The Origins of his Music - Creating the "Outlaw Country" Genre

Cash grew up surrounded by music, and the majority of his life was inspired by the sounds he was brought up on. His mother would play guitar for the family and they would sing traditional country and gospel songs, which like Cash, originated from working-class America. Traditional country was typically conformist, and the hillbilly sound which he grew up with was of the Southern originated country, that thrived on purity and lack of artistic freedom. The rock and roll artists of Sun Records encouraged Cash's eclectic country/gospel sound to combine to produce a distinctive rockabilly sound that he eventually became famous for.

While Cash's outlaw projected image was definitively attached to his name, the Outlaw Country movement of the 60s/70s wasn't directly attached to Cash's music, instead was inspired by his refusal to conform to the standards of the country music genre. He inspired some of his friends in the industry to spur on the progressive genre hybrid that abolished the conformity that society required in the country music genre. With artists like The Beatles, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones rebelling against societies conformity, Outlaw Country came popular with songs about drinking, masculinity and drugs. While he's not always directly associated with the movement, his style of music has the same approach to what the other front-men of the movement also held.

He did become directly involved in a later decade when he joined the movements pioneering influences to create an Outlaw Country supergroup. The group, known as The Highwaymen featured Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. They released three studio albums together.

    

Prison Reform - Live at San Quentin/Folsom Prison Blues

As an advocate and representative of prison reform, Cash performed free concerts for prisoners during the height of his fame. His most famous examples are Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (1968) and Johnny Cash at San Quentin (1969). While he had his freedom, his empathy and identification with the prisoners allowed them to respect him, and the work he was doing against the dehumanisation of the inmates. In the song "San Quentin" he approaches his criticisms of the legal system by accusing politicians of overnighting the plight and human rights of prisoners.

While he hadn't served prison time himself, Cash's drug addictions, run-ins with the law and other sufferings from his life allowed him to sympathise with the prisoners. As a fallen man, worthy of redemption, he saw himself in the people that he believed were being mistreated. Merle Haggard, (who was serving time in San Quentin at the time) said that his work for prison reform and the live shows were the turning point in his own redemption. "It didn't even matter that he was free, because there was a connection there, an identification. This was somebody who was singing a song about your personal life." - Merle Haggard on Johnny Cash Live at San Quentin.

While the association of Cash and prisoners did affiliate him with crime and wrong-doing, thus sustaining his outlaw image, he still chose to use his power to help others. He is noted to have said that at one of his prison concerts, he had the opportunity to cause a riot, and at the height of his drug addictions would have correlated with his erratic behaviour, but he still just used the performances as a chance to protest.