The Shadow
CLIFTON FORGE, VA (VR) – The Historic Masonic Theatre and Appalfolks of America Association will present “Cash Unchained,” a Virginia Opry production, at the theatre featuring James Tamelcoff III paying tribute to “The Man in Black” on Sat., Aug. 29 at 7:00 p.m.
James Tamelcoff III, a Nashville recording artist from Charlottesville, and his Cash Unchained Band that tours nationally first graced the stage at The Historic Masonic Theatre (circa 1905) on March 31, 2023. Tamelcoff III has mastered Johnny Cash’s unique sound, and his band has captured the driving beat that propelled Johnny Cash and The Tennessee Three to record hit after hit such as “I Walk the Line” that topped the Billboard Country Music Chart in 1956.
For four decades Johnny Cash, who like Elvis, was born during the Great Depression and served in Germany in the military, got his start in the recording industry at Sun Records as did Elvis. Also, like Elvis, he made his mark on the American music scene by blending the sounds of country, blues, gospel and rock ‘n’ roll that produced such hits as “Cry, Cry, Cry,” “Hey Porter,” “Ballad of a Teenage Queen,” “”Ring of Fire” (co-written with June Carter Cash, his second wife), “A Thing Called Love,” “One Piece at a Time,” “A Boy Named Sue,” “Don’t Take Your Gun to Town,” “Jackson,” “Big River” and “Folsom Prison Blues.”
Cash teamed up with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristopher to form The Highwaymen after making his debut as an actor in 1961, performing in “Five Minutes to Live,” a western. The Highwaymen became known worldwide as the talented outlaws of country music, recording five studio albums from 1985-1995, bringing financial rewards to each star.
The Highwaymen also stared in a remake of the John Ford classic, “Stage Coach,” that helped propel John Wayne to stardom. Cash portrayed the marshal in the movie that was in color unlike Ford’s production. Other roles followed in films, mostly in the western genre.
Cash battled drug addiction (amphetamines) during the 1960s, and he eventually divorced Vivian Liberto Cash, his wife from 1954-1966, and in 1968, he married June Carter, a vocalist with Cash’s band who helped him redeem himself by getting off drugs. The couple continued to tour together, but Johnny Cash’s health failed him, requiring stomach surgery in 1983 and double bypass heart surgery at the Betty Ford Clinic in 1988.
Despite his health problems, he continued to perform and record, and he won a Grammy Award in 1995 for Best Contemporary Folk Album. In 1997, his second autobiography titled Cash: The Autobiography was released. The Man in Black, his first autobiography published in 1975, gave him the name that has endured for decades.
June Carter Cash passed away in May of 2003, and Johnny Cash, who admitted that he had lost his reason for living, died at 71 in Sept. of 2003, from complications caused by diabetes. The CMA posthumously awarded “America IV,” his last album, “Album of the Year.”
Johnny Cash was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1972, and during his career, he won 17 Grammy Awards. By comparison, Elvis who died on Aug. 16, 1977, at 42, had won only three Grammy Awards despite selling more than 500 million records worldwide.
Tickets to “Cash Unchained” may be purchased at the box office at 510 Main Street in Clifton Forge, by calling The Historic Masonic Theatre at (540) 862-5655 or by visiting www.historicmasonictheatre.com
Ticket prices range from $30 to $40 depending upon seating arrangements in the air-conditioned theatre that seats 540, one built by the Masonic Lodge 166 of Low Moor (circa 1905). Owned by the Town of Clifton Forge and leased by the Masonic Theatre Preservation Foundation, the theatre was completely restored in 2016, at the cost of $6.9 million.
