Johnny Cash Documentary Screened at Kingsland

KINGSLAND - While most popular culture has focused on the rebellious spirit of American music icon and Kingsland native Johnny Cash, filmmaker/director Ben Smallbone was more interested in another part of his life that, for the most part, has been untold - his faith. Smallbone, along with producer Andrea Royer, hosted a screening of their new film "Johnny Cash - The Redemption of an American Icon" to a group of about 70 people this past Saturday inside the auditorium of Kingsland School. The faith-based film is based on the 2019 book with the same name written by Greg Laurie, senior pastor of Harvest Church in California and Hawaii. It was released at theaters nationwide earlier this week. The site of Saturday's screening is about three-and-a-half miles from where Cash was born in the Cross Roads community north of Kingsland on Feb. 26, 1932. Prior to the showing of the film, an audio from Johnny Cash's daughter, Rosanne Cash, was played to the audience in which she told the story of her Cash and Rivers families' history in Cleveland County dating back to the mid-1800's. There was also an audio recording of Johnny Cash telling the story of where he was born at the Cross Roads community, and of his early life growing up next to the railroad tracks in the county. While the 2005 movie "I Walk the Line" portrayed Cash's rise to fame and his relationship with fellow country music star and wife-to-be June Carter, the film also eluded to his abuse of amphetamine and barbiturates that led to a low point in his life. "I Walk the Line" basically ended with Cash getting his life back on track. Smallbone said the story portrayed in "I Walk the Line" is basically the story that people get with just about anything connected to Cash. "In Nashville, Tennessee, you can't skip the guy. He's everywhere - there's museums, there's billboards, there's restaurants with food items named after Johnny Cash," Smallbone s...