He's one of the world's most legendary musicians, having been immortalized in both song and on screen—Joaquin Phoenix famously played the country crooner in the 2005 biopic Walk the Line—but a new-to-TV documentary manages to reveal the man behind "The Man in Black," Johnny Cash.
I Am Johnny Cash—a non-fiction film centered on the American singer-songwriter behind such iconic tunes as "Folsom Prison Blues", "I Walk the Line", "Ring of Fire", "Get Rhythm", "Man in Black" and "Jackson" (the latter sung with his future wife June Carter)—will air on The CW on Saturday, May 4 from 8pm to 10pm ET.
The documentary film is readily available for anyone with a traditional pay-TV subscription or TV antenna that receives local station signals, as well as live TV streaming subscribers to Fubo, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV.
Directed by Derik Murray and Jordan Tappis, the 82-minute doc traces Cash's decades-spanning career from the unique perspective of his greatest songs, from his beginnings in gospel music in his native Arkansas, to his rise through the burgeoning rockabilly scene of Memphis, Tennessee, to worldwide country-music stardom as "The Man in Black." (Cash's sheer crossover appeal garnered him much-deserved inclusion into not only the Country Music Hall of Fame but also the Rock and Roll and Gospel Music Halls of Fame.)
Celebrating the larger-than-life entertainer and activist, the cinematic tribute features original interviews with those that knew Cash best, including his children John Carter and Rosanne Cash, as well as a broad array of fellow music superstars and frequent collaborators, such as Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crowe and Kris Kristofferson.
The film is yet another installment in the "I Am" documentary series, a series of celebrity biography docs that were commissioned for the Paramount Network and now are airing on The CW. Similar star-focused titles including I Am Heath Ledger, I Am Burt Reynolds, I Am Paul Walker and I Am Patrick Swayze.
If you want to keep the Johnny Cash theme going throughout the weekend, The CW will also be airing the biographical drama Walk the Line, starring Phoenix and with an Oscar-winning turn by Reese Witherspoon as June Carter Cash, on Sunday, May 5 from 8pm to 11pm ET.
