True Myth
June 3, 2011 Tony Tost has no interest in debunking the myth of the Man in Black. In fact, his new book depends on it. Instead of relying on a hackneyed fact-versus-fiction structure, Johnny Cash’s American Recordings (33 1/3) gives itself over completely to Johnny Cash’s outlaw/prophet mystique. The book’s specific goal is to get to the truths that lie past the treeline of the merely factual. Beyond the cavernous voice, poetic songwriting, and towering stage presence, Tost argues, Johnny Cash’s single greatest artistic accomplishment was the creation of “the mythic version of himself.” In fact, for Tost, the “mythic self” is the single greatest creation America has given the world, for him, Cash, the country, and American Recordings are forever entwined.