“Johnny Cash . . . lists in the liner notes to his album Unchained what he likes in music:
I love songs about horses, railroads, land, judgment day, family, hard times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separation, murder, war, prison, rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion, patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak, and love. And Mother. And God.
Spiritual concerns jostle with earthly concerns. They are not separated or compartmentalized. Land and judgment day, rambling and damnation, murder and piety, rowdiness and salvation—the spirituality here is not some gnostic otherworldly mysticism but something grounded in the tangible facts of ordinary life. And ordinary life—which includes transgressions and suffering as well as pleasures and comforting relationships—has eternal significance. Except for the railroads, Cash could be describing much of what is in the Bible” (Gene Edward Veith,
Honky-Tonk Gospel, p. 16).
