of his Tennessee Three backing band, his rebelliousness coupled with an increasingly sombre and humble demeanour, free prison concerts, and a signature look, earned him the nickname “The Man in Black”. Cash’s music often depicted themes of sorrow, moral tribulation and redemption, more especially later in his career. His best-known songs included “I Walk the Line”, “Folsom Prison Blues”, “Ring of Fire”, “Get Rhythm” and “Man in Black”.

“When the trees start to blooming The mem’ries start to flooding And my heart takes a trip to yesterday When we walked ‘neath the moon And our love was in bloom Now we’re two lovers drifted apart The story of a broken heart.”
— JOHNNY CASH

The pain of love lost is the focus of this his song, “Story of a Broken Heart.” Perhaps just as apparent – at least to some fans – is the country music star’s deep love for his wife, June, and his devastation at losing her to heart surgery complications. After her passing at the age of 73, Cash believed that his only reason for living was his music.

Carter had told Cash to keep working, and so he continued to record, completing 60 more songs in the last four months of his life, and he even performed a couple of surprise shows. At his last public performance, the July 5, 2003 concert, before singing “Ring of Fire,” Cash read a statement about his late wife that he had written shortly before taking to the stage:

“The spirit of June Carter overshadows me tonight with the love she had for me and the love I have for her. We connect somewhere between here and heaven. She came down for a short visit, I guess, from heaven to visit with me tonight to give me courage and inspiration like she always has.”
— JOHNNY CASH

Cash died only four months later. Fans of the legendary artist claim that he died of a broken heart, even though official reports indicate diabetes as the cause. Either way, we wish Johnny and June a beautiful afterlife together – one that will inspire us as much as their life on Earth.

– A Story by Julie Purkis and John Paul Lopez Taberdo