(PCM) Johnny Cash (1932-2003) is best remembered internationally as an early rock and country music artist, but his influence just about everywhere – from rock and folk to blues and gospel. The Johnny Cash Forever® stamp is being issued this year as part of the exciting new Music Icons stamp series. His last music video, the haunting “Hurt,” originally performed by Nine Inch Nails, reportedly caused the songwriter Trent Reznor say “it isn’t mine anymore.”
The limited-edition “Forever” postage, part of the Postal Service’s Music Icon series, will go on sale starting June 5 and feature several images of Cash, including this promotional shot for the 1963 release of Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash.
Cash died on Sept. 12, 2003 at the age of 71.
The Johnny Cash Museum opened in downtown Nashville on May 30, 2013, and work is also underway to save the singer’s childhood home in Dyess, Ark. The museum http://johnnycashmuseum.net/ (199 Third Avenue South, Nashville, TN) was founded by Shannon and Bill Miller who told The Tennessean “Elvis has Graceland, but there was really nothing left anymore for us. We really needed to bring it back to Tennessee. We needed to have something for all of the fans. We’re just really happy to be able to tell the fans there’s a place to come celebrate Johnny Cash and be a part of all of the festivities.”
Resembling the appearance of a 45 rpm record sleeve, the square stamp features a photograph taken by Frank Bez during the photo session for Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash (1963). In the photo, Cash stares out at the viewer through a veil of shadow, his brooding expression fitting for an artist also known as “the Man in Black.” He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
Greg Breeding served as art director and designer for the stamp.