‘I wear black for the poor and beaten down’: The Christian faith of Johnny Cash

20 years on from the death of Country superstar Johnny Cash, Derek Walker takes a look at the complicated life, faith and struggles of the ‘Man in Black’

For many years, Johnny Cash was best known for songs like ‘A boy named Sue’ and ‘Ring of fire’. But now, his 2002 cover of Nine Inch Nail’s ‘Hurt’ is right up there, and possibly one of the most iconic tracks of his career.

‘Hurt’ was written about heroin addiction, but when Cash sang it – frail, free of polish and with his voice as craggy as his ageing face – he made it his own. His authorised biographer, Steve Turner, called it a “masterful… melancholy meditation upon his own mortality”.