Father of Cindy Cash.
Father of John Carter Cash.
Father of Kathy Cash.
Father of Rosanne Cash.
Father of Tara Cash
Founded his first band called "Landsberg Barbarians" while being a radio operator of the US Air Force in Landsberg am Lech, Germany.
Godfather of John Keach, the son of Jane Seymour and James Keach.
Great-uncle of Kelly Cash.
He chose songs for a running series of compilations of songs that comprised the main themes of his work. The first three compilations are titled "Love", mostly songs he wrote for June Carter Cash, "God", a series of gospels and "Murder", perhaps his favorite subject, but one whose title he encouraged people "not to go out and do". Released slightly later was "Life", mostly songs about hard work and economic struggling.
He had assumed in his younger days that he was mainly Irish and preferred to think he was at least partially Native-American. However, upon researching his ancestry, he found he was of completely Scottish heritage. As a matter of fact, he found records of direct ancestors in Scotland who shared the name "Cash" dating back to the 16th century.
He had long since kicked his drug habit when, in a bizarre series of events in the early 1980s, he was attacked by a male ostrich he had been keeping on his farm after he had threatened the huge bird. He was put onto painkillers to survive the critical injuries and quickly became addicted. He checked himself into the Betty Ford Clinic, successfully quit them and made friends with Ozzy Osbourne during his stay.
He suffered from a fear of flying and snakes.
He was addicted to speed (usually with alcohol or morphine as a chaser) through much of his 20s until 1967, when June Carter Cash and numerous members of his friends and family staged an arduous but successful intervention. It is thought that Cash had an addiction personality which he may have inherited from his genes, as many members of his family were addicts to various vices.
He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6320 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
He was friends with every U.S. President starting with Richard Nixon. He was least close with the last two, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, because of a personal distrust for both men and because of his declining health. He was probably closest with Jimmy Carter, who was actually a very close friend and distant relation of his wife, June Carter Cash. None of these friendships were about politics, as he never particularly supported any administration but was just friendly with the men.
He was given the name "J.R." because his parents Ray Cash and Carrie Cash couldn't agree on a name, only on initials. He adopted "John R. Cash" when he joined the Air Force, which did not accept initials.
He was often at odds with his producers after he had discovered with his first producer (Sam Phillips) that his voice was better suited to a stripped-down musical style. Most famously he disagreed with Jack Clement over his sound, Clement having tried to give Cash's songs a "twangy" feel and to add strings and barbershop-quartet-style singers. His successful collaboration with Rick Rubin was in part due to Rubin seeking a minimalist sound for his songs.
He was voted the 31st Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artist of all time by Rolling Stone.
He went through much of the 1970s on a sanctimonious cloud, having associated himself with evangelists, turned his shows into gospel performances where he encouraged people to accept Jesus Christ and condemned blatant sexuality and violence in culture. Cash said in the 1990s that, although his faith remained as strong as ever and many of his songs expressed this, his attitudes had changes and he found his 1970s overzealousness distasteful, having learned to respect that people should have their own beliefs.
His album "Bitter Tears" contains original songs told from the viewpoint of Native Americans.