15 Years Ago Today, We Said Goodbye to Johnny Cash’s Right-Hand Man and Dear Friend Who Helped Shape His Signature Sound
Marshall Grant, bassist and road manager for Johnny Cash, died on 7 August 2011 aged 83. As a founding member of the Tennessee Two alongside Luther Perkins, he helped create Cash’s distinctive ‘boom-chicka-boom’ sound and remained a major figure in the singer’s career and personal life despite periods of conflict.
Grant met Cash in Memphis in 1954 and taught himself bass as the group developed, recording early Sun Records hits including ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ and ‘I Walk the Line’. Cash dismissed him in 1980 amid disputes linked to the singer’s drug addiction; Grant later joined a retirement-fund lawsuit, but the pair settled and reconciled, with Grant making a final on-stage appearance with Cash in 1999.
- Marshall Grant helped define Johnny Cash’s early sound.
- He worked with Cash from 1954 to 1980.
- Their friendship survived dismissal, litigation and reconciliation.