An iconic figure in black occupies a huge space in the history of American country music – Johnny Cash. On the outside, he seems to fall in the classic pattern of old-school American life - growing up as the son of a deeply-religious pastor, serving in the military, marrying his sweetheart, becoming a star, self-destructing on drugs and then finding salvation besides worldwide fame. However at the same time his songs tell of a perpetual struggle with conscience and his living in a constant state of remorse. The hugely popular “I Walk the Line” is one of his numbers which embody Cash’s strife to conform to the ideals of society, the temptations which beseech him and his efforts to overcome them.

Johnny Cash is famous for his “outlaw image” which went to a great length in providing some of his songs like “Folsom Prison” with a cult status. One of the sources of his outlaw image was the series of prison concerts he gave, beginning with the one in Huntsville Texas in 1956. However the most famous of such concerts was the one he gave at the request of a convicted killer at Folsom Prison in 1966. Two years later Cash returned at the prison to record an album which would become an instant classic.

Few people know however that along with being a prolific recording artist, Johnny Cash was also the writer of a best-selling 1986 novel, Man in White. The novel is a fictional account of the life of St. Paul with whom Cash identified himself in many aspects.