Johnny Cash: The Official Concert Experience at Kauffman Center, Kansas City MO (2024-02-10)

“Hello, I’m Johnny Cash” –

That very distinctive baritone greeting is one we’re all very familiar with, but sadly one we won’t hear live from the legendary Man in Black, who passed away in 2003.

His songs have continued to kindle his memory and now some twenty years later, the legend lives on in Johnny Cash: The Official Concert Experience, which is out on an extensive nationwide tour and made a weekend stop in downtown Kansas City at the Kauffman Center.

The more-than-a-concert utilizes archival footage from the Johnny Cash Show which aired on ABC from 1969-1971 with any instrumental backing removed from the vintage clips, and a live band on stage providing the accompanying music live. While firmly planted in Cash’s heyday of the 60s and ‘70s, it’s also a musical journey that features narrated stories and content, via video from John Carter Cash, Johnny and June’s only son.

In addition to the famous and not as known songs, anecdotes and some commentary by Cash highlight some of the causes he championed as the quintessential working man for the downtrodden. On stage, the six-piece band was headed by co-vocalists/guitarists Jack Romano and Eric Hofmanis, with Brittany Grove providing keys and the June Carter-style vocals, and a formidable lead guitarist in Debbie Horton, who looks like your short, unassuming lunch lady aunt, but who actually played with Cash once.

The performance was in two sets, with fourteen songs from the eras featured in each, on a stage with backdrop that mirrored the mood and set décor of Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium circa 1970 (and the then-home of the Grand Ole Opry), where the 58-episode TV series was originally shot. We even see a nine-month-old John Carter Cash, who made his TV debut on the stage and show, before he could even walk or talk.

Because of the choice of archival footage, most of the setlist stays before 1971, but a second set highlight was “(When) The Man Comes Around,” a 2002 selection from Cash’s fabled American Recordings series, done in his later years with producer Rick Rubin, and one of the last Cash would write and release during his lifetime.

Lead singer Hofmanis is a veteran Cash musical tribute artist and was handpicked by Carter Cash to fill his late father’s shoes, so comes knowing the material very well and he and Romano (alongside Grove) didn’t try to mimic the original voices; instead, added their own signature while staying in the musical wheelhouse of so many of these classic songs.

Romano managed to get the crowd on their side with savvy by mentioning the Kansas City Chiefs, who would go on to win their third Super Bowl to end the weekend with local excitement; also saying he was glad the show wasn’t booked for the Sunday of the big game.

Everything together makes for an entertaining evening and also a vivid reminder of what a towering musical presence (both literally and figuratively) that Cash really was. He was born in Depression-era rural Arkansas and would go on to almost every accolade in his field, including inductions into the Country Music, Rock and Roll, Gospel Music, Songwriters and the Canadian Country Music Halls of Fame.

Additionally, Cash was awarded the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honor, United Nations Humanitarian Award, Library of Congress Living Legend Medal and Grammy Legend Award, so his legacy is firmly in place, and this tribute show is very well-deserved and keeps the light of those memorable songs burning bright.

Award-winning director Dean (The Simon and Garfunkel Story, Graceland Live) Elliott heads the combined audio and video presentation, stating in a release, “Cash’s music is rooted in honesty, compassion, continuity and family. It is real. Every person who attends this concert is touched in some profound way by his spirit, humanity and, of course, by the unforgettable music.”

((National Tour Photos provided by their website) / Click on any image to enlarge and see in full)