Johnny Cash International: How and Why Fans Love the Man in Black

Johnny Cash International: How and Why Fans Love the Man in Black

Johnny Cash International: How and Why Fans Love the Man in Black

Johnny Cash International: How and Why Fans Love the Man in Black

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Overview

2023 Peggy O'Brien Book Prize, winner

Across all imaginable borders, Johnny Cash fans show the appeal of a thoroughly American performer who simultaneously inspires people worldwide. A young Norwegian shows off his Johnny Cash tattoo. A Canadian vlogger sings “I Walk the Line” to camel herders in Egypt’s White Desert. A shopkeeper in Northern Ireland plays Cash as his constant soundtrack. A Dutchwoman co­ordinates the activities of Cash fans worldwide and is subsequently offered the privilege of sleeping in Johnny’s bedroom. And on a more global scale, millions of people watch Cash’s videos online, then express themselves through commentary and debate.

In Johnny Cash International, Hinds and Silverman examine digital and real-world fan communities and the individuals who comprise them, profiling their relationships to Cash and each other. Study­ing Johnny Cash’s international fans and their love for the man reveals new insights about music, fandom, and the United States.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781609387013
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
Publication date: 06/01/2020
Series: Fandom & Culture
Edition description: 1
Pages: 270
Sales rank: 1,061,321
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Michael Hinds is associate professor of English at Dublin City University. He is coeditor of Rebound: The American Poetry Book. He lives in Dublin, Ireland.

Jonathan Silverman is associate professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He is author of Nine Choices: Johnny Cash and American Culture. He lives in Arlington, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Preface ix

Introduction 1

Part 1 Histories and Contexts of International Cash Fandom

1 First Encounters with International Cash Fandom: The Irish Shopkeeper and the Norwegians 13

2 I Am Cash, We Are Cash: Thinking about Cash as a Visual Icon 29

3 On Authenticity and Americana: Cash as Representative Icon Abroad 38

4 Cash on Paper: Global Fandom Before and After the Internet 52

5 What English Fans Make of Johnny Cash: Class, Culture, and Belonging 65

Part 2 A Year in the Life of Cash Fans around the World

6 Gathering of the Superfans: How Contemporary Cash Fandoms Network, June 2017 87

7 YouTube, Cash Talk, and Trash Talk: Fandom in the Comments, June 2017-June 2018 102

8 A Close Watch on This Song of His: International Fans Cover and Post "Ring of Fire," June 2017-June 2018 115

9 The Outsider: A Veteran Punk Brings Cash to the French, August 2017 129

10 The Performer: A Fan Plays Cash Country, October 2017 141

11 The Collector: Photographing and Displaying Fandom Home and Abroad, June 2018 154

12 The Networker: Making Fan Connections and Encountering Race and Nostalgia in Cashworld, May 2018 164

13 Cash Bombing: Finding Fandom in Portugal, June 2018 183

14 Spike Prison Blues: Reuniting and Networking at a Cash Concert, June 2018 199

Afterword: The Fandom Stops for No One 213

Appendix: The How, Where, and Why of Cash Fandom: Theory and Methodology 217

Notes 225

References 233

Index 243

What People are Saying About This

Barbara Ching

“In Johnny Cash International, Michael Hinds and Jonathan Silverman show how Johnny Cash fans, through their creative use of technology, formation of tribute bands, globetrotting tourism, and whatever the next thing coming might be, built international cultures through the sounds and images created of Johnny Cash.”—Barbara Ching, author, Wrong’s What I Do Best: Hard Country Music and Contemporary Culture

Joe Bonomo

“Where is Cashland? The answer: nearly everywhere. Blending documentary, ethnography, and fieldwork, the authors discover an international ‘signifier of sanity’ whose iconicity transcends race, class, geography, and politics. ‘Life and love go on, let the music play,’ the Man in Black once said. In this unique and insightful book, Hinds and Silverman discover just how far that music goes.”—Joe Bonomo, author, Field Recordings from the Inside: Essays
 

Leigh H. Edwards

Johnny Cash International gives us a vibrant window into a fandom that is transnational and translocal, one that Silverman and Hinds beautifully analyze as a text just as they provide deeper contexts for the ongoing legacy of the Man in Black around the world. Their fascinating book shows how fans create community, whether digitally or in person, with their own exuberant creativity and meaning.”—Leigh H. Edwards, author, Johnny Cash and the Paradox of American Identity

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