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Interview with Reggie Young - Excerpt

What are your earliest memories of Johnny Cash.

My earliest memories of Johnny Cash, I guess, would be a radio program on KWEM in Memphis, Tennessee, either a fifteen or thirty minute live radio program with him and Marshall and Luther Perkins. I think Marshall and Luther worked in an auto shop and they just had a record out and were just getting started. One thing I remember when I was with Eddie Bond, was touring with John in 1956 on that package tour I was telling you about. I remember John Cash used to smoke the strongest smelling cigarettes you ever smelt in your life. They were made in New Orleans I think and he smoked those things, chain smoked ‘em. I don’t see how he stood it, but that’s one of my early memories of him. Also on those shows, Cash was the headliner, man they wouldn’t let him get off that stage, he just brought the house down every night we played. He was a great, great entertainer and still is. I admired him from the word go. He is truly, truly a natural talent.

John L. Smith’s books on Cash’s recordings has you listed as working with Cash in 1974. This was during sessions for the album John R. Cash. I believe the tracks and vocals for this album were recorded separately in Los Angeles and Nashville. Can you tell us anymore about these sessions.

In a word, no. I don’t even remember doing this. At this time I was living in Nashville and doing three or four sessions a day. A session being three hours long with an hour in between. If I heard the album I could tell you the tracks I played on, I’d recognise my playing.

You had worked with Waylon Jennings and in 1984 you were back with Chips Moman working with John and Waylon on the Heroes album. How did this project come about.

I honestly don’t know how that came about.

In 1984 Cash invited Waylon, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson to appear on his Christmas Special filmed in Switzerland. Were you involved in this project.

No I wasn’t.

This special led to all four artists working together under the name The Highwaymen and recording three successful albums. You appeared on all three. What was it like working with them.

It was one of the highlights of my career. All of them are stars and it was amazing to be part of that. I was honored to get to participate in the recording of those albums and going out touring with them. All four of them were on stage at the same time and even in the recording studio there was four egos but they got along. I remember Kristofferson made a statement about Johnny Cash in an interview, he described him as “the John Wayne of their group.” I guess if there was a leader it would have been John. The other three guys respected John, as he did them too. It was a total hoot working with them.

When they decided to tour in 1990 they wanted to use the same band that had worked on the album. With all your session work it must have been a difficult choice whether to stay in the studio or go out on the road. What made you decide to tour with them.

Chips Moman actually asked if I would do that and I said are you gonna go and he said “yeah.” The band was going to be the old Memphis rhythm section that I had worked with. That really had a lot to do with it. I hadn’t toured since Bill Black and that was back in the sixties. I had been in the studio world and that’s where I made my money. I could make more in the studio than out on the road. They offered me and the rest of the guys quite a bit to do this. We went out in 1990 and toured for thirty days, I didn’t know if I would like it or not, but I did. I found out there was life outside of the studio. After we did the first tour and I was home for a couple of weeks I got itchy feet, I wanted to do it some more, I really enjoyed doing that. As it worked out we did, we’d do a tour in the fall and in the spring. We went to Australia, New Zealand, all over Europe, Singapore, Bangkok Hong Kong and Hawaii. Travelling with them was great. I remember I checked into my room and I had a four room suite and I thought I was in Willie’s or John’s room so I called down to the tour manager and said I think you guys got me in the wrong room and found out everybody had four room suites. We stayed in the best hotels, were paid great and it was incredible doing the Highwaymen tours. We did it for five years. I guess I was concerned a little after the first tour. I lost money by cancelling studio projects I was involved in. I had to cancel George Strait and a couple of other artists to go out and do that first tour. It was so different for me, it was like going to a family reunion. I kinda shuffled that around and it wasn’t like we were constantly on the road. The rest of the time I was back in the studio. I was sorry that ended and I still miss it. A few years ago Waylon called me and wanted to know if I would go out and play with him, he was trying to put together a dream band. We went out two or three times a month and it was the same thing, old friends in the band. I got to do that for about three years. I really enjoyed working with Waylon, he was a dear friend and it was a big loss when he passed away.

You played on all the Highwaymen tours including Europe in 1992. Did you enjoy the tours.

Yeah I did. I was the envy of my fellow musicians here in Nashville. They would say if so and so quits would you recommend me ’cause everybody new the Highwaymen tour was the tour to get on. It couldn’t have been any better. I’ve heard horror stories about road musicians out touring but we felt like we were artists. We flew everywhere, we stayed in the best hotels and we ate the best food and we had the best time anyone could ever imagine.

You were also on the Memphis Reunion album Class Of ‘55 with Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison. Some of the tracks were recorded at American Sound. What was it like going back there.

They say you can never go home, that’s probably true. It was so different going back into American Studio after living in that place for about seven years, we were down there just about every day. I’d go in and wouldn’t come out for two or three days, just in there playing music. To go back in that place after being away from it for a few years, maybe I was expecting the same thing but by this time they had turned it into a museum, a kinda cheesy museum at best, it wasn’t a working studio like it had been, it had died. It was kinda bitter-sweet. It was fun to go in but it was kinda sad it wasn’t doing what it used to do. I enjoyed those few days we were there. It was working again then, ‘cause we had all those people in and we were playing music in that old room. It was a hoot but kinda sad too. And now they tore the place down, I don’t think it’s even a parking lot it’s just an empty place on the corner of Thomas and Chelsea. Now that’s sad. I don’t know why the city didn’t try to keep that. With all the music history that went on on that corner, all the music that was recorded there that was heard worldwide you could drive by there now and never know anything like that ever existed on that spot. Another sad thing, this is a mark against the city of Memphis, Stax Records, same thing over there with all the artists they had and Stax is the same thing, torn down just a parking lot, they got a historical marker that marks the spot where it was. I wonder why the city didn’t try to keep that and preserve American and Stax, a big chunk of music history that was done at those places and they don’t even exist anymore, the buildings have even gone. That’s sad.

Everybody that was important in Memphis music including Sam Phillips and Jack Clement appeared on the albums closing track Big Train From Memphis. Was that Chips idea.

I don’t know whose idea that was. It might have evolved while we were just standing around. I notice the name Jack Clement. Jack wrote a big hit for John and he used to work at Sun Studio as an engineer. I knew Jack when I was in High School, we used to play around Memphis all different places, hospitals and free shows for the elderly. I was loving every minute of it playing my guitar. Jack Clement and I go way back.

Do you have any particular memories of working with John.

Like I said I respect John Cash, he’s an icon in this business and I’m glad to have known him all these years. There’s a funny thing that happened to me while we were doing the Highwaymen tours. We hadn’t done the show for quite a while and we were playing in Central Park, New York. The four guys were on stage all the time during the two hour show we did and the way Johnny Cash was introduced, he would step up to the microphone and say “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash,” which triggered my brain to play the intro to Folsom Prison Blues. To me, in my mind, the intro to Folsom Prison was two parts - John Cash saying “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash” and then I’d play the intro. We hadn’t done the show in a while and it came time for Folsom Prison and John walked up to the microphone and I’m standing there all keyed up and he didn’t say anything. He didn’t say “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash,” and I was waiting for it so I could play the rest of the intro. He finally turned and looked at me and nodded to go ahead and play. I couldn’t think what to play without his intro and I knew it was on the low strings so I started playing something hoping that Gene, the drummer, would pick up the tempo. We got through it and Waylon walked over after it started and said “Hoss, what was that you were playing!” He was laughing, he was about to fall down on the stage he was laughing so hard. John Cash is a true trooper. I remember seeing him on stage when he was in so much pain from this tooth following some dental work that went wacky on him. We had been touring pretty heavy and I was thinking how tired I was and anyway to see him when he was on stage and when he turned around and looked at the band you could just see the pain in his face. I thought man if he can stand up there and do this for two hours, and I know he’s hurting, I have no complaints whatsoever. He’s a true trooper. It’s been a trip just knowing John Cash and I’m so proud that I can say I know Johnny Cash.