2023 Peggy O'Brien Book Prize, Winner
Across all imaginable borders, Johnny Cash fans show the appeal of a thoroughly American performer who simultaneously inspires people worldwide. A young Norwegian shows off his Johnny Cash tattoo. A Canadian vlogger sings 鈥淚 Walk the Line鈥 to camel herders in Egypt鈥檚 White Desert. A shopkeeper in Northern Ireland plays Cash as his constant soundtrack. A Dutchwoman co颅ordinates the activities of Cash fans worldwide and is subsequently offered the privilege of sleeping in Johnny鈥檚 bedroom. And on a more global scale, millions of people watch Cash鈥檚 videos online, then express themselves through commentary and debate.
In Johnny Cash International, Hinds and Silverman examine digital and real-world fan communities and the individuals who comprise them, profiling their relationships to Cash and each other. Study颅ing Johnny Cash鈥檚 international fans and their love for the man reveals new insights about music, fandom, and the United States.
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鈥Johnny Cash International gives us a vibrant window into a fandom that is transnational and translocal, one that Silverman and Hinds beautifully analyze as a text just as they provide deeper contexts for the ongoing legacy of the Man in Black around the world. Their fascinating book shows how fans create community, whether digitally or in person, with their own exuberant creativity and meaning.鈥濃擫eigh H. Edwards, author, Johnny Cash and the Paradox of American Identity
鈥淲here is Cashland? The answer: nearly everywhere. Michael Hinds and Jonathan Silverman survey Johnny Cash fandom from YouTube comments to tattoos, from pilgrimages in the American South to a classroom in Portugal. Blending documentary, ethnography, and fieldwork, the authors discover an international 鈥榮ignifier of sanity鈥 whose iconicity transcends race, class, geography, and politics. 鈥楲ife and love go on, let the music play,鈥 the Man in Black once said. In this unique and insightful book, Hinds and Silverman discover just how far that music goes.鈥濃擩oe Bonomo, author, Field Recordings from the Inside: Essays
鈥泪苍&苍产蝉辫;Johnny Cash International, Michael Hinds and Jonathan Silverman show how Johnny Cash fans, through their creative use of technology, formation of tribute bands, globetrotting tourism, and whatever the next thing coming might be, built international cultures through the sounds and images created of Johnny Cash.鈥濃擝arbara Ching, author, Wrong鈥檚 What I Do Best: Hard Country Music and Contemporary Culture
Winner - 2023 Peggy O'Brien Book Prize
