Robert Hilburn was a music critic for the LA Times for over 30 years and has written about thousands of musicians in his career, including books about John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen. His newest is about a man he knew well because he reported on him at many different points in his career. The book is “Johnny Cash: The Life” and Robert joined me on America Weekend talk about it.
We discussed Cash’s historic concert at Folsom Prison (which Hilburn was the only reporter to attend), how difficult it is to separate fact from fiction in Cash’s life, how his addictions were exacerbated by life on the road, and about Cash’s earliest days with Sam Phillips at Sun Records. Listen to our conversation here.