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21 " Things were going so well that Rubin began suggesting a few songs for Cash, notably “Thirteen,” a tale of bad luck and hard times written for Cash by heavy-metal rocker Glenn Danzig, and “Down There by the Train,” a story of sin and salvation by Tom Waits. "
― , Johnny Cash: The Life
22 " As Cash headed back on the road for most of August, Rubin brought in some musicians to explore dressing up some of the tracks—guitarist Mike Campbell from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and bassist Flea and drummer Chad Smith, both from the Chili Peppers. To "
23 " From the beginning of rock ’n’ roll there’s always been a stark figure that never really fits,” he told Rolling Stone. “He’s still the quintessential outsider. "
24 " That was an enormous leap—to go from the safety onstage or in the studio of singing with a band behind you to just facing an audience with your own guitar,” Rubin says. “Once we decided that we were going to make it a solo acoustic album, I noticed a change in him when he was just singing in my living room. Before, he had been relaxed and singing in a very personal, intimate way. But suddenly he changed. He began performing the songs, and it wasn’t the same. "
25 " This early marketing of Cash to the rock market would prove to be of major significance in his career. Even if he had made the same records in Nashville, he might simply have been viewed as another hillbilly star—like Webb Pierce or Ray Price. But his ties to Elvis and Phillips and Sun Records would forever give Cash credibility in the wider, more culturally important rock ’n’ roll market. "
26 " Elvis was single and eager to take advantage of it. He pursued the young female fans with such abandon that Cash found it a bit distasteful. "
27 " Despite the them-versus-us nature of the Nashville-Memphis relationship, the brain trust at the Opry couldn’t ignore the change going on with the arrival of rock ’n’ roll, and they felt they needed to embrace one of the young mavericks in the Sun stable. They had already lost out on Elvis, and they didn’t want to make the same mistake twice. "
28 " In the publication, the States’ Rights Party alluded to the El Paso arrest and urged its readers to boycott Cash’s recordings, claiming, “Money from the sale of [Cash’s] records goes to scum like Johnny Cash to keep them supplied with drugs and negro women.” The article even referred to Cash’s “mongrelized” children. Reprints were widely circulated. "
29 " She and I looked across the set at each other, each of us silently asking the other, Are we going to go through this again? Is this what’s going to happen? "
30 " They even started carrying shotguns so they could stop the car if they spotted a rabbit or some other potential meal on rural back roads. "