Johnny Cash's "One Piece At A Time" Quiz

Answer: Kentucky

"Well, I left Kentucky back in '49
An' went to Detroit workin' on a 'sembly line
The first year they had me puttin' wheels on Cadillacs"

Upon his 1950 high school graduation, Cash left his home state of Arkansas, landing work in Pontiac, Michigan at an automotive assembly plant; soon after enlisting in the U.S. Air Force where he formed his first musical band in Landsberg, Germany.

Answer: lunchbox

"One day I devised myself a plan
That should be the envy of most any man
I'd sneak it out of there in a lunchbox in my hand"

Written by Wayne Kemp, this four-minute novelty song released March 1976, was Cash's final number one hit on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart.

Hearing about an airman from Oklahoma building a helicopter from stolen parts collected on base, gave Kemp the idea using a Cadillac to be put together "One Piece At A Time".

Answer: a hundred grand

Aware he owned many Cadillacs, Cash's producers approached Bruce Fitzpatrick of Abernathy Auto Parts/Hilltop Auto Salvage in Nashville, to construct a vehicle to promote the song bound for success. Using the song as a model, Fitzpatrick was able to piece together the vehicle, having every model Caddy the song mentions.

Answer: gears

"So the very next day when I punched in
With my big lunchbox and with help from my friends
I left that day with a lunchbox full of gears"

One month after Cash's July 1954 military discharge, he married his first wife, settling in Memphis trying to land a break in the music business.

Within a year from signing with Sun Records, Cash's fourth Billboard single and career song written by Cash, "I Walk The Line", placed at number one then remained on the charts for an impressive forty-three weeks, selling over two million copies.

Answer: mobile home

Verse continued:

"The little things I could get in my big lunchbox
Like nuts, an' bolts, and all four shocks
But the big stuff we snuck out in my buddy's mobile home

Drugs, alcohol, constant touring and close relationship to June Carter, destroyed the twelve-year marriage to Vivian Liberto which produced four daughters, including singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash.

Cash proposed to Carter during a live performance and were married March of 1968; with help from her and her family, Cash overcame his addictions. However, Cash relapsed at least three separate times, entering rehabilitation clinics for treatment.

Cash died September 2003 (age 71), four months after June Carter's passing (age 73).

Answer: holes

Cash toured and recorded with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson, known as the Highwaymen, active 1985-1995, releasing three albums, including the number one hit single, "Highwayman", which was voted 1985s Single of the Year by the Academy of Country Music.

Answer: three

Premiering June 1969, running through March 1971, taped at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Cash used the stage of "The Johnny Cash Show" to raise public awareness on social issues such as the Vietnam War conflict, prison reform and the struggles Native Americans endured.

Answer: take me for a spin

Cash preferred to wear black on-stage as well as off.

Cash has stated in an interview with Larry King, "I've never done a concert in anything but black. I wear black because I'm comfortable in it. But then in the summertime when it's hot, I'm comfortable in light blue. You walk into my clothes closet, it's dark in there."

Wearing black also represented Cash's rebellion and empathy towards those victimized by the many social and political issues Cash opposed.

Answer: sixty

Verse completed:

"But up there at the court house they didn't laugh
'Cause to type it up it took the whole staff
and when they got through the title weighed sixty pounds"

Cash is the recipient of over fifteen Grammy awards, nine Country Music Association awards plus numerous other music industry awards.

Cash has been inducted into the following Halls of Fame: Country Music HoF, Rock & Roll HoF, Rockabilly HoF, Gospel Music HoF, Nashville Songwriter's HoF and the Songwriter's HoF.

You can find Johnny's star at 6320 Hollywood Boulevard (Walk of Fame), which he received March of 1976.

Answer: Red Ryder

"Ugh! Yow, RED RYDER
This is the COTTON MOUTH
In the PSYCHO-BILLY CADILLAC, Come on!"

First recorded in this song's lyrics, the term psychobilly evolved as a form of rock music, combining rockabilly and punk rock; also defined as loud and frantic rockabilly music.

In 1954, Cash made his debut performance at the Grand Ole Opry but was never inducted as a member.