The story of Johnny and June is the stuff of legends.
It’s one of, if not the, most iconic love stories in all of music- regardless of genre. The word icon still doesn’t seem sufficient enough to describe what Johnny Cash meant to country music, but June Carter Cash had quite a career of her own.
She comes from the Carter family, who were the pioneers of the genre and some of the first country music stars ever. Surprisingly, though, June only recorded three of her own studio albums during her long, successful career.
She notably wrote her husband’s incredibly famous song “Ring of Fire” alongside Merle Kilgore, and of course it’s one of the most legendary and recognizable country tracks of all time.
There’s a video of Johnny introducing June when they were quite young (probably sometime in 1966 or 1967) to do a performance of “Foggy Mountain Top,” and it might be the most precious thing you’ll see all day
The performance starts by Johnny insisting June recite one of her poems, to which she begrudgingly agrees. He then insists he hold her hands while she does it and makes some very funny, suggestive jokes comparing himself to a French actor, to which June hilariously replies:
“If you’re gonna be like him I’ll hold your hands, that way I’ll know just exactly where they’re at!”
She doesn’t get very far into it before Johnny interrupts her with another joke and runs off stage (which was probably a smart move) and finally allows June to sing her song, “Foggy Mountain Top.”
It’s an old Carter family song from 1928, and she notes she likes singing those more than others because she knows them the best.
And of course, the two wound up married shortly thereafter in 1968.