Do you consider Johnny Cash one of your role models?

Johnny Cash is certainly an inspiration in the way he stayed true to himself and did not follow short-lived musical trends. I’m particularly impressed by the way he came back late in his career with an open-mindedness for new songs and a new approach to his music. I also love the way he truly appreciated and respected songs. He focused on songs and performance as the main musical ingredients.

Have you covered Johnny Cash's songs? If so, why? What's special about his songs?

In 2003 I recorded my first album in Nashville/Tennessee, „Hobo Dream“. On my last day in town, we were going to have a little going away party. However, that was the day that Johnny Cash died, September 12. So I sat together with all these fantastic musicians listening to Johnny Cash’s music and talking about what he meant to us.

Coming back to Germany, I decided I wanted to put on a tribute concert to Johnny Cash. I called up a bunch of musical friends and everyone agreed to contribute and sing some of his songs. We had so much fun that night playing Johnny Cash’s songs that we turned this into a band that we kept going for about two years, Los Solitary Men. So I have played a whole bunch of his songs many times.
Even in my concerts with original material, rarely a night goes by without me playing a Cash song.
What they have in common is their sincerity and artistic integrity. Johnny’s best songs are very real and very hard-hitting. They’re not necessarily pretty singalong pop songs. They’re way more substantial than your average chart material. 

What is special about his music - and about yours? Do you see similarities between yourself and Cash?

I certainly also try to write honest, unadorned, real songs. And like Johnny Cash I do not shy away from heavy topics.
One thing that makes Johnny’s recordings special is of course his majestic voice – and the way he used it. You really believe what he sings and that’s what makes you care about his songs, even songs he didn’t write himself.

When and how did you become a fan of Johnny Cash's?

I really became a fan of his in the 90ies by listening to the American Recordings albums. I was awestruck by the great dignity he brought to his music, the topics he tackled and his great musical integrity. Of course I went back and researched his life and his earlier material and there’s overwhelming stuff to be found. His Sun Records material is just fantastic.  

Has he inspired you? If so, how? Are there any particular songs?

I’ve written the odd song here & there that I thought would be a good one for Johnny Cash to sing. There’s a song on my first record called „Wild Coyote“ that started with me goofing around with a typical Johnny Cash groove and lyric – and that evolved into a fun song.
Mainly, though, his musical and personal integrity remain to be an inspiration.  

How did Cash's music influence today's music?

I think Cash’s late resurgence made people see that an older artist may still be able to make fantastic, urgent, and very timely music. He demonstrated that someone with huge success in his younger years could still have his best work ahead of him. Maybe that also inspired Bob Dylan to deliver some fantastic work after years of releasing less focused material.

I also think that Cash taught audiences and other musicians alike that very dark material could be very fascinating. He showed that a true artist is able to deal with his inner demons and draw mesmerizing material from it.
Johnny’s Sun Records material was significantly darker than that of his peers. No one else could’ve written „I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die“ and no one else could’ve turned it into a hit.
And in his later years, he still came up with this very heavy stuff: „First time I shot her, I shot her in the side. Hard to watch her suffer but with the second shot she died“ (from „Delia’s Gone“). Lines like that resonate and stay with the listener for a very long time.
He was unafraid to go to those dark places and also unafraid to show his own vulnerabilty – just think of the video to „Hurt“.

One last thing that’s very fascinating about Cash is his support of the underdog. He played prisons and communicated to the inmates eye-to-eye. He didn’t bullshit them, he didn’t bullshit his audience.