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[rhythmic clapping]
- Yeah.
- That's exactly what you're doing.
- It is. - The airplane shot me down.
- Yeah? - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Go around the back and through the passage way.
[cheering]
- Helen, June and Anita, the Carter Family.
[cheering]
- It's very nifty to be able to entertain you
a little bit today,
and I don't know what you're expecting,
since we're all girls, and... [laughter]
Since we're the only girls on the show,
but I've got one announcement to make before we do our part.
This is as sexy as I'm gonna get.
[laughter]
- [whistles]
- No, this is our little family,
and we sing the songs mostly of the old Carter family,
and, well, we've been around these parts for a long time,
and we're proud to be part of The Johnny Cash Show.
We're gonna sing some new ones and some old ones.
So sit back, relax, take your hands out
of each other's pockets, and--
[laughter]
We'll sing a few little songs for you,
and then you'll see who you've come to see.
Old Golden Throat will be right out.
[laughter]
[Johnny Cash and June Carter's "Jackson"]
- * Look out, Jackson town *
* Well, go on down to Jackson *
* Go ahead and wreck your health *
* Go play your hand, you big talking man *
* And make a big fool of yourself *
* Yeah, go to Jackson *
- I think for most people, when they think about
June Carter Cash, they're probably thinking
about Reese Witherspoon.
- Will you marry me?
- Because that film, "Walk the Line,"
was really June's mass exposure,
I think, to a lot of people.
- * Well, now we got married *
- Johnny Cash and June Carter.
Johnny and June.
"Walk the Line" was the fairy tale.
- The movie is about a period of time about this big
in a life so large.
- * And that's a fact *
- It was probably gonna be as much, if not more,
of June involved in the equation than John.
And I'll get shot and killed here
in Nashville for saying that.
- What would you like to talk about?
- It really doesn't matter.
I thought you might ask me where Johnny was.
- Where is Johnny? - He's not here, is he?
[laughter]
["Hello Stranger"]
* Well, hello stranger *
- If you only know June Carter Cash,
you're missing a whole lot of things.
- She was born with one of the most
famous names in country music.
- A remarkable show business career.
- Well, June Carter was an incredible artist
in her own right.
- She's one of the most charming
and talented women in country music today.
- A singer, a comedienne, actress.
- * Let a working man lay down *
* Yeah, I get a frown *
- Who is June Carter Cash to me?
Well, she's a badass bitch, first off.
- You couldn't deny her. she had that spark, the "it."
You can't overdub the "it."
- * But I see you *
- But she's been married so long to one man.
- No, no. I had two before him.
I put all mine together, and I'm still
not nearly caught up with you.
[laughter]
- * When your troubles are like mine *
- There was so much about my mother
that may have been misunderstood.
- Underrated and underappreciated.
***
- * So get up, rounder *
- I think at the heart of it, June's story hasn't been told.
- Would you welcome June Carter Cash?
- June Carter Cash. - June Carter Cash.
[cheers and applause]
[birds chirping]
- Hi. - Everybody's here but Marty.
- Oh, they are?
Well, you might know Marty'd be late.
It's part of what he does.
Once you get to be a big star, you're really late.
I'm late because of Johnny.
- Good morning. - Hi, Miss June.
- Good morning. - Hi.
Lord, look at everybody.
It feels like old times. - It does.
- It does, doesn't it? How are you?
[soft acoustic music]
***
- Well, here we are.
- Hi, June. - Come on in.
I'm excited, everybody.
I often wondered how I'd ever do an album.
And then I met this really wonderful girl
named Vicky Hamilton, who was mostly
in the world of rock and roll.
- There was an urgency that she wanted
to make this record.
So I had shopped it around
to all the major record companies,
and everybody passed. I, like, couldn't believe it.
There's no way we're putting out
a record with a 70-year-old woman, you know?
- Four, five.
- I was kind of incensed.
This is, like, country music royalty.
How can you pass?
So I decided, OK, I'm gonna start my own record company
and raise the money to make this record.
- I think I've changed her whole life.
So I'm hoping to make some history again this morning.
***
- That day, we just gathered around
to sing the songs of her family,
my mom's family and things
that she'd written down through the years.
- I was looking for some other good Carter family songs
to sing on this album, and "Diamonds in the Rough"
is probably one of my favorites, Marty.
So why don't you and I sing it?
- You got it.
["Diamonds in the Rough"]
***
- My mother was like a kid again.
She was eager.
It was as if she was ready
to go get on a roller coaster.
- * The day will soon be over *
* And the digging will be done *
* No more gems be gathered *
* So let us all press on *
- I don't think I've ever really known
a life that's any different than show business.
My mother was Maybelle Carter, who was a part
of the original Carter family.
- This is my mama Maybelle,
and then my aunt and my uncle, Sara Carter, AP Carter.
***
* The diamonds will be shining *
* No longer in the rough *
***
- At the time that my mother was born,
Maybelle had been recording for a couple of years
with the original Carter family.
[The Carter Family's "Wildwood Flower"]
***
- One day, we found a man that wanted us
to come up and make a record.
So we went up to Bristol and made our first record,
and it's been going ever since.
* Oh, I'll twine with my mingles *
* And waving black hair *
- The Carters, I mean, they were the beginning.
That was like the spontaneous combustion of country music.
And June traces right into that.
- They had so many tunes that formed
a basis for our country and western music
as we know it today.
And when people didn't know what kind of a melody to use,
they just went back and grabbed
an old Carter family melody
and hung on to that.
- * I will dance *
* I will sing *
* And my love shall be gay *
* I will charm every heart *
* And in his crown, I will sway *
- I just thought everybody had
a Mother Maybelle Carter that picked
a "Wildwood Flower" on the guitar.
I didn't really know she was different.
***
- Mother Maybelle was one of the early
female guitar players that actually slayed at guitar.
Like, she could straight up play.
[rapid guitar playing]
***
- My little fingers were so calloused learning
to play the "Wildwood Flower."
That was one of the first songs I think
that most country kids-- boys or girls--
you want to play. You know...
* I will dance, I will sing *
* And I'll play the wildwood flower *
***
- And my father was instrumental in this, too--
Ezra Carter.
- Daddy was a wonderful influence in our life.
Daddy was a brilliant man.
[engine revving]
***
- She was very close to him.
She'd ride his motorcycle with him.
She saw herself kind of as a real rough and tumble
little kid, holding onto Daddy as he drove his motorcycle
through that area.
- I think probably the lesson that my father taught,
the most important one, was that we be ourselves.
You develop what you have.
You do that as a person.
* Don't be a dirty miner like me *
- When you grow up like that, loving that place
and knowing that's who you are--
when you just become part of the woods
and the bees and the birds, and you're just
a bunch of country little kids running around
and that's your place, when you have to move away
in order to do what you need to do,
you carry that with you.
***
- I'm sure you're enjoying these good old songs
as only the Carter Family can sing them.
Now here's the three little Carter sisters,
Helen, June, and Anita.
And what's it gonna be?
[together] "In the Highway."
- "In the Highway."
- * In the highways, in the hedges *
- My sisters Helen and Anita and I went with my mother
to the Texas border stations.
- [speaking Spanish]
- That was the end of the world away
from southwestern Virginia.
- Well, here's something that's mighty good.
And that's a solo by June. What's it going to be, June?
- I'm going to sing "Engine 143."
["Engine 143"]
- * Along came the FFV *
* The swiftest on the line *
* Running o'er the C&O *
- Well, we get right on the stage,
and mother Maybelle Carter, I guarantee you,
if she could hear us out of tune,
she would just pop up and let us know about it.
- You're on holy ground when you're playing those songs.
They'll live forever and ever and ever.
- Yeah, they do. - But we're all family.
- Oh, why don't we sing that one that we just tried?
- Which one was it?
- * You have heard of little Moses in the bulrush *
* You have heard of fearless David and his sling *
* You have heard the story told of dreaming Joseph *
- Time for the Carter sisters and Mother Maybelle...
- We left those Texas border stations,
and we worked a lot of shows, Helen and Anita and I,
with my mother-- just the four of us.
- They drove for hours and hours
and then did four shows a day sometimes.
And it was relentless and sometimes brutal work.
- * At that meeting in the air *
- * The meeting in the air *
- Well, I hope you folks liked that one there.
I'm gonna give you a little jolt, now.
I'm gonna sing one that's awful corny
here for you. It's gonna be loud.
I reckon I'm Mommy's loudest young'un,
and that's all I can figure out for myself here.
***
* Well, I might have gone fishing *
* I got to think it over *
* The road to the river *
* Is a mighty long way *
- She was not the greatest singer
in the whole Carter family,
but her personality and her emotion
made her part actually, sometimes,
even more interesting, because she just
would get in there very much like I do
and just sing right from the gut and the heart.
- Maybelle just turned Mama loose
and let her just be as zany and crazy
and a kid as she could be.
It's like she would do anything for a laugh.
- I think I tried to be funny when I couldn't think
of what else to do.
When you didn't know what else to do,
you just talked, and so I rattled away,
boogity, boogity, boogity.
***
[somber guitar music]
- There was no way that June
was not gonna be front and center.
It's hard for her to stand still
and not interject. [laughs]
***
- We had come to Nashville, and we got a call to appear.
And so we went down and went
to work at "the Grand Ole Opry."
***
- * The Grand Ole Opry, the Grand Ole Opry time *
[upbeat country music]
***
- * Do-si-do, don't let them go *
- If you were going to Nashville,
your dream was to be on "The Grand Ole Opry,"
because everybody all over the country
listened to it if you loved country music.
***
- We've got the girl here who can put an awful lot of humor
in any program.
Let's make welcome Miss June Carter.
[cheers and applause]
- I'm gonna sing if I can swaller
before I get started 'cause
this song ain't got no swallerin' place.
- Let's try it.
- * I got a song *
* It's a pretty good song *
* Only one thing wrong with the pretty good song *
* 'Cause a pretty good song goes along and along *
- Back in those days, Saturday night,
you'd turn on WSM Nashville and listen
to "The Grand Ole Opry."
- * Get along and along and along and along *
* Gonna get me red in the face *
- June Carter was an all-around entertainer.
- * 'Cause it ain't got no swallerin place *
- June Carter, here we are.
[cheers and applause]
- [screams]
- What did I do? - What did you do?
You can quit throwing that there--
- Well, if it ain't June Carter.
[applause]
- Of all the knot-headed people,
you are the knotty-headed of knot-headed--
well, bless his heart.
It's Carl, that's who it is.
Hello, Carl. - Hello, June.
- How you doing, old buddy? - Pretty doggone good.
***
* I thought I had seen pretty girls in my time *
* But that was before I met you *
* I never saw one that I *
- Carl Smith was the preeminent
honky tonk singer of the day.
- He was a hot hunk, one of the handsomest men
in country music.
- I heard what you was saying out here.
- What'd I say? - You said--
- I didn't think you heard me.
- You said you knowed me quite well.
I just want you to know, Carl,
that I know you quite well, too.
- Oh. - And I don't like--
I don't like what I know.
[laughter]
No, I didn't--
- Hush, you're on television. Look.
[laughter]
* April and spring is in the air *
- And June Carter landed the star.
***
Of all the women that wanted Carl,
June is the one that got him.
- * I saw a little mugwump sitting in a tree *
* Until he saw a female *
- They were the storybook romance of the "Opry."
They were like, oh, June Carter
of the famous Carter family, and Carl Smith,
the biggest hit-maker of the day.
And you're like, "Wow."
Perfect chemistry, perfect timing,
perfect everything-- they were, like, the couple.
***
- There was a lot of joy, a lot of laughter.
It sure had a beautiful outcome with my sister Carlene.
***
- * I'd let you know, June *
- See, Mama and Daddy looked like they belonged together,
too, because they had a very similar sense of humor,
and they got a kick out of each other.
- I'm kind of interested in you, Carl Smith.
You're quite a ladies man. And I'm kind of--
- Is that right? Well, all right.
[laughter]
- I've got to--
close your big mouth.
Hey, no kidding. I really am--
- You close yours. I'm liable to fall in.
- Well, your big old ears would hold you out.
[laughter]
***
]cheers and applause]
- I'm gonna do it, and I just need you to know--
- The character you did, was it you? Or was it--
- No, it wasn't me. I created her.
She would do almost anything to get a laugh,
and did, and I don't think it was sincerely me.
No, it's just a crazy little girl I played.
I just get up, and then take the time to lay down.
Life gets tedious, don't it?
- Because she could do it so well,
people believed that June Carter
really was this uncouth hick.
She made it seem effortless.
It was not effortless.
She had thick binders that had jokes
and songs and routines
that she had honed over decades.
- Miss June Carter.
[cheers and applause]
- Nashville at the time was stuck in this image
of the little homemaker.
The "Opry" was insistent that women should dress
in those kind of gingham checks
and be very conservative.
- I'm getting a cold in my nose.
Life gets tedious, don't it?
[applause]
[light guitar music]
- There was a difficult time in my life
and I wasn't very happy.
It was during the time when I was in my first marriage.
I was married to Carl Smith.
- My mother was working, and she was going on the road.
And I think that Carl had a different vision
of what a marriage was than my mom did.
- He wanted her to stay home and be more of a mom,
and she could still go play the "Opry,"
but he didn't think she'd be out on the road.
And Mama always said that she was covered up
with ambition, that she was absolutely
filled with ambition.
She had all these things she wanted to do.
I think she wanted to be--
I think she just wanted to be a superstar.
***
- I detected a little sarcasm in that voice
when I heard you putting me on.
I said, "What's the matter with you, anyway?"
- Well, you know what you've done to me, don't you?
- I don't know what you're talking about.
Do you mean this morning? - Tell 'em what you done to me.
- I was helping you, Carl. I haven't--
- Yeah, you was helping me.
Tell them what you done.
- I was just helping you, old buddy.
You was in bad shape,
and I was just giving you a little, well--
I tell you what. I tell you what.
He had a bad cold in his head. - Yeah.
- It's not something that you really did in the mid-1950s.
You really didn't get divorced.
But by 1955,
and we're talking less than three years,
they've already decided they're going
their separate ways... - Right, I--
- You may be a good old girl, but you don't look too good.
- Oh, is that right? - No, you don't.
You ought to put some lipstick on and bring your lips--
- But they still worked together...
- Around your eyes...
- Where June and Carl are on stage doing banter...
- Bring your hair out a little, you know?
- Well, why don't you try to sneeze and nod your head
and bring your teeth out a little?
[laughter]
I like that ol' Carl Smith.
I got his picture at home. Yeah, I just--
- About all that's left. [laughter]
- You are--whee!
You wouldn't know, honey.
You ain't been there in a long enough time to see.
- Her divorce from Carl Smith was a scandal.
Nowadays, nobody would bat an eye.
But back then, it was a thing. - I'll see you, old knothead.
- In the conservative Nashville,
she still bore a scarlet letter.
You were like used goods.
["He Don't Love Me Anymore"]
- * He don't love me anymore *
* My eyes are filled with tears *
- I think that she had an existential crisis.
I think that the divorce put her in a tailspin.
- * Tell me where I go from here *
- She didn't think that anybody was ever
gonna love her who, at the same time,
would let her just be able to do what she wanted to do,
because she just couldn't give it up.
***
- * And it's hard to *
- Later on in his life, right before he passed away,
I said, "So what happened with you and Mom?"
Mom always says she loved you so deeply
and was so heartbroken. - * Spring is in the air *
- And Daddy says, "Your mama never loved me."
And I said, "What?"
And he said, "She loved the idea of me."
And I kind of understood that to a certain degree.
The idea of him was, her idea was that
they would just keep doing what they were doing.
[bright acoustic music]
***
- All right, you all sound like you're really honking.
- Sounds great.
- Yeah, you're just pressing right along.
***
- There it goes.
- Just let me know when you're ready.
- OK, John Carter.
- OK.
- This song explains itself in a way because
I look back on the days when I was living in New York City,
and for a while in my life, I was part of
the rock and roll bunch,
so this goes back to those years.
OK, here we go.
- * Well, the place was New York City *
* And the hour was growing late *
* Had walked from streets in Harlem *
* To the Greenwich Village gate *
* We were young and foolish *
* And trying out for fame *
- This was the time in her life
when she was absolutely heartbroken.
- She was sort of asserting her independence.
You know, like she always said,
she wasn't the best singer or the best player,
but she had something, and she needed to find that,
and I think that that was partly why she ran away.
She went to New York.
- * Well, I used to be somebody, Lord *
* I used to have a friend *
* I'd like to be somebody again *
- And so I went to New York.
And I just took my little girl and went to New York,
took Carlene with me, and moved into an apartment,
and I studied there.
- June and my sister Rosemary
were studying with Sandy Meisner
at the Neighborhood Playhouse.
She wanted to be an actress.
And the greatest teacher of all was Sandy Meisner.
- If you think about it,
women just didn't do that at the time.
Being this person on the road who lived this life,
that was very unorthodox, especially for women
at that time who had children.
- It was almost impossible,
but June did it.
***
She had this dual role that she was playing.
She was still coming home on the weekends
to work on the "Opry" on Saturday nights,
and she would leave on Sunday and go to New York City
and study all week, and then come back home.
- She was flying back and forth
on propeller planes, people.
There were no jets.
***
- And she was also working constantly then,
filming television shows.
- I did several shows back during that time.
- Well, there's $100 in there.
I want you to take it down to the jail
and see what you can do for the Countess.
- I worked wherever I could.
I just picked up what parts I could.
- I'll kill him!
You hear me, Kate? I'll kill him!
- I heard you.
- She got on an episode of "Gunsmoke."
- Arkansas River.
- That big whiskey-guzzling no-good nothing.
I hope I die just so he'll hang for what he done.
- She's the dance hall girl,
and she goes, "He shot me, Marshal Dillon!"
[laughs]
- * When I held the rose that he gave me *
- She loved it. It was the time of her life.
I mean, she met a lot of people.
- Jimmy Dean, Brando. - Tennessee Williams.
- She was also traveling back and forth
opening for Elvis at the time.
[cheers and applause]
- My mom would always get a twinkle in her eye
when she talked about Elvis.
- You were a friend of Elvis Presley's.
- Yes. - Were you--
- [laughs] [coughs]
- That's all I mean. - Oh, boy.
- I didn't know.
- Yes, we were friends, a long time ago.
- Yeah, many times, I said,
"Mama, come on, tell me.
You slept with Elvis, right?"
[laughs]
She would giggle and she would blush a little,
but she said, "No, Elvis was just a nice young man
when I knew him." [laughs]
- A lot of women loved Elvis Presley.
* Well, I went with Elvis Presley
to see Brando from afar *
- She told me that during that time,
Elvis knew Mama was heartbroken,
and so he would come to New York,
and he was apparently pushing me around
Central Park in a baby carriage.
- My Mama had a sheet music that she had on the road.
It was Carl Smith's sheet music,
and Elvis put a mustache on him and said,
"Painting by Presley," and signed it.
And my mother tucked that away all those years.
- * That was back in my rock and roll years *
- I think that was when she was emerging
as a person on her own,
and she was just becoming someone.
And all of these people were also
just becoming someone. She was one of them.
She was accepted as an actress, as a singer.
She was June Carter,
and she was making it on her own.
- * Again *
* I used to be somebody *
* Good Lord, where have I been *
* I ain't never gonna see Elvis again *
***
- She came that close. She was there.
She was on the cusp.
She was standing at the Greenwich Village gate.
[soft dramatic music]
And then it slipped away.
[bombastic orchestral music]
***
- And here he is again to sing our closing inspirational,
the Tennessee Warbler.
- Thank you. - You know, your life changes.
You take a different course.
- You know, Vernon, I got a lot of hand-holding
to make up for.
- I don't think she ever gave up her ambition.
I think life enters, intervened.
- She came home one weekend,
if you will, and found herself pregnant,
and that was the end of her movie career.
***
- So I called him Daddy Rip,
and he was the daddy of my little sister, Rosie.
- June and Rip Nicks were married
very, very quickly.
- He had nothing to do with show business.
- He raced speedboats.
His daddy owned a garage,
so he was always, like, building motors and hot rods,
and he wanted to go fast.
***
- And now she had two daughters,
both of whom were under three years old,
and so something had to give.
[soft acoustic music]
***
- Come on, Rose.
- I'll go sit down.
- Your whole singing bunch is today.
- Go, do it.
- OK, I'm gonna talk a little bit.
Ready. - You're kidding.
- No. [laughter]
- Rosie and I wrote this song together,
and this is my daughter Rosie.
It's a tough story after you've been living
in New York a long time, and you're just worn out.
OK, babies, here we go. Thump, thump, thump.
- [laughs]
- Come on, thumper.
["Gatsby's Restaurant"]
* I got tired of New York City *
* With its sidewalk and its heat *
* So I got myself a great big horse *
* And I rode him down the street *
* And then I hollered, hi, ho, Silver *
* And get 'em up, scout *
I think it was about 1956.
[applause]
I was just coming home on the weekends
to do that "Grand Ole Opry" on Saturday nights.
- June Carter and Garden Perry.
- I was backstage.
I was just coming across backstage,
and this big, tall guy stops me
and said, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash."
- Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.
***
- And I knew who Johnny Cash was.
I'd had listened to Johnny Cash a lot
for the past two or three months before that
because I had been traveling with Elvis Presley,
and Elvis was a real Johnny Cash nut.
He would always play John on the jukebox.
He liked the song, "Cry, Cry, Cry."
"Cry, Cry, Cry," was one that Elvis
used to tune his guitar by.
Or I would tune Elvis's guitar
when he would break the strings.
Only way he could tune his guitar would go...
* Everybody knows where you go when the sun goes down *
And Elvis would try to get the tune that way.
So he told me an awful lot about Johnny Cash,
and I kept saying, "If I ever meet this fella,
"I want to see what he looks like.
What does he look like?"
Well, he did walk up to me backstage and just said that.
And I said, "Well, I'm June Carter."
And he said, "I know.
You know, I know who you are."
- I met her in '56.
She was a performer on "The Grand Ole Opry"
at the time, and I was doing
my first guest appearance there.
- He told me that I was his favorite entertainer
at that time from the show.
- You have to put yourself in Johnny Cash's shoes.
I mean, he was a very, very poor
son of the soil from Arkansas,
and he has grown up hearing June on his radio.
- * Running o'er the C&O road *
- She's been performing since she was six years old.
She was with him down on those Mexican stations
when she was a little girl.
- * I saw through his disguise *
* When I looked into his eyes *
- I remember on my senior trip in 1950,
we went to "The Grand Ole Opry,"
and I was sitting way up in the balcony,
and there was June Carter down on the stage,
and I said, "One of these days,
I'm gonna get her autograph."
***
- This feller's good-looking, isn't he?
- Oh, he's handsome.
- And I imagine he sings pretty good, too.
- So good that he's one of the biggest new stars
in country music today. - Is that so?
- Yes, sir.
Come on over and meet him, Johnny Cash.
["So Doggone Lonesome"]
***
- * Time stands still when you're waiting *
* Sometimes I think my heart is stopping, too *
- At that time, our life took us somewhere else.
- * One lonely hour seems forever *
- I was living in Memphis,
and I just didn't see her for about five more years.
* But I guess I'll keep waiting till you're with me *
- He went his direction, and I went mine.
- * So doggone lonesome *
- How about that?
- By the late '50s, her options are not
as wide open as they may have been
just a couple of years before.
[soft acoustic music]
She's got the girls.
- Now, Mom worked.
And my step-daddy Rip did not always have
a 9:00 to 5:00 job.
She used to write commercials for the "Opry"
to make extra money.
She'd say to me and Rosie, she'd say,
"You listen tonight,
"Because that little commercial
"I wrote and made 50 extra dollars,
it's gonna be on there tonight."
- June Carter, Junebug.
- I'd like to sing old Carter family songs
because I think I know them a little better.
- She always said, used to say to me, she'd say,
"Money ain't everything, but it sure as hell helps."
- June was working opening drugstores.
June was playing in the milk aisle
of the grocery store.
- * If I was on some foggy mountain top *
* I'd sail away to the West *
- She became known as somebody who was reliable,
and when they would need the girl singer,
that was always what the promoters
were looking for-- the girl singer.
- * He's caused me to leave my home *
- That's where June came in.
- * Oh, the lonesome pines and good old times *
* I'm on my way back home *
* If I was on some old mountaintop *
- So just as it happened...
- Johnny Cash & The Tennessee Two!
- Johnny Cash had an opening.
[country music]
- Got invited to go on a thing with him.
First, I think it was Dallas, Texas.
- June Carter.
[bright acoustic music]
***
- And there was a magic when they got on stage together.
There was something that was unique that happened.
- Thank you very much.
Right now, we'd like to bring out the flower
of Clinch Mountain, Miss June Carter.
Come here, June. Hi.
Hey, will you do a song for us?
- So when they got to doing more and more dates together,
John offered her a job as to be in his band.
- Goes, "Love is just a thing of beauty,
and beauty is a blossom."
- If you want to get your finger bit,
poke it at a possum. - No.
- Sing one.
* Well, it takes a worried man *
* To sing a worried song *
* It takes a worried man *
* To sing a worried song *
- By the time Johnny puts together his road show,
he's a superstar. - Hi, folks.
This is Johnny Cash.
And we're gonna tear the place up.
Y'all stick around late.
* And I lay down to sleep *
- He's this man in black, this iconic figure
who commanded a stage.
- * I had shackles on my feet *
- When Johnny Cash came out, he just had that magnetism.
It was--I don't know.
There was just some kind of a magic.
- * People gonna stoop and bow *
* All 'em women gonna make me *
* Teach 'em what they don't know how *
* I'm going to Jackson *
- It just got to me, you know?
And I got the biggest crush on him.
You would not believe it.
I even thought about him when I was at home,
and you know, when I was in sleeping or whatever,
I'd think about Johnny Cash.
- * Yeah, I'm going to Jackson *
- His name is Johnny Cash.
He and June Carter, they've been touring
around the world. - Oh, she's very good, Pete.
Very proud of her. We went all over the Far East.
And she was so homesick, I guess,
that she asked me to go up to see her old home place
up at Macy Springs, Virginia.
- [laughs] - Golly.
- All right.
* Oh, I'm thinking tonight of my blue-eyes *
* Who is sailing far over the sea *
* Yes, I'm thinking tonight of him only *
* And I wonder if he ever thinks of me *
- This was a time I woke up one morning,
and I came to the realization that I thought,
"Oh, my goodness, I think I'm falling in love
with Johnny Cash."
* For the pleasures we've both seen together *
Scared the daylights out of me.
It was not an opportune time.
I thought, "This is not gonna work
"because we had two lives of our own
going in other directions."
And it wasn't convenient. It just wasn't.
- She was married,
and he was married.
He had four girls.
- My mom was truly in love with my dad,
and they made a life together,
and my dad was gone all the time.
June was there.
They had this thing about being on the road
in their blood, this constant motion,
this striving. They were both artists.
- * Won't you come, dear, and shed just one tear *
* And say *
- Everything was wrong. Everything was crazy.
He was off on another planet somewhere.
- You were singing one back there in the dressing room
about the family. That's what I understood.
That within three years-- be back in a second.
- Ooh, pardon. - There we go.
- Your lighter, I assume.
- * Sometimes, it causes me to tremble *
* Tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble *
- By the time he and June
were falling in love and she was traveling
with him, he was a full-blown addict.
- I tried to encourage him to get clean.
He would try.
And I wouldn't see him for a long time.
He had come back on the road, and he'd be using again.
- * When they nailed him to the cross *
- It was a terrible cycle that he was in.
- Rosie and I would say our prayers every night,
and Mama would always say, "Don't forget tonight,
pray for Johnny Cash, because he's a good man."
So these little girls are praying for Johnny Cash,
who's not their daddy. [laughs]
- * Tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble *
- I didn't want to fall in love with him,
didn't mean to fall in love with him,
was scared to death of him.
So I did a lot of just running and trying to sit in a corner
by myself because I wouldn't even admit it
to myself for a long time.
[cheers and applause]
- Johnny Cash & The Tennessee Three!
- I didn't want to hurt anybody.
I didn't want to do anything that would hurt him
or his family or me or my family,
and I'd always been raised a real religious girl.
- June was a good Christian girl.
I mean, you didn't go to bed with somebody
unless you were married.
- And I had never in my life
meant to be married more than once.
[cheers and applause]
- Mr. Johnny Cash.
[soft acoustic music]
And yet, she was deeply, deeply,
fiercely in love with John.
***
So there was a real conflict going on there.
***
- I tell you, you can kill people like me
when something like this happens.
***
One night, I know I woke up in the middle of the night,
and I was crying when I woke up,
and I thought, "I can't do this. I can't.
This is driving me crazy."
Because all I could feel was pain.
And I'd been writing songs with a guy
named Merle Kilgore, a great songwriter,
and he had encouraged me to write.
- OK, we ready?
Give me a minute.
- The next morning, Kilgore came in,
and I said, "We've got to hone a little bit on this,
but I really think I've written a great song."
- Here we go. Now--
- All right, we're just pressing on.
- I'm gonna sing this song for you,
and I'd like to try my version,
the way it was written in the beginning.
["Ring of Fire"]
* Love is a burning thing *
* And it makes a fiery ring *
* Bound by wild desire *
* I fell into a ring of fire *
- You know, I don't know if a lot of people
know that she wrote "Ring of Fire."
I feel like people say to me all the time,
Johnny Cash wrote "Ring of Fire."
But June wrote "Ring of Fire." - She wrote "Ring of Fire," OK?
- * And the flames went higher *
* And it burns, burns, burns *
* The ring of fire *
- My father heard this beautiful song.
- And the story goes, he had a dream
that he heard Mexicali trumpets on the "Ring of Fire."
***
- * Love is a burning thing *
***
* And it makes a fiery ring *
***
* Bound by wild desire *
- There's no country song better-known
than "Ring of Fire," I don't think.
- * I fell into a ring of fire *
- It's a song that is everlasting.
- I mean, "Ring of Fire," when Johnny recorded it,
you're talking about this thing that came
from this really deep, like, I'm going to hell.
I'm in a ring of fire.
I'm gonna burn in hell because of what I feel.
And then you have this angelic chorus
of these Carter girls up there.
- [harmonizing]
- * The ring of fire, the ring of fire *
- The Juxtaposition of it,
there are just so many things that shouldn't work,
and yet it works because it is unusual.
That's the wonderful thing about music.
Sometimes those things that seem like they don't fit
are what make the magic of the music.
- * I fell into a burning ring of fire *
* I went down, down, down *
* And the flames went higher *
* And it burns, burns, burns *
* The ring of fire, the ring of fire *
***
- She felt like the world was just gonna swallow her up
during that time period.
***
- So many religious people think, well, you stay married,
is what you do.
And I'm thankful to them if they can manage to do that,
but that time came in my life
when I couldn't manage to do it.
[soft acoustic music]
- She took me and Rosie to New York
to see the World's Fair, and she told us
that when we went home, that Daddy Rip
wouldn't be there anymore, that he was gonna be
living somewhere else.
- I got a divorce,
and I got it so quietly that I didn't tell John
or any of them that I was divorced
for about two or three months. They didn't know it.
I was very ashamed of it.
- She was following her heart, having the courage,
when back then, I'm sure people thought
she was a whore, you know?
- I understand him.
We understand each other.
I understand his pain.
- Well, she had fought that pill habit that I had.
She had fought it with everything she knew,
that demon in me.
I thank God for people like her
that still believed that there was a little good in me.
- I flushed things down the commode.
I flushed down his amphetamines
and his barbiturates. I did everything that I could.
And I did things that I would have never done ordinarily,
but I think I did it only because
I didn't know what else to do. I thought he would die.
***
- There were people that said to me
that the only person in the 1960s
who believed in Johnny Cash was June Carter.
***
That there was no one else,
that no one saw any light
at the end of Cash tunnel,
except for June.
June believed.
***
- I just never did let go.
I think if you really feel that way about somebody,
you just cannot leave them.
How can you leave them?
You don't care if it hurts.
You go on through it, from my point of view,
because I loved him.
- And I told him, if he could stay clean for six months,
then I would consider marrying him.
- When my father turned his life around
in the late 1960s, he went to the Carters
for help because they had so much love to lend.
- * Oh, have you seen *
- He loved my grandma and grandfather.
He stayed at grandma and granddaddy's house.
He had his own room there,
and they were just trying to get him straight
and keep him straight.
- My mother and father and a couple of other friends,
we did a lot of praying and fought a lot of demons.
* The storms are on the ocean *
- During that time, her deep faith
was something that she communicated
a lot to Johnny.
- In my troubles in my sorrows and in my confusions in life,
I've looked to that higher spiritual plane.
- * The world may lose its motion, love *
* If I prove false to thee *
- I'm the luckiest man alive.
I don't think there would be another man alive
that's as lucky as I am to come through.
[applause]
- I would like to introduce to you
a family that I am very close to,
and they are very dear to me.
Let's make welcome Mother Maybelle,
Helen, June, and Anita-- the Carter family.
Hi, Mother. Hi, how are you doing?
Hi, girls.
- I was standing with my family
in front of about 7,000 people in London, Ontario, Canada.
- * Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side *
- And he walked up to the microphone
and said, "Will you marry me?" Just like that, on the stage.
- What did you say? - I choked.
I said, "You've got to be kidding," you know?
I said, "Quit. This is not happening to me.
Shut up. Hush."
You know, I wanted to answer with some kind of glamour,
but there's no glamour to it.
It's yes or no.
So the show must go on, and I said yes.
* Clouds and storms will, in time, pass away *
* And the sun again will shine bright and clear *
* keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side *
- Well, I got married in March the 1st, 1968.
- Here's your lovely wife, June Carter.
- * It will guide you all the way *
* If we keep on the sunny side of life *
[applause]
- June, you've been a guiding light and inspiration
in John's life.
- I had the two daughters, Carlene and Rosie,
and we took our suitcases,
and we went out to live with John.
- June's daughters, Carlene and Rosie.
- When Mom and John got married,
Rosie and I were grooving.
We were really excited about having some sisters.
We were gonna have four sisters.
It was like, "Yeah."
And God love them, they were not that thrilled,
and I don't blame them.
- I remember at 12 when that happened.
It broke my mother's heart.
In some ways, I think it broke my dad's heart.
It was giving up a certain idea of his life.
I think there's times in your life
where you know that this is the fork you're gonna take
and that you have to take.
It doesn't mean there's not grief for what you lose.
- Your four daughters are in school in California,
and they wanted to say hello to their daddy.
- The family is really important to me,
all of the girls. - Hi, Daddy.
We love you very much,
and we hope you have a wonderful day.
- Roseanne and Kathy and Cindy and Tara are all John's girls.
- So long for now, Daddy.
- It took a little time for us all to become family,
and it was kind of decided amongst everyone
that it was too complicated to say this is my step-sister.
It was just, "This is my sister."
So it seemed like the most normal thing.
- On the far end is our daughter Rosie,
over there, then our daughter Carlene,
our daughter Roseanne--
- Because people want to ask, "Well, whose kid is that?"
[applause]
- Miss June Carter. Yeah!
[cheers and applause]
["Keep on the Sunny Side"]
* There's a dark and a troubled side of life *
* There's a bright and a sunny side too *
- * And though we meet with the darkness and strife *
* The sunny side we also may view *
- My mother was told that she could not have another baby.
But by 1969, she's 40 years old,
and she's pregnant.
- * It will brighten all the way *
* If we'll keep on the sunny side of life *
- And they saw that as a miracle in itself,
that I was able to come into the world.
- * If we'll keep on the sunny side of life *
- Your and June's son, John Carter Cash.
- Hey, Johnny Carter. Hi, sir.
- There's your son, John. - Hi, sir.
- John Carter. - How you doing?
- All of us felt like we were having that baby too.
It was like, "oh, John and June
"are having a baby together.
This is so wonderful."
Because it was like the icing on the cake somehow.
- Thank you. - Thank you, girls.
- I'll sing to you.
And I think that I'm the best.
- You had so many things going for your career
when you and John got married.
And I realized your career has gone on in its own right,
but do you ever think that perhaps,
if you hadn't married John Cash,
you might be a bigger star individually?
- Well, I think I had to make a decision
when it came to John, and when I decided
that I wanted to marry John,
that that's what I wanted to do,
I did make a decision that where he goes,
I will go, and what he does, I will do.
[applause]
- Thank you.
* If I were a carpenter *
* And you were a lady *
* Would you marry me anyway? *
* Would you have my baby? *
- * If you were a carpenter *
* And I were a lady *
* I'd marry you anyway *
* I'd have your baby *
- * If a tinker was my trade *
* Would I still find you? *
- * I'd be carrying the pot you made *
* Following behind you *
* Save your love through loneliness *
* Save your love through sorrow *
- Would you folks here at Opryland
join me in welcoming Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Cash
to "Pop! Goes the Country"?
- During the time she was married to Carl Smith,
she didn't take on the name June Carter Smith.
The same when she married Rip Nix.
She did not take on Rip's last name.
- * And your soft shoe shining? *
* Save your love through loneliness *
- She becomes officially and commercially
and makes a statement to the world
that I am June Carter Cash.
[applause]
- I'm very pleased to be any place that my husband is
because I've been completely totally happy,
and I guess the word is liberated,
since I've been married to Johnny Cash.
- * And you were a lady *
- She felt that when she gave up her independence,
things were different then.
I mean, she even, like, would change her voice.
- Since I've become Mrs. Johnny Cash...
I've been happy since I've come
to that conclusion in my life.
I used to have great ambition,
and I used to want to be this or want to be that,
and now I'm just happy being Johnny Cash's wife.
- She would say, "I just pal around
after Johnny now." And it's like, "What? No."
- * Well, go on down to Jackson *
- * Go on down to Jackson *
- * Go ahead and wreck your health *
* Go play your hand, you big talkin' man *
* And make a big fool of yourself *
* Yeah, go to Jackson *
And I'm not gonna feel bad about the situation at all
because by the time I came into his life,
he had so many miles on him, there's no way
I'll ever catch up with him. - Whoa! Whoa!
- June understood that she was very important
to holding him up and that Johnny Cash
was not Johnny Cash without June Carter.
- I think she was his lifeline,
and he knew it.
- * I'm going to Jackson *
* You turn-a loose-a my coat *
* Honey, I'm going to Jackson *
- When I was born,
my father was at the very top of his career.
- * Well, they'll laugh at you in Jackson *
- They had the live television show.
- Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.
- They were on the tongue tip of everyone in America.
And Dad could also go to Germany, England, Ireland,
Australia and sell out many, many tickets.
- At one time, he was the fifth most recognizable
human on this planet.
- * Oh, you big talkin' man *
- And so they decided they would just
take me with them.
- * Well, now we got married in a fever *
- He's a good traveler too. He loves airplanes.
He sleeps on planes, sleeps in cars.
He's no trouble.
- And we traveled the world together.
- * Ever since the fire went out *
* I'm going to Jackson *
- We even went to the White House.
- * Yeah, we're going to Jackson *
* Ain't never coming back *
- And if I ever have a boy,
I think I'm gonna name him John Carter.
- Yeah, Johnny Carter. And that's what we named him.
John Carter Cash, take a bow.
Check him out there.
- There wasn't a time that I didn't go on stage
and perform or that I was onstage
as part of a performance.
It was just part of family. It's part of what we did.
- Give it up for the band, to Marshall and Fluke.
Come on.
[cheers and applause]
- Thank you very much, sir.
- And my mother, what she told me
when I was a kid, was that when you walk up
on that stage and you stand in front of that audience,
remember they already love you.
It's not as if you have to prove it to them.
- Good afternoon,
and welcome to the home of Johnny Cash.
- We moved,
and, suddenly, we're in this giant house
that we're not used to.
And we had all these people hanging around outside,
and we had guards,
and me and Rosie are on, like, one end,
and they're on the other end.
It was just so different.
- What else do you do at home when you're not on the road?
- Oh, we do a lot of different things.
We sometimes have friends in when we get a chance.
- June made their house a north star
for the music community in this city.
- It was a tradition that they would have
other musicians over for an evening.
- You would go downstairs,
and there was this blue velvet--rock and roll--
big sofa. - All right.
- Well, almost always, Roy Orbison was there
because he was our next door neighbor.
George and Tammy would be there,
all done up like George and Tammy.
- And you'd sit around and pass the guitar around
and sing your newest song.
- Shel Silverstein showed my father the lyric
for "A Boy Named Sue."
Graham Nash played "Marrakesh Express"
for the first time ever,
and the same thing with Bob Dylan
with "Lay Lady Lay."
- So I got the bug to write songs.
I cut my teeth in front of a lot of really cool people.
I had to follow Paul McCartney one night.
[laughs]
- That's a lot to do with good friends of ours,
and some of them are people who've made it.
A lot of them are young artists who haven't made it yet,
who are struggling, and there's been several
struggling people in our house singing
at some of these picking sessions
who have made it since then and that we're proud of.
- She was really good with young music people
and allowing them to bloom and wanting them to bloom.
- June heard me sing a song called "Help Me."
And she wrote my name down on the back of a blank check,
and I became one of her babies.
- * The greatest cowboy of them all *
Larry Gatlin!
* Once he rode into the sunset *
Larry Gatlin, Kris Kristofferson,
and, of course, Waylon would come over.
- Waylon Jennings.
- I have known Waylon since he was 17.
- She would be championing them,
you know, like slipping tapes to John
from Kris Kristofferson.
- We'd like to sing a song for you.
It's a brand new Kris Kristofferson song.
I'd like to dedicate this
to my daughter Cindy who is here tonight.
- Kris Kristofferson. - He's one of my babies.
He's one of those that was poor
and trying to make it, and I felt that he had
a real talent, and I talked to a lot of people about him.
* Help me make it through the night *
It's part of what we do.
They hold up my arms and let me be Moses
now and then.
- That's true, it's a highly spiritual time,
but there are other things too
that come along at Christmastime.
- Yeah, like Christmas presents.
- Just kind of sitting around by the fire, you know?
- And Christmas presents. - And Christmas presents, yes.
- I stood over on the side, and I watched,
and I learned and was grateful for it.
[soft country music]
And there again, were it not for June,
so it really comes back to the matriarch.
And any hairy legged man who says it ain't true
is lying his ass off.
- * O come, let us *
* Adore Him *
* Christ *
- So I remember one day June said,
"Well, come on, honey,
let's do some Christmas shopping at Stein Mart."
So we got in her blue Rolls.
- She took Janine off in her new Rolls-Royce
that John had just bought her, left me with John.
I barely knew him.
- So I had played some of Ronnie's songs for them,
and she said, "Well, I'm just gonna tell you,
he's pretty good."
And-- she goes like this...
[sucks teeth]
"He might have a couple of hits.
He might."
And she goes, "Honey,
"I just need you to understand,
"It just seems like the ones that really make it,
they're all a little crazy."
In other words don't do it. You know, don't do it.
- And Janine comes back after a few hours,
and she was just kind of pale, you know?
And I'm thinking, "Oh God,
she spent a lot of money or what?"
No, it was that June had read her the riot act about,
you know, dating a musician.
- It was just funny.
She's right though.
They are.
[applause]
- That's it, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you very much and good night!
[cheers and applause]
- The rigors of the road are difficult for a couple.
And when you work together and live together, it's a lot.
Plus the constant glare from the public
and the projections on them to live up
to some kind of myth, I mean, that's almost impossible.
It was like a religion.
[cheers and applause]
- I said, "I don't know who this man is."
- Hello, I'm Johnny Cash. - I know that.
- Hello, I'm Johnny Cash. Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.
- We had one of those storybook kind of marriages
in the beginning that just was unbelievable.
We had no problems for the first 10,
12 years of our marriage.
I mean, it was like something you would read about in books.
- The first 10 years they were together,
they were never apart ever, ever.
If she went shopping, he went shopping with her.
And I just was like, "I would shoot myself."
[laughs]
- The home I grew up in,
there was a beautiful intimate relationship
that was going on. My father was clean.
He wasn't on anything in the early 1970s.
It was very peaceful
and very together as a unit
up until I was eight or nine years old,
when their relationship changed a great deal.
By 1980 or so,
my father rekindled an addiction.
- It would sneak up on him.
Something would trigger him, or he'd get hurt,
and you gave John a bottle of anything
and didn't monitor him on it, he's going to take it all.
- June did not save my dad.
You can't save another person from their own addiction.
- Thank you very much. I'd like to do my new record.
- * Bills, love, and pills *
* And drink, and wine, and song *
- June really struggled to keep him looking good
when he was in public, you know, guarding him
from people who might be disappointed
if they saw him in that shape.
He chose to, you know, just give himself to people.
- God bless you and good night.
- * That's tired and gone *
- There were a lot of characters around him
who were there for the wrong reasons.
June was kind, but she could be ruthless.
It took a lot,
but if it was clear that you were not trustworthy,
she'd cut you out.
[soft acoustic music]
- Their relationship suffered greatly.
They were fighting every day.
They were very angry with each other,
mostly my mom angry with my father.
- I knew that they were having trouble.
My mother, my sister, and I were having lunch
at a restaurant in New York.
And she was there,
and she said, "There's a problem.
"Either he gets straightened out
or I have to leave, and I don't want to leave."
She just was at her wit's end.
So whatever happened,
it must have been something horrible.
***
- I was traveling with them,
and, you know, I remember one night
hearing my dad's breathing being very labored.
He would breathe all the way out,
and then his breath would stop,
and then after a little bit, he'd...
[sniffs, gasps]
and he'd start breathing again.
Well, at one point, it stopped, and he didn't start back.
[soft dramatic music]
- Scenes of my life passed before my eyes.
I saw myself at my peaks
and I saw myself walk through my deepest, darkest valleys.
***
- I ran in, and I got my mother,
and we got him up, and we put him in the bathtub,
and we poured water all over him.
I remember he woke up,
and he was very incoherent.
I was afraid. I was overwhelmed.
I was crying my eyes out. I mean, I was a kid, you know?
But it wasn't long after that many changes began to occur.
- * There was a time *
- There was an intervention. We had an intervention.
We all wrote letters to my dad.
It was very hard for me to do that.
We read them all to my father,
and he agreed to go to treatment
at Betty Ford Center.
[tender country music]
- When I saw him again in California,
that person was back, my old dad was back again.
- * Hey Willy Wallacky, hey John Dougal-y *
* A lane, quo'Rushity, noo, noo, noo *
***
* Have I told you lately *
* That I love you? *
- And at that point, there was a great forgiveness in place.
You know, my mother was like, "It's hard to be Johnny Cash."
It's like, "How did she forgive him?"
She had a way of forgiving
as if it was from East to West.
***
[cheers and applause]
- And maybe a lot of times,
they did buy into their own myth,
for better or for worse.
Maybe that kept them going at a time
when they could have broken up.
You know, it's like, well, we have this thing together
that's bigger than us.
I mean, that's what it looked like
from the outside, and you never know
what goes on in people's marriages anyway.
[light strumming]
- It's real easy.
I don't know if you can learn it fast enough or not,
but we might could get it down.
It's one I wrote just before I sent them to Vicky.
It's... - "Wings of Angels."
- * Bare me up on wings of angels *
* Let me hear the choir sing *
* Let me see the faces *
* Of the cherubim *
***
* Lift me up on wings of angels *
- I was in the lobby at the Betty Ford Center.
We went back there to visit them, and John was in rehab.
And June was at the codependency center.
- * Jesus, I'm trying *
* To get to you *
- When she went into Betty Ford Center,
there was an education that happened
in her life of what codependency is that she
had never conceived of before.
- She said to me, "Oh, honey, I just learned
I'm going to die before John."
I said, "Why?"
She goes, "Well, because codependency
"is really, really hard.
We become super parents."
And I said, "Well, what do you do in the unit?"
And she goes, "We paint. We play with clay.
"We fly kites. We learn to be kids again.
"And I'm telling you this because you
need to know this."
- Being codependent, which means sometimes
you're too good for your own good,
where you put others
too much ahead of your own needs.
- You helped him to heal a lot of those scars.
- Well, that would be nice if I could say I did that.
I think all of us girls would like to be able to claim
that we healed our husbands.
You know, if it doesn't work, you just pop them in the head
and holler "heal."
[laughter] It doesn't work.
- You sound like you kind of regret some
of the things that go along with the status
you've achieved in the business.
- Oh, I don't regret any of that.
There is pain in everybody's life.
It's something we all are confronted with.
Every one of us has pain.
It helps us, you know?
If you've put it behind you, boy, it'll push you.
It'll stick you right through the rest of the world
if you'll stick it behind you.
Don't let it hang with you. Don't put it in front of you.
That's what I say.
[cheers and applause]
[bright acoustic music]
***
- There comes a point in every entertainer's life,
you're faced with the mortality,
your own, and the mortality of your career.
And it happened to John and June.
- In the early 1980s, my father didn't
have very many hits at all.
And 1984, after he sort of picked back up his life again,
it was actually-- he was actually dropped
by his record label at the time.
- It was a dramatic slowdown.
You know, I saw Johnny and June the first time
playing for 16,000 screaming fans.
And then the '80s, we would sometimes
go to clubs with 300 people.
- They'd been the biggest stars in the world
for six, eight, ten--
and then it started not being that way.
- Good night. - Good night.
- I think June was unsettled by that.
At the same time, she was so strong.
It was like, he's going to be OK.
You're going to be OK.
***
- We went to Montreux, Switzerland
at the invitation of John and June.
They decided they wanted to do a Christmas special
with their best friends.
***
- Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.
- Hello, I'm Waylie Kris.
[laughter]
- Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson,
and Waylon Jennings, all of whom
were on the downside of fame at that time.
- You know, living with the likes of good ol' boys
like John, and Willie, and Kris, and Waylon,
well, it's just not that easy.
You don't know all we know.
Because these are a bunch of wives that have a lot to do.
all: * We're married to a star, yes, we are *
* Our men are legends in their time *
- All these guys have been real close to us.
We were all sitting around in the room,
and they were all singing, and they decided,
this really shouldn't stop right here.
We should do something else.
And that's when they did their first Highwaymen album.
["Highwayman"]
- * I was a highwayman *
* Along the coach roads I did ride *
* With sword and pistol by my side *
- And they reawakened all their careers.
- * Many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade *
- And then it just evolved to a ten-year touring.
***
- On the road with the Highwaymen,
my mother would have been the resounding matriarch.
- She was tough, and she was funny.
And, you know, if you're married to Johnny Cash,
you've got to be tough.
- * I fly a starship across the universe divide *
* And when I reach... *
- I'm good friends with all the wives--
- The Highwomen. - The Highwomen.
[laughs] So...
- It was just the Highwaymen.
And they didn't know how to add the Highwaymen and June.
There was some discussion whether John and June
could do a song together.
And it just, nobody knew quite how to work it out.
- June Carter, who wrote "Ring of Fire,"
my wife is here tonight.
Stand up and take a bow, would you?
[cheers and applause]
Where are you, baby?
Hey, here she is, back over here.
All right.
- It ended up that June, during every show,
would stand up in the audience.
And they put a spotlight on her.
And she would look around at everybody and wave.
- Been the one time in my life when I've got
to sit and enjoy it kind of.
Really have enjoyed the time with the boys
and with their wives as well.
["Ring of Fire"]
***
- There's an awkwardness, and I don't understand,
because I'm not an artist, how that decision is made.
So how June ended up never being on stage
during those years, I really don't know.
But it probably was hard on her.
***
- That's part of the thing that's hard about her ego
because that ambition was there.
And she had to kind of squelch it.
- She didn't know what to do with herself.
You can't be on the road all your entire life
and suddenly not have it anymore.
["Where We'll Never Grow Old"]
- * I have heard of a land *
* On the faraway strand *
* 'Tis a beautiful home of the soul *
* Built by Jesus on high *
- She started going back to Virginia a lot.
She started spending a lot of time in the home
that she grew up in as a little girl.
She was experiencing memories of what the fire smelled like
in the fireplace, of which flowers in particular
grew in the woods in the backyard.
***
She got back in connection with those things
from when she was at a period of innocence and beauty.
- June started to look at her life
to sort of remind herself, I think,
of who she was and to remind everybody else,
you know, here's who I really am.
I'm not Mrs. Johnny Cash. I'm June Carter.
And this is my story.
- * We'll never grow old *
- He said, you need Vicky, is what you need.
And I said, OK.
Anyway, she's got this new record company
that she started.
- I would have never thought in a million years
that I would, like, make that record with June.
But she started calling me.
You know, June said she had to get this music out.
She had a legacy to leave behind, you know?
That was what she was trying to accomplish.
[laughter]
I didn't know how I was going to pay for it or anything
like that.
But June had more faith than anybody on the planet.
She was always optimistic.
You know, something really terrible could happen,
and she would figure out a way to take lemons
and make lemonade out of it.
- Nothing to it. [clicks tongue]
- She would always say, "It's OK.
"We'll get through this. Just press on, honey.
Just press on."
And that was her philosophy in life.
Those two words are absolutely how
I would and do remember June, press on.
- OK, let's press on.
- Let's start with "I Used To Be Somebody" first.
- OK.
- June and I, we put on the blinders,
and it happened.
We made the record.
- All right, Marty.
***
- My mother came to me and asked me if I would
co-produce the album "Press On."
I was nervous in a certain way because this was one
of the first things that I had ever recorded.
***
But she gave me the energy. She gave me the strength.
She's like, "Oh, you can do this.
Oh, yes, you can do this."
- Go back to the top of that verse, that different verse,
because everybody's still working on that.
- One, two, three, four.
["Tall Lover Man"]
- * Two lovers stood in the white, white sand *
* Dark-eyed maiden and her tall lover man *
* With surprise and pain in her eyes *
- It was my mother's time to shine.
It was as if every dream that she had,
when she went to New York City in the 1950s,
they were all coming back real.
- When are you coming back?
- Around that time, she did "The Apostle"
with Robert Duvall.
- I just-- I'm just a little chilly.
- Hold on now, hold on.
- We did the way we were taught from Sandy Meisner,
who was both of our teachers in New York
at the Neighborhood Playhouse.
***
- Hello?
- Well, she was always ready.
She was great to work with, just wonderful.
She had her own sense of being strong-willed.
- She can't do that, son.
You know she can't.
- She was so excited to be in that film with him.
She just adored Robert Duvall
and had become good friends with him.
- I just wish he had given me another part.
Why did he have to give me one where I'm older
than he is, when he's older--
[laughter]
When he's older than I am?
- Good sense of humor, good sense of humor.
***
- That's about where we do it right there.
- Johnny is with me now.
He goes wherever I go.
And it's kind of, he likes to be where I am,
and I like to be where he is.
- I like this one. That's good.
* I've grown wearier *
***
- During the recording, Johnny's health
was pretty fragile.
- So John was in intensive care literally the day
before the first day of recording.
He was very shaky. His hands were shaking.
And he didn't have much energy for it,
but he said, you know, he--
I was amazed by the professionalism of this guy.
- [coughs]
- Quick. - I gotta settle down first.
- He wanted to play backup guitar
and sing harmonies with her.
He wanted to be there for her as she was for him
in so many different ways.
["Far Side Banks of Jordan"]
- * I believe my steps *
* Are growing wearier each day *
- He comes out there to do "Far Side Banks of Jordan."
- * Got another journey on my mind *
- That song meant so much to them.
They sang that every night on stage from the late 1970s
until the end of their performance career.
- * Wanna stay, and my one regret *
* Is leaving you behind *
***
- * But if it proves to be his will *
* That I am first to cross *
* And somehow, I have a feeling it will be *
***
* When it comes your time to travel *
* Likewise, don't feel lost *
* For I will be the first one that you'll see *
both: * And I'll be waiting *
* On the far side banks of Jordan *
- People have come to me and said,
"What's it like to be the product of the greatest
love affair that ever was?"
Evidently, they were not there, right?
Because they had struggles.
But by the end of their life, my mother and father
were more in love than they ever had been.
- They loved each other.
And they were great friends.
They both loved what the other did.
- Love is what made their relationship.
It wasn't fame. It wasn't power.
It was what love really is.
And people forget what love is.
It's patient, it's kind, it's long-suffering.
But the beauty is what stands out.
And what's so great is to get a window into that strength
and into that beauty, we have but to listen to the music.
both: * And I'll be waiting *
* On the far side banks of Jordan *
* I'll be sitting, drawing pictures in the sand *
***
- I'm here mostly because my life,
the way it's turned around in the last little bit.
For the past several years, I just followed
Johnny Cash around the world wherever he went.
And I worked a whole lot harder than he did,
but you all didn't know that.
So I'm glad to have the opportunity to tell you.
- You know, June, it's been many years
since she has had a new album out, "Press On."
- Called "Press On," first solo album in 25 years.
- She was one of the stars
in Robert Duvall's film "The Apostle."
And now with her brand-new CD called "Press On,"
here is June Carter Cash.
- * I fell into a ring of fire *
* I fell into a burnin'... *
- This is the June Carter Cash album right here.
And I listened to this this afternoon.
And my goodness, what a lovely, touching, sweet collection
of music this is.
- "Press On," I think, caught everybody by surprise.
- That is true timeless music.
It was never a trend-based.
It never chased anything.
June's songs are just based on basic human emotion,
things that everyone could relate to.
- It is a privilege to introduce
the great June Carter Cash.
- Here's June Carter Cash.
- Here she is, June Carter Cash.
- The only June Carter Cash.
- Yeah!
- Thank you very much.
This is a big night for me.
* Burnin' ring of fire *
* Went down, down, down *
- It is the true spirit of American music.
- And it won her a Grammy.
- * Ring of fire *
[cheers and applause]
- "Press On" won a Grammy.
It was, like, really surprising.
I mean, I had no idea.
And it was just such an honor that that happened.
[soft music]
- Yeah, I mean, she was very, very proud of that.
You know, Johnny had countless Grammys.
And this was her own Grammy.
So, yeah, she was really proud of that.
- Everybody pooh-poohs it.
Everybody goes, oh, Grammy award.
But you know what, when you get one, it means something.
It really means something.
It's like, it's music's highest accolade.
And you might not think you wanted it,
but you know you really did.
- Please give a Grand Ole Opry welcome to June Carter Cash.
[cheers and applause]
- And then they would start shouting for June.
- Thank you very much.
Gosh, what a big room.
- You know she had to feel vindication.
- Oh, thank you.
- You know that she--
in her final years, people are screaming for June.
- Oh, thank you.
You've almost made me cry.
- She is standing up there giving us
a life lesson of what it means to stick it out.
***
- OK, son?
- Let's do one more.
- Press on, Norman.
[folk music playing]
- And then she was back in the studio again...
***
In Virginia at the house where she was raised.
- * Oh, give to me a winding stream *
- She gave it every bit of energy she had,
14 songs within three days.
- * But I will dance, I will sing *
* And my laugh shall be gay *
- You know, moss did not grow on my mama's feet.
She had a lot of energy.
Her work ethic, period, was like--
she was like a superwoman to me.
- * But I'm longing to see him and regret the dark hour *
* It's gone and neglected *
OK, I'm ready to press on, son.
- One second. - OK.
No--I'll tell you how it is.
I'll just tell you again.
We don't want to think about death,
but sometimes I do.
Sometimes I feel like I'm on a hill,
and it's John's grave I'm kneeling on.
And if you can imagine me just sitting there
trying to talk to him.
* When death shall close these eyelids *
* And this heart shall cease to beat *
* And they lay me down to rest *
* In some flowery *
* Bound retreat *
* Will you miss me? *
all: * Miss me when I'm gone *
- * Will you miss me? *
all: * Miss me when I'm gone *
- * Will you... *
- I remember my mother was coming out the door.
And I remember seeing her get in the car and her telling me,
"I've got to go to the hospital."
I look back now, and I remember
the look in her eye.
It was this joy, but such sadness
and weakness at the same time.
And she went to the hospital.
Um...
- * And come sit along... *
- When I got the phone call, I was shocked
because John had been the one.
I think everybody kind of expected John
from his illness over the last ten years,
that he would be the first to go.
- * Will you miss me? *
all: * Miss me when I'm gone *
- Her death was sudden.
And it hit all of us really hard, the whole community.
- It was just confusing.
It was like, oh, no, there goes the tent pole
for everybody, you know?
It was a hard one. It was a hard one.
- * But I could not hide my sorrow *
* when they laid her in the grave *
* Can the circle... *
- It's hard even now remembering
that whole few days.
- * Lord, by and by *
* There's a better... *
- When we went to June's funeral,
Johnny Cash was so sad, oh, my God.
He just could hardly sit there.
- I just remember him saying, "I put her in a blue dress
because of her eyes."
And then when I walked past him in the church,
he said, "Is that Katie?"
[sniffling]
- It was agonizing to watch him
go through that experience.
It was really tough.
She was so full of life.
- We wave to her from this shore
as she drifts out of our lives.
What a legacy she leaves us.
- It still, to this day, kills me
for her to be gone.
She was my dearest friend and my mommy.
- Under a June blue sky waving her scarf to greet us.
- I just had this vision of June.
Almost her whole life flashed before me.
And I almost felt like this song
just--she just dropped it in my lap as she was flying over.
Like, here, I'm going to give you one more thing.
And I wrote this song called "The Strong Hand."
* She was a strong hand *
* A good sister and a daughter *
- I was standing next to John Carter.
And I had my arm around him.
- Lisa Kristofferson was there to support me.
- At one point, his knees were collapsing.
And he's a large man.
- It's like she could tell right
when I emotionally cracked,
because I did emotionally crack.
- And I heard June say, "I'm right here, son."
- * And it's a miracle *
* How one soul finds another *
- And I had this super strength,
I held up this huge man.
- Lisa held me with such love.
Lisa held on to me like a mother.
- * As they walk this world together *
- She was a holder upper in that moment,
you know, in a dimension that I don't
really know or understand.
But there is no doubt in my mind that it was real.
***
- After June died, John would call me a lot.
And he was really down.
And I could tell.
And, you know, we'd talk about this thing or that thing.
But what he was really wanting to do was
get somebody to take his mind off of the whole thing.
***
- He really struggled.
I mean, all of us children were holding our breaths,
like he's not going to last long without her.
And he didn't. He lasted four months.
***
- One of the last things he wrote
on a plain piece of paper was,
"I love June Carter.
"She is an angel.
I am not."
- * Oh, it's a sad thing *
- Here she is right now, Miss June Carter!
- * The other and fly up where the voice rings *
- She was very special.
And, you know,
there's nobody that can replace her.
***
- She was a very free spirit.
There was a great depth of love of the people.
At the heart of it, there is this enduring personality
that is there of a young girl riding
on the back of a motorcycle.
- * For it's a miracle how... *
- When you look at little girls,
they're capable of so much more.
And life is a series of girdles, and corsets,
and bras, and straitjackets, and gingham.
And sometimes, it takes that little girl out of you.
- * I believe *
- But June was able to tap into that.
And so she kept that little girl growing and going.
But I think a lot of times, we don't see that in women.
And we don't give them the opportunity
to continue to develop all those dreams
and wonderful things that they thought as young girls.
- * I'm going to shout and sing until heavens ring *
* When I'm bidding this world goodbye *
It has 580 verses.
That's the way my family always wrote songs,
just in case you wanted to go sing two or three days
without stop.
That's what you did.
OK, we're pressing on.
[June Carter Cash's "It's My Lazy Day"]
***
* Well, I might have gone fishing *
all: * Might have gone fishing *
- * I got to thinkin' it over *
all: * Thinkin' it over *
- * The road to the river * all: * Is a mighty long way *
- * It's a mighty long way, it must be the season *
all: * Must be the season *
- * No rhyme or no reason *
all: * No rhyme or no reason * - * I'm just taking it easy *
all: * It's my lazy day * - * It's my lazy day *
* I'm finding it easy * all: * Finding it easy *
- * To mind my own business * all: * Mind my own business *
- * I'm keepin' my nose out of everyone's way *
* Everyone's way, just gonna look stupid *
all: * Gonna look stupid * - * Don't wanna meet Cupid *
all: * Wanna meet Cupid * - * Just taking it easy *
* It's my lazy day, it's my lazy day *
***
* I ain't askin' no questions *
all: * Askin' no questions * - * I ain't givin' advices *
all: * Givin' advices * - * I ain't doing no datin' *
all: * Ain't wanting to play * - * Ain't wanting to play *
* I'm just gonna look stupid * all: * Gonna look stupid *
- * I don't wanna meet Cupid * all: * Wanna meet Cupid *
- * Just taking it easy, it's my lazy day *
* It's my lazy day *
[rhythmic clapping]