A still of June Carter Cash featured in June, streaming on Paramount+.Urve Kuusik/Courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment/Paramount+/Supplied
If one learns nothing else from the new documentary on country music legend June Carter Cash, know that she, not her future husband Johnny Cash, wrote the 1963 single Ring of Fire. It was one of his biggest hits. And if she smoked with romantic desire, she burned in other ways too.
“She used to say she was eaten up by ambition,” says daughter Carlene Carter. “She wanted to do everything.”
Her ambition (and the career-stunting sacrifices only a woman would be expected to make) are explored in June, directed by Kristen Vaurio. The comprehensive biodoc – she was much more than Mrs. Johnny Cash – premieres on Paramount+ on Jan. 16.
From a young age, she was a member of the Carter Family, the Virginia-based root of modern country music. Not a gifted singer, she compensated with an electric charisma and a comedic flair. “Minnie Pearl told me June was one of the most talented comedians on the Grand Ole Opry ever,” her daughter says.
Reese Witherspoon portrayed Carter Cash in James Mangold’s Walk the Line, a 2005 biographical drama that was based, it should be noted, on a pair of Johnny Cash autobiographies. Interviewed in June, Witherspoon admits that Walk the Line was a “fairy tale.” Vaurio’s documentary offers a more realistic take on the marriage that was Cash’s second and Carter Cash’s third.
“I think to present their relationship as magical would do a disservice to them, and a disservice to anyone who tries to live up to that, in a way,” Vaurio says. “And while I do think there was something magical to their bond, it was hard. I mean, marriage is just hard.”
Her first marriage (to Carl Smith, a country star with matinee idol looks) lasted four years and produced one child, Carlene, “My father wanted June to be a mom,” she says. “He wanted to have a ranch life.”
The biodoc premieres on Paramount+ on Jan. 16.Don Hunstein/Sony Music Entertainment/Supplied
Her divorce in 1956 sent her into a tailspin and existential crisis. With her young daughter in tow, she went to New York to study acting with Sanford Meisner. On weekends, she flew home to Nashville to perform at the Opry. At the time, her career was guided by Elvis Presley’s infamous manager Colonel Tom Parker. She and Presley became friends – at the very least.
“I don’t know exactly what happened,” Carter says, on whether her mother ever had a romantic relationship with Presley. “I could never get it out of her.”
By the early 1960s, she had a second husband (Rip Nix) and a second daughter. Her New York acting dreams dashed with the birth of a new child, she performed with the Carter Family on tours headlined by Cash. The lyrics to Ring of Fire were inspired by her feelings for the I Walk the Line singer, also married at the time.
In 1967, she divorced for a second time, and later admitted to being “very ashamed” about it. Interviewed for the film, singer Emmylou Harris recalled the social mores of the day: “She was following her heart, having the courage, when back then I’m sure people thought she was a whore, you know.”
In 1968, Cash proposed to her on stage, in London, Ont. Over the years, she set her own career ambitions aside, while supporting a husband who had self-destructive tendencies. Even before they were married, she would flush his pills down the toilet.
“I really think my mom thought he was going to die, and he probably was,” Carter says. “He told me at one point that he used to sit in front of a mirror and go, ‘Let’s kill Cash today’ to himself. That was heartbreaking for me to hear that from him.”
In concert, the couple would perform If I Were a Carpenter, with June singing lines about having his baby – which happened – and following behind him. The duo was often introduced as Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Cash.
In concert, Carter Cash would sing lines about having Johnny Cash's baby.JT Phillips/Courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment/Paramount+/Supplied
Cash’s career dipped in the early 1980s and he relapsed into addiction. His fortunes turned around with the formation of the Highwaymen with fellow so-called “outlaw country” icons Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. The success and star power of the foursome left little room on stage for Carter Cash.
“I don’t think Johnny wanted to outshine her,” Vaurio says. “He was her biggest fan.”
The documentary does cover her late career redemption: a Grammy Award for her solo effort from 1999, Press On. The album includes I Used to Be Somebody, a wistful look back on her short halcyon stint in New York. She namechecks Elvis, James Dean, Tennessee Williams and Elia Kazan, while pining for the days when she was on her own professionally – no sharing stages with family or husbands.
“I used to be somebody,” she sings. “I‘d like to be somebody again.”
Carter Cash was brought up in a family of showbiz people who did not separate music and work and home life. As an adult, she supported a superstar’s ego, raised a family of her own and lived a fascinating life with a legend, but made compromises at the expense of her own career.
“That’s the deal she made with herself,” says Vaurio. “And that was her struggle.”
From a young age, June was a member of the Carter Family, the Virginia-based root of modern country music.Don Hunstein/Sony Music Entertainment/Paramount+/Supplied
Brad Wheeler