Walk the Line

I remember when I was in high school buying exactly one country music album: Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash. My favorite music has always been from rock bands like ZZ Top and The Rolling Stones, but the appeal of the music of Johnny Cash could not be confined to a single category.

I went to see Walk the Line on a lark and I have to admit I didn't expect much. The movie seemed to start woodenly but when David Caffey hit us between the eyes with "what's the last song you would sing" and Joaquin Phoenix slowly spun out his rendition of Folsom Prison the train started rolling down the line.

It was suprising to me how much I didn't know about what was going on in Mr. Cash's life at the time I was attending high school just a short drive away from his Nashville home. We thought the lines in his songs about taking "a shot of cocaine" were just for effect. Nor did we realize there was such a close fraternity of the early rock legends like Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison. We certainly never dreamed that he swapped songs with Bob Dylan.

It was good to see it win some important awards and I am looking forward to getting the soundtrack and the DVD soon.