“Johnny Cash, The Official Concert Experience” makes a stop at Ball State’s Emens Auditorium.

“Johnny Cash, The Official Concert Experience” makes a stop at Ball State’s Emens Auditorium.

By: Kevin Vickery

On March 15th I returned to my Alma Mater, Ball State University and visited Emens Auditorium located on the campus to see one of the more interesting shows I’ve ever attended. When I heard that “Johnny Cash, The Official Concert Experience” was making a stop there, I knew this was something I couldn’t miss.

The Johnny Cash estate and his son John Carter Cash have partnered with GEAlive, Quatro Entertainment, and Maple Tree Entertainment to create a concept where they’ve compiled video clips of Cash performing live on his “Johnny Cash Television Show” which ran from 1969 to 1971 and isolated the vocal tracks. Those video segments are then shown on a giant screen at the back of the stage while a touring band performs up front, providing a live music experience to accompany Cash’s vocals.

Between songs, the on stage band along with video segments of John Carter Cash took turns narrating the story of Cash’s musical career which spanned over six decades, included 91 albums and his inductance into basically every music related hall of fame. At times the band also performed Cash classics like, “Get Rhythm”, “ Hey Porter”, and, “Cry Cry Cry” on their own without the video enhanced vocal of Cash himself. Other songs like, “Folsom Prison Blues”, “I Walk the Line”, “Flesh and Blood”, and his duet on “Jackson” with wife June Carter featured the video version of the legendary “Man in Black” in full force, singing lead vocals and playing guitar on the big screen.

The band features top notch musicians who I personally thought did an excellent job of replicating the boom-chica-boom sound of Cash’s original backing band, The Tennessee Three. 

Lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, Adam Pope is a great frontman for the group and his voice is suited well for singing the Cash classics. Lead guitarist, Debbie Horton has a long list of accomplishments throughout her career in music including being invited to perform with Johnny Cash on stage. New York City’s Jonathan Schneider on drums and bassist Peter Michaels Jr. round out the rhythm section and perfectly provide the chugging train style beat any Cash fan would expect while keyboardist /vocalist, Brittany Grove helped give a genuine since of authenticity to the songs where she sang the parts of June Carter.

It should be noted that the band members are not impersonators and therefore aren’t attempting to mimic the look of Cash, Carter or The Tennessee Three. They instead focus on replicating Cash’s sound in a way to appropriately accompany him on the video screen and properly tribute him when they play the songs where the video isn’t featured. 

Being a lifelong fan of Johnny Cash, I learned to appreciate his music at a young age. As an 8 year old kid I’d lay on the floor in my Grandparent’s living room for hours and play my Grandpa’s 8-track tapes on his old console stereo, memorizing every word to songs like Cash’s, “One Piece at a Time”, “ Daddy Sang Bass”, and “Boy Named Sue”.   Unfortunately, I never got the chance to see the iconic John R. Cash perform live before his death in 2003.

I was happy to get to see this version of one of my heroes since childhood performing and thought the production team and the band all truly excelled in capturing The Man in Black’s image, his style, his thoughts as a social advocate and most importantly, his unique sound.

When leaving the auditorium, I ran into my old friends, Brent Flynn and Tammy Pressley Kennedy from Middletown and Brent was nice enough to share his thoughts on the performance.  

“Tammy and I really enjoyed the show. My favorite song of the night is ‘That Ragged Old Flag’. It says so much about America‘s strength since it began in 1776.”  Brent continued, “The Man in Black’ was Tammy’s favorite, as it speaks to the plights of the common man, and those who’ve been held back or oppressed.”

Being a lifelong musician himself, I think Brent best summed up the show saying, “It was really nice to listen to some real country music and, again, realize the impact Johnny Cash had on millions of people across the globe.  So happy we went.”

Thanks Brent, I couldn’t have said it better myself.

For more information about Johnny Cash, the Official Concert Experience you can find them on social media or on their official website at johnnycashconcertexperience.com

To learn more about upcoming events coming to Emens Auditorium at Ball State University visit their official website at bsu.edu.com

Henry County resident and Ball State alum, Kevin Vickery, is bassist and lead vocalist for The Cousin Brothers. He spent several years working in Nashville for some of the biggest names in Country Music before taking over the reins at his family business. If you have a story idea or an event that you think Kevin should cover, contact him at kevin.makesomenoise@yahoo.com