Book Review: A Heartbeat and a Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears
A Heartbeat and a Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears is from author and filmmaker Antonino D’Ambrosio, who has written before on the blend of politics and music with his book Let Fury Have the Hour: The Punk Rock Politics of Joe Strummer, and directed a companion documentary to the book under review, We’re Still Here: Johnny Cash’s Bitter Tears Revisited. This book was first published in 2009 to some acclaim.
D’Ambrosio’s book is not another biography of Johnny Cash, yet it does lightly chronicle Cash’s life and music in the 1960s, particularly his challenges with substance abuse and burgeoning involvement in the folk music scene.
The formatting of the book in many ways reminded me of a concert, where Cash is the big star, drawing in the crowds with his name and magnetism--yet there are two opening acts preceding the main event. The joint biographies of World War II marine Ira Hamilton Hayes, a veteran whose first (and calamitous) claim to fame was raising the flag(s) at Iwo Jima. The other opening act is Peter La Farge, a songwriter and folk singer who (like Cash, for a time) could not prove his Native American ancestry, but made doubtless his sympathy for Native Peoples. There are many threads that link the narratives and D’Ambrosio does a good job of weaving them together, though there are times when the book strays too far away from the album its title promises to explore.
There are new interviews for this book, including regulars that have often contributed to Cash books and were part of his intimate circle of friends. Marshall Grant (the original bassist of Cash’s first band, the Tennessee Two) and Johnny Western (emcee for many live shows, and a regular studio musician for Cash) have reputations as two of the more sane and nuanced members of the Cash entourage and speak candidly of his drug addiction but also his talent.
I had the great pleasure of interviewing Johnny Western in 2012, where he relayed some interesting anecdotes about Cash’s music, including his favorite Cash song and a revealing fact about Cash’s controversial recording of “Ghost Riders in the Sky.” (See link below.)
Western chronicles some of the startling details of the controversy stirred up by Cash’s album Bitter Tears. The largely conservative country music establishment truly balked at the fact that, in 1964, Cash would release a protest album championing Native Americans. There was a real push to censor Cash, and some sparring back and forth between Cash and DJs. Balanced sources like Western ground the book, while D’Ambrosio is clearly sympathetic towards his three subjects.
For Johnny Cash fans, the last quarter of the book is a goldmine. New interviews with Normon Blake (who played with Cash during many studio sessions) provide insight to the recording process of Bitter Tears. La Farge, it turns out, sat in on many of the sessions and was enthralled by what Cash was doing. Cash had a very heartfelt meeting with Ira Hayes’ mother, who gifted him a necklace that inspired Cash’s composition of “Apache Tears.” An early gem in the book is an interview with Ed McCurdy about a time when he tried to help Cash with his addictions. The research seems strong, but I did notice at least one error, when the writer claims that “Old Apache Squaw” was censored by Columbia in 1959 and re-recorded for Bitter Tears. In reality the Cash-penned song was recorded and released in 1959 on Songs of Our Soil, which remains the only studio cut.
For anyone sharing interests in Johnny Cash, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Folk music scene, this book is a must. New interviews illuminate the drama and artistry surrounding Cash’s unique protest album, but the majority of the book’s focus is divided between La Farge, Hayes, and larger political and musical movements.
Recommended for those already familiar with Cash and wanting to take a deeper, historical dive into one of his most significant albums.
