One of the biggest names in country music is Johnny Cash. An American icon, he was also a big contributor to gospel, blues, rockabilly and folk music. Known as “The Man In Black” with hit songs such as “Folsom Prison Blues,” “I Walk the Line,” and “Ring of Fire,” Cash was a larger-than-life figure who made a big impact on the music industry and American culture.
Cash’s Family Was Very Poor & Made Money Through Sharecropping
American singer/songwriter Johnny Cash was born J.R. Cash in 1932 in Kingsland, Arkansas. His Southern Baptist family was very poor and made a living by sharecropping. His parents were Ray and Carrie Rivers Cash, and they raised him along with his six siblings. They moved to Dyess, Arkansas when J.R. was just three years old.
Ray Cash relocated his family after President Franklin Roosevelt unveiled the New Deal farming programs. The nine-member Cash family then moved into a five-room house. They farmed 20 acres of cotton and other types of crops in order to survive.