The most powerful country songs are those written from the heart. In the words of Harlan Howard, it is about “three chords and the truth”. Actor Charlene Boyd has applied the same principle to her bold and exposing one-woman play.
It is less a show about June Carter Cash than a show about making a show about the feted singer. Spiked with personal and political rage, it is a story of Boyd finding common voice with the woman who co-wrote Ring of Fire only to be eclipsed in fame by her sometime husband Johnny Cash and repeatedly sidelined by a sexist industry.
June Carter Cash: The Woman, Her Music and Me begins like a tribute act as Boyd prowls the cabaret tables with big hair, long dress and Appalachian accent. But this is a play started in lockdown when Boyd was newly divorced and feeling a mother’s guilt, and it is not long before the actor looks behind the singer’s cornball comedy act at the Grand Ole Opry to find a woman of resilience and creativity. [READ MORE]