Nashville SC pays appropriate tribute to Johnny Cash with new ‘Man in Black’ kit
Everybody who grew up in Nashville, Tennessee in the ‘70s, ‘80s or ‘90s has a Johnny Cash story. Here’s mine.
In 2001, I was a 21-year-old college dropout and bartender working at a Mexican restaurant on West End, not far from the city’s center. Back then, Nashville was a sleepy, kind of forlorn place, far from the trendy, fashionable locale it has become. It was the kind of place where this stupid little Mexican restaurant, the type you’d usually see in a suburban strip mall, was one of the city’s most popular eateries.
Early one summer evening, Johnny Cash walked in, alongside his daughter Rosanne. The air went out of the place. To say Cash was Tennessee royalty would be a drastic understatement. He was held aloft alongside Dolly, Elvis, Chet Atkins and the rest.
I did not engage Johnny Cash in any extended conversation. Truth be told, I was terrified. The man had an aura about him, even just sitting there. I took his order, I brought him his food, and I brought out the check. He tipped generously on a small bill. Eighteen months later, he died.