Carter Cash’s Tender Tribute to Love, Family

For nearly 90 minutes Thursday at the Troubadour, June Carter Cash put on a classy performance that saluted both her family’s legacy in country music and her own talents as a singer and, especially, songwriter.

Backed by a four-piece acoustic band that included her son John Carter Cash on guitar, Carter Cash--in a rare solo appearance--showed poise and grace as she delivered affectionate versions of Carter Family tunes (including “Diamonds in the Rough” and “Wildwood Flower”) as well as several of her own songs.

At its heart, however, the evening focused in story and song on her 31-year marriage to country legend Johnny Cash.

Early on, she sang “Ring of Fire,” which she wrote with Merle Kilgore in the early ‘60s to describe her fear of falling in love with the once notorious Cash. Unlike Cash’s trumpet-driven hit version, this one was in the acoustic style of the Carter Family itself.

In a highlight, Carter Cash then sang “I Used to Be Somebody,” a striking tale of her own early career ambitions and accomplishments--a career she largely set aside to devote her energy to Cash and their family.

The show’s most dramatic moment came when Cash, who is suffering from a rare nerve disorder, joined his wife on stage for a duet on “The Far Side Banks of Jordan,” a gospel-tinged statement of eternal love, and “Jackson,” the raucous tune that was a Cash concert staple for years.

Throughout, Carter Cash, whose new “Press On” album on Small Hairy Dog Records contains most of these songs, demonstrated the passion and stage flair that suggested she did sacrifice a promising career for love.

Yet she made it clear that she would make that same decision again. The concert wasn’t merely a celebration of true love, but a moving testimony to it.