cover image Cash: An American Man

Cash: An American Man

Bill Miller. Pocket Books, $30 (176pp) ISBN 978-0-7434-9629-2

In one of many books coming out this year commemorating the ""Man in Black,"" Miller, a longtime friend of Cash, offers this slim coffee-table-size scrapbook of photos and memorabilia of the legendary country singer. ""He was my hero, my mentor, the godfather of my youngest son,"" Miller begins his introductory essay, which tells how he came to know Cash. Candid pictures are interspersed with photos of concert tickets, Cash's Air Force uniform, album jackets, stills from live performances, and several with Miller throughout the years. He includes Cash's handwritten lyric sheets, such as ""Folsom Prison Blues"" (over which Cash has outlined his hand), but items that stand out are a transcript of his last interview before he died (with Kurt Loder) and the poem he wrote longhand after June Carter Cash's funeral.