Johnny Cash

A new Johnny Cash album, American Recordings VI: Ain't No Grave was released this week to coincide with what would have been Cash's 78th birthday. We remember the singer, songwriter and guitarist, who wrote more than 1,500 songs — and performed from the 1950s until just before his death in 2003.

We can hardly believe it ourselves, but somehow Fresh Air has just reached its 20th anniversary as a daily national show. (We were a daily local program in Philadelphia for about 12 years before that.)

The new film Walk the Line is based on the life of legendary musician Johnny Cash. We begin a two-day look at the life of the much-celebrated "Man in Black" with an interview with Cash himself. This interview originally aired on Nov. 4, 1997.

Cash spent half a century in the limelight as a country singer turned American icon. Between 1958, when he first recorded for Columbia, until 1986, when it didn't renew his contract, he recorded more than 50 singles and 60 albums for the label.

When Cash was 18, her father (you know him as Johnny) presented her with a gift: a list of 100 essential country songs to help the budding singer-songwriter connect with and better understand the music that came before her. After holding on to it for the past few decades, Roseanne Cash decided to turn that gift into The List, her new album.

The acclaimed music-video director transitioned to the big screen with One Hour Photo, a dark psychological drama starring Robin Williams. Now Romanek has tackled Never Let Me Go, the futuristic thriller based on Kazoo Ishiguro's novel.