Craig Wilkins, Country Traditionalist, Concert Bookings

Those that know me best know how much Johnny Cash means and meant to me. I can not express what a deep void I feel in his passing on Sept. 12, 2003. Those that have heard my Christian testimony have heard me say how Mr. Cash influenced my relationship with Jesus Christ.

I had the blessing of personally meeting Johnny Cash backstage twice, once in 1975 and again in the early nineties. I saw him perform for the first time on television in 1964. I was eight. I also remember him being the first star I heard on the radio. I don't remember the year but I was very young.

In 1969 my mother took me to see him in Rochester, NY. That was a big year for Johnny Cash. I was thirteen. During that show I made up my mind I wanted to be an entertainer. Yes I did try emulating him. I wore black; I learned his songs and started collecting Johnny Cash recordings and memorabilia.

The Johnny Cash show that year also included June Carter Cash, Mother Mabel Carter, the Carter sisters Helen and Anita, Carl Perkins, Tommy Cash, Glen Shirley, the Tennessee Three, Bob Wooten, W.S. Holland and Marshall Grant. I saw Johnny Cash at least another eighteen times in concert. At the end of one of these concerts in Buffalo I gave him the following poem titled J.C. that I wrote for him. I hope you enjoy it and that you have the chance to go back and listen to the words of his songs. I do often.. Craig Wilkins

J.C.

I can remember back into the darkness of my early childhood, listening to the car radio while sitting in the big back car seat rolling down a quiet country road. The time finally passed and a young man of twelve began asking questions about all things concerning life. A lot of my answers came from recordings pressed onto a little black disc. From childhood on there was always one voice that meant more than other's to me for he said it all in a way that I could understand. He talked about the fourth man and turning water into wine. Without my stereo ministry I may have never seen the light. Now I'm not saying he did it all, for someone up above surely wanted it this way, but without Johnny Cash's voice on those old recordings I may have never come to know Jesus Christ. Thank you J.C. for showing me the way back to J.C.