So the rest of y’all have Christmas, and I’m happy for you. But today’s the other JC’s birthday. (And yes, I know he wouldn’t approve of that line.) One of the proudest moments of my career was when somebody reviewed Satan Is Real and said that the Johnny Cash chapters captured him better than that movie ever did.

The truth is, and I don’t think Charlie would mind me saying this, I took on that book because I knew I’d get to hear those stories. Of course I loved Charlie, but there was nobody who knew how special Johnny Cash was more than Charlie. This is one of the many things he had to say about him:

I would fight with all I had for Johnny Cash’s reputation. I know I don’t need to now, but I would fight with everything I had for him. John was an extremely precious man, and there will never be another like him. He wasn’t a taker, he was giver. And, sure, he had his faults, as we all do. But in the end, he conquered them all.

I love that quote. And this one, from Kris Kristofferson (who, not coincidentally, wrote the the forward to Satan Is Real.)

Johnny Cash was the champion of the voiceless, the underdogs and the downtrodden. He was also something of a holy terror, like Abraham Lincoln with a wild side. He represented the best of America.