.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
According to Johnny Cash’s brother and fellow country musician Tommy Cash, Johnny owned and played this guitar in the late 1950s, before gifting it to the twenty-year-old Tommy in 1960. Tommy subsequently traded the guitar to his friend Billy McCravy for other musical equipment. The accompanying letter from McCravy’s widow explains that Tommy and her husband Billy were both stationed in Frankfurt, Germany, when Johnny Cash was travelling through the country on tour – presumably his ten-day tour of US military bases in Germany from 2-11 December 1960 – and passed the guitar to his younger brother.
After McCravy’s death, the guitar was consigned to Gruhn Guitars, Nashville, where it was acquired by collector Steven Capener in 2004. When Capener spoke with Tommy Cash in 2005, Tommy reportedly stated that Johnny had used this guitar “quite a lot” in the late 1950s, particularly in 1958, 1959 and 1960. During this period, Johnny Cash had left Sun Records to sign with Columbia, where he released his second studio album The fabulous Johnny Cash in 1958, led by the hit single ‘Don't Take Your Guns to Town’, and followed up with his first gospel album Hymns by Johnny Cash and a fourth studio album Songs of Our Soil in 1959, while continuing to perform and tour with the Tennessee Two. The well-used guitar case notably displays the initials J R for Cash’s birth name J.R. Cash. It was only when he joined the US Air Force after high school that Cash adopted the name “John R. Cash”, as initials were not permitted as a first name on the enlistment papers. Offered with documented family provenance, this is the only known 1950s era Johnny Cash guitar to have come to auction.
After McCravy’s death, the guitar was consigned to Gruhn Guitars, Nashville, where it was acquired by collector Steven Capener in 2004. When Capener spoke with Tommy Cash in 2005, Tommy reportedly stated that Johnny had used this guitar “quite a lot” in the late 1950s, particularly in 1958, 1959 and 1960. During this period, Johnny Cash had left Sun Records to sign with Columbia, where he released his second studio album The fabulous Johnny Cash in 1958, led by the hit single ‘Don't Take Your Guns to Town’, and followed up with his first gospel album Hymns by Johnny Cash and a fourth studio album Songs of Our Soil in 1959, while continuing to perform and tour with the Tennessee Two. The well-used guitar case notably displays the initials J R for Cash’s birth name J.R. Cash. It was only when he joined the US Air Force after high school that Cash adopted the name “John R. Cash”, as initials were not permitted as a first name on the enlistment papers. Offered with documented family provenance, this is the only known 1950s era Johnny Cash guitar to have come to auction.