‘Man in Black’ honored

HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Family, friends and musicians gathered at Johnny Cash’s funeral yesterday to honor a giant in American music.

“He represented the best of America. We’re not going to see his like again,” said singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson, who wrote Mr. Cash’s 1970 hit “Sunday Morning Coming Down.”

More than 1,000 people attended the private 2-hour service at First Baptist Church of Hendersonville, about 15 miles north of Nashville — the same church where Mr. Cash mourned the death of his wife, June Carter Cash, in May.

Mr. Cash, 71, died Friday of respiratory failure caused by complications from diabetes. He had been in declining health for years.

“I can almost live in a world without Johnny Cash because he will always be with us,” said Mr. Cash’s daughter, singer Rosanne Cash. “I cannot begin to imagine a world without Daddy.”

Among the celebrities attending were country singers Vince Gill, Hank Williams Jr., Travis Tritt, Dwight Yoakam, George Jones, Ricky Skaggs, Ronnie Dunn, the Statler Brothers and the Oak Ridge Boys.

Other celebrities in attendance included rock-rapper Kid Rock, actress Jane Seymour and former Vice President Al Gore, a native of Tennessee.

Mr. Kristofferson called Mr. Cash “Abraham Lincoln with a wild side” — a man always willing to champion the voiceless and downtrodden, “whose work in life has been an inspiration and salvation to so many people around the world.”

The Rev. Franklin Graham — son of Mr. Cash’s friend the Rev. Billy Graham — called Mr. Cash “a good man who also struggled with many challenges in his life. He was a deeply religious man.”

Emmylou Harris and Sheryl Crow sang the gospel hymn “The Old Rugged Cross” and Bob Dylan’s “Every Grain of Sand.”

Mr. Cash, known as “The Man in Black” for his preferred attire, said in a hit song that he wore the color in honor of the poor and oppressed. He was buried in a black coffin with silver handles.

As the service came to end, country singer Larry Gatlin addressed his own son, Joshua Cash Gatlin, from the pulpit: “Son, this man fed your mama and me when we couldn’t afford food. He paid rent for us when we couldn’t pay rent.”

For more than four decades, beginning in the 1950s as a peer of Elvis Presley in Memphis, Mr. Cash specialized in earthy songs about hard times and in brooding love songs. His hits range from the rockabilly anthem “Get Rhythm” to the comical “A Boy Named Sue” to the recent “Hurt,” about the ravages of drug abuse.

Mr. Cash rose to fame in his late 20s, but his career was nearly derailed by an addiction to pills. He credited his wife June, whom he married in 1968, for helping him beat the addiction.

His commercial peak was from 1969-71, when he had a network television show with guests including Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Mr. Kristofferson.