Twenty years ago today (July 5), the great country legend Johnny Cash would give his final performance. Taking place at the Carter Family Fold, a concert hall in Hiltons, Virginia, Cash would play a 30-minute set full of his career’s greatest hits.
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“Hello, I’m Johnny Cash,” he said in his iconic baritone before kicking off his performance with “Folsom Prison Blues.” Seated, he strummed along to the classic tune, singing the words with his aged, but ever-moving croon.
Performances of “I Walk the Line” and “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” followed. “Ring of Fire” came next, but not before the artist said a few words in memory of his wife June Carter, who had passed only a few months earlier.
“The spirit of June Carter overshadows me tonight with the love she had for me and the love I have for her,” he told the crowd. “We connect somewhere between here and heaven. She came down for a short visit, I guess, from heaven, to visit with me tonight, to give me courage and inspiration, like she always has. … I thank God for June Carter. I love her with all my heart. I would like to do a song that she wrote that she was extremely proud of.”
The usually racing “Ring of Fire” was tinged in sorrow, strummed softly and sung sweetly.
“Angel Band” soon followed, a song Cash explained had been sung at his late wife’s funeral service by Emmylou Harris. “Big River” and “Understand Your Man” were performed after as Cash’s last two songs.
The show came to a close with a standing ovation and a final few notes of “I Walk the Line” as Cash was helped off of the stage. The icon would pass away a few months later on Sept. 12, 2003. He was 71.
(Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
