Craig Wayne Boyd Puts Johnny Cash Back in the Charts
Say what you want about NBC’s reality show singing competition The Voice, or even one of this season’s top contestants Craig Wayne Boyd, but there’s no disputing now that his high-flying run towards the season finale of the show has resulted in an unexpected boost for The Man in Black. The former padawan of slain Outlaw music artist Wayne Mills—just like his current coach on the show Blake Shelton—Craig Wayne Boyd has called upon classic country material for the competition on numerous occasions, including on November 24th when he sang Johnny Cash’s “I Walk The Line” during the Top 10 live show. The song was done in tribute to Wayne Mills, who was killed just over a year ago by a bar owner who is awaiting trial on 2nd degree murder charges.
Craig Wayne Boyd’s performance was already charged enough with the emotion of the moment and the memory of Wayne hanging in the air, but now Boyd’s rendition of “I Walk The Line” has catapulted him, and Johnny Cash by proxy, to the top of the country music charts, aided by The Voice voting system which gives contestants credit if they register on the iTunes chart.
Right now “I Walk The Line” performed by Craig Wayne Boyd, and first written and recorded by Johnny Cash at Sun Studios in 1956, sits at the #1 spot on Billboard’s Country Digital Songs chart, beating out the big current singles right now from Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, and Sam Hunt. The Country Digital Songs chart compiles the week’s most-downloaded songs as determined by Nielsen SoundScan.
Maybe even more significant and historic, Craig Wayne Boyd’s “I Walk The Line” also came in at #15 on Billboard’s all-encompassing Hot Country Songs chart. The last time Johnny Cash himself had a song on the chart at all was in 2003 when his cover of Trent Reznor’s “Hurt” made it to #56. The last time Johnny Cash had a song in the Top 15 of the Hot Country Songs chart was 1981 with “The Barron.” Cash was also part of The Highwaymen’s #1 hit “Highwayman” in 1985.
Undoubtedly Craig Wayne Boyd’s version of “I Walk The Line” will experience a precipitous free fall in the charts in the coming weeks, but not after it’s found its way onto scores of digital devices and been heard by millions of listeners. The efficacy of these singing shows at launching artists or making any material change in the music world is easy to call into question. But with Craig Wayne Boyd and “I Walk The Line,” there’s no questioning he was able to do a solid for the Man in Black not seen in a very long time.
December 11, 2014 @ 3:19 am
He deserves bonus points for covering the acclaimed George Bennard gospel classic “The Old Rugged Cross” faithfully.
Time will tell if, should he land a record deal and release a debut full-length record, whether he remains true to himself or capitulates to Nashville songwriting machine pressures. But if the moderate success of Phillip Phillips in recent memory is any indication, I am cautiously optimistic he’ll give enough fight to retain integrity.
December 11, 2014 @ 3:31 am
A truly beautiful sonic style that finally does justice to the lyrics of this classic song.
By the way, was this version originally composed by Wayne Mills, or by Boyd himself?
December 11, 2014 @ 9:53 am
‘Composer’ for western popular music = songwriter–in this case it was Johnny Cash.
Do you mean arrangement–or some may say version, or perhaps interpretation?
December 11, 2014 @ 1:23 pm
Okay, who designed the arrangement?
December 11, 2014 @ 3:04 pm
Waylon Jennings
December 11, 2014 @ 5:14 am
My wife still watches that show so I get roped into watching it a lot as I’m sitting on the couch wanting to put a nail in my skull.
The show is over produced beyond anything I’ve seen before. Carson Daily has the personality of a bag of rocks. Once there’s 20 contestants left every performance is the most brilliant thing the “coaches” have ever seen in their lives no matter how horrible it was. No one has ever had any real success after a season was over. You have the nauseating studio coached “sway bots” on every single song. You have fake audience noise (clapping and screaming) injected into the audio mix. Parnell Williams has no singing ability at all and he’s suppose to be a vocal coach. One interesting thing is there seems to be a rule on the show where if anyone plays an acoustic guitar while singing it’s either not plugged in or removed from the audio mix (something about people using guitars as props has always bugs me).
On top of everything else, shows like “The Voice” have done some serious damage to the music industry. Even if this song came out good, Craig Wayne Boyd guy has had some horrible performances in other cases. Just being on this show makes him less likeable to me. The talent level on the show in general has gone way down (and on other shows like American Idol). Hell me wife gets all into this show and watches ever season but she can’t remember the name of one single winner. Country music has become a complete joke because of people like Scott Borchetta and the music industry as a whole has become a joke because of shows like The Voice.
December 11, 2014 @ 5:58 am
None of the singing shows are perfect. There are lots of things that I don’t like.
But where else on network tv are you going to see as much live music performance as you do on the voice, american idol, and a couple of others?
nowhere.
Many of the singers are outstanding. The voice had on one from a year or two go, Christina Grimie the other day.
she can really sing.
Who would have heard of Craig Wayne Boyd without that show, and what chance is there that I walk the line would be heard like this?
I’m guessing he’ll do pretty well from here on in.
On the show the other day, Blake
Shelton performed his latest tune, with Ashley Monroe.
People should listen it, it’s very good. Ashley sure has a nice voice.
December 11, 2014 @ 12:29 pm
The top of the ITunes chart???!!!!??? Really Trigger???? Come on dude. Great performance but singing on a reality show, uh, that doesn’t mean anything really these days. Several years ago my buddy Matt Mason won CMT’s Next Superstar. I haven’t heard a peep out of him on the radio or some underground internet radio stuff since then. Matt was good. Outlaw, old school, traditional: he had it covered hands down and when we all found out he was gonna be on that show, we knew he’d win it but we were all pretty certain it wouldn’t amount to a hill of beans afterward and it hasn’t. Not too many have had success with winning American Idol or The Voice with the exception of Carrie Underwood or Kelly Clarkson if you think about it. Scotty McCreary was nothing more than a wanna be Josh Turner, plain and simple. There are many other winners of those shows who could’ve made it on their own if they’d been given a shot by a record company, but this how music is done this day in age: get discovered on a reality show and release your product on the internet. That’s why the sad reality is someone like Sturgill Simpson will never get a CMA/ACM award, be on mainstream radio or go on a big tour with a big time radio star, because he did it through paying his dues which is also worthless now too. The radio, award shows and “Nashville Establishment” wouldn’t give an artist like him the time of day. And you really wanna know who’s fault all this crap is? The people who buy into this American Idol/ Voice crap! And the people who buy into Bro Country should be rounded up and put into concentration camps!
December 11, 2014 @ 1:25 pm
Your comment is contradictory. The first part suggests that reality shows are ineffective in making an artist popular, while the second part suggests that reality shows are the only way that artists gain popularity.
December 11, 2014 @ 1:40 pm
I think you kind of missed the point Eric. The only way they can have “mainstream” success is what I said which is still hard to come by even if you when one of those shows. I think if someone like Sturgill Simpson or Brandy Clark would’ve been on a show like The Voice or American Idol they would be on the radio. Would they be singing the badass music they sing now maybe, maybe not, who knows. Did he do good singing it? Yeah, but I wasn’t blown away. It was a nice gesture, but the hair on the back of my neck didn’t come up.
December 11, 2014 @ 3:20 pm
“The top of the ITunes chart???!!!!??? Really Trigger???? Come on dude. Great performance but singing on a reality show, uh, that doesn”™t mean anything really these days.”
With all due respect Doug, please read past the second paragraph. I didn’t make any big deal, at all, whatsoever, about him being at the top of the iTunes chart. The only reason I even mentioned it was because it is an element to how these contestants are graded. What I said meant something was:
“Right now “I Walk The Line” performed by Craig Wayne Boyd, and first written and recorded by Johnny Cash at Sun Studios in 1956, sits at the #1 spot on Billboard”™s Country Digital Songs chart, beating out the big current singles right now from Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, and Sam Hunt. The Country Digital Songs chart compiles the week”™s most-downloaded songs as determined by Nielsen SoundScan.
Maybe even more significant and historic, Craig Wayne Boyd”™s “I Walk The Line” also came in at #15 on Billboard”™s all-encompassing Hot Country Songs chart. The last time Johnny Cash himself had a song on the chart at all was in 2003 when his cover of Trent Reznor”™s “Hurt” made it to #56. The last time Johnny Cash had a song in the Top 15 of the Hot Country Songs chart was 1981 with “The Barron.” Cash was also part of The Highwaymen”™s #1 hit “Highwayman” in 1985.”
So yes, I think a Johnny Cash song being in the Top 15 of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart for the first time in nearly 40 years is a big deal. And that is what is being highlighted here, not the song itself, or “The Voice.”
You don’t have to tell me how awful The Voice is, come on. If you want, you can pull up scores of articles with me razzing on the show and Blake Shelton specifically. Screw me for thinking for once they did something cool that highlighted not just a Johnny Cash song, but Wayne Mills as well.
The people that somehow have a problem with all of this are coming across as quite bitter, and that means a lot coming from me.
December 11, 2014 @ 4:14 pm
I didn’t have read past the TITLE of the article Trigger! “Craig Wayne Boyd puts Johnny Cash back on the charts”. Your title of the article sure seems like it was more important to you that a Johnny Cash song made it back on the charts rather than a tribute to Wayne!!! Hell, you mention Craig Wayne Boyd 8 times in the article, Johnny Cash 6 times (2 times as “The Man in Black”) and Wayne Mills, WHO SHOULD BE THE CENTER OF THE ARTICLE IS MENTIONED 3 TIMES! Who cares if a Johnny Cash song is on the charts again? Johnny Cash put it on the charts back WHEN IT COUNTED! I would be willing to bet half of the people who read your blog knew he was covering WAYLON’S VERSION OF THE SONG as a tribute to Wayne, NOT JOHNNY’S VERSION!!! And when I say that, before you jack wagons try to say I’m wrong, let me clarify: he was using both Johnny Cash AND WAYLON as a vehicle for his tribute to Wayne! Wayne was considered “outlaw”! Waylon WAS THE OUTLAW, THE ORIGINAL OUTLAW, more so than Johnny Cash was, therefore more appropriate to use the Waylon version of the song. Let me ask you this? Since it’s on the “Bcountard” chart are we gonna here it in the mix of DOUCHE COUNTRY this weekend on the countdown? Yeah, I didn’t think so! Why get excited about this?!!? It’s not gonna CHANGE SHIT!!! Wayne, Waylon, Johnny and the good ol’ days are gone and they ain’t coming’ back!!! We’re still gonna get shitty FGL, Luke Bryan, Chase Rice, Jason Aldean, Cole Swindell shit shoved down our throat! Shit, me and my brother wanted to go drink beer tonight but shitty Dustin Lynch is playing some stupid ass Christmas Country tour show at Banita Creek Hall here in Nacogdoches, so we’re gonna stay at home, drink a case of Natty Lightand watch Football. Fuck Trigger!!! I love your website 99% of the time, but when you talk about irrelevant shit like this it pisses me off!!! BUT HEY, IT’S YOUR BLOG AND WEBSITE!!! And there ain’t shit I can do about!
December 11, 2014 @ 4:16 pm
“Billboard” stupid auto spell shit!
December 11, 2014 @ 5:47 pm
Wait a second. Did you really just accuse me of not talking about Wayne Mills enough in this article, and then justify it by giving a name count? I wrote an entire article about the Wayne Mills quotient of this story, and linked to it in the piece above. Excuse me for not wanting to be redundant. Perhaps you didn’t read THAT title, “NBC”™s “The Voice” & Craig Wayne Boyd Tribute Wayne Mills”
https://savingcountrymusic.com/nbcs-the-voice-craig-wayne-boyd-tribute-wayne-mills
Funny that you’re accusing the outlet that 1) Was the first to report Wayne’s death. 2) The first to obtain and publish his autopsy report. 3) Has done everything in its power to keep the tragic story of Wayne Mills top-of-mind until his family gets closure by running more stories about him than anyone else 4) Actually had reported on Wayne Mills and music BEFORE his tragic death, of not talking enough about Wayne Mills.
I think I’ve covered Wayne Mills just fine. Including with this particular story.
December 11, 2014 @ 6:56 pm
Accuse? Yeah, to put it nicely, I did! More like pointed out the obvious! It really felt like to me the show used it as an excuse: “Hey let’s use this tragedy to get a traditional country song back on the charts”! Just like when 9/11 happened! Toby Keith, Alan Jackson, Darryl Worrley, Aaron Tippon profitted off of that tragedy!
Yes, you’ve cover the murder of Wayne Mills from day one. We all know that and I’ve never disputed those facts before this story.
And now “I walk the line” by Craig Wayne Boyd sits at #17 on the Billboard Country Digital Songs chart. It was at number one for a week and now has fallen 16 spots. And next week when it’s not even in the top 30 it will be even more irrelevant. My question to you is this: Why put “singles” from a contestant on a singing reality show on a chart while they ARE STILL COMPETING? ANSWER: $$$$$ “Milk it for all it’s worth while we can”! Besides, this chart is based on SALES, Not RADIO AIRPLAY! “Take it easy” debuted at #5 on the same chart this week. It’s all about money. If this was on an airplay based chart, I would be impressed, because that would mean it would have had an impact on the INDUSTRY! The industry needs show the impact, NOT THE “RECORD” BUYING PUBLIC!!! That would mean something to an artist, especially in this day and age! Can you imagine what would happen if a few artist banded together and pulled a Willie and Waylon coup d’tetat on Nashville? It would be WAY bigger than the outlaw movement ever was!
Bottom line: when you pander this crap (and when I say crap, I mean the “publicity stunt” from the producers of these ridiculous shows, not CWB’s gesture to his buddy or your journalistic fortitude to seek out justice for Wayne and his family.) from these reality shows, you’re really just feeding the monster!
December 11, 2014 @ 12:33 pm
“Say what you want about NBC”™s reality show singing competition The Voice, or even one of this season”™s top contestants Craig Wayne Boyd”
Is that a challenge? 😀
This song should be giving a boost to Travis Tritt, since it’s his version of the song that Boyd is covering. Just my opinion, but the man in black is the last person in country music who needs a boost. He’s pretty much the only country artist who it’s “hip” to like. Which is a great thing, as he’s an important artist, but this little moment in music time isn’t going to effect his legacy.
Not complaining, just commenting. I mean, you pretty much double dared me too.
December 11, 2014 @ 3:28 pm
Nobody is saying this development resulted in country music being saved or that we need to plan a parade. I just thought it was a cool note that one of the original great songs by Johnny Cash had re-emered in the charts, and I felt it was worth a few paragraphs to highlight it. That’s all this is. It isn’t and endorsement or recommendation of this version of the song, or “The Voice,” or any massive watershed moment. But I think the Wayne Mills tribute—which was the impetus of this song that a lot of people seem to be glossing over here—was a cool gesture and resulted in a lot of good will, and a lot of increase exposure not just for Wayne and his music, but for the fact that he was killed and there’s still no resolution.
If one person, one kid out of the millions who watched that night got turned on to Johnny Cash and it will forever get fulfillment from him now throughout their musical life, then the performance was a victory.
December 11, 2014 @ 1:21 pm
Amen Toby! And Travis Tritt owes his version to Waylon! This is a great gesture to Wayne but, the wheel CWB rolled out is still round if ya know what I mean.
December 11, 2014 @ 1:28 pm
The Voice is about vocal performances, not original songs. Do you have any comments about Boyd’s vocals?
December 11, 2014 @ 1:47 pm
He can sing good. You didn’t ask, but he also has good taste in music.
December 11, 2014 @ 4:19 pm
He was alright! He didn’t give me chills or anything, if I was there, I would’ve clapped.
December 11, 2014 @ 1:29 pm
I find it interesting that the knock most people have on reality competition shows is that they fail to produce “superstars” … as if that’s something that all other competitions do on the regular. Yes, Idol produced Carrie Underwood … but Carrie Underwood would have become a star NO MATTER where she went. She’s Hank Aaron. She’s Tom Brady. She just has it. You can’t fault the show because a new Carrie Underwood doesn’t roll through it every season.
The Voice, Idol, XFactor, they’re all just parts of the industry. For the artists, they’re another stage on which to perform, and a way to make a living while working on their craft. And, what they learn on those stages can be invaluable for building a sustainable career.
Scotty McCreary…so we’re knocking him for being a “wannabe Josh Turner”? The kid is what, 20 now? 21? He’s touring. He’s putting songs on the charts. Who is he SUPPOSED to be? Garth Brooks?
Danielle Bradberry is out on tour.
Cassadee Pope is out on tour.
A lot of the alumni of these shows are now out on tour, making money playing music and trying to build careers. The saddest part of the whole thing is that people don’t stick with them long after the show ends, because they jump to another show. These folks are forgotten almost immediately..not because they couldn’t make an impact, but because the shows aren’t very good about bringing them to market with any force. But why would they be? They have another season to produce.
Think of those shows as College Athletics. You can be a superstar for a very limited period of time, but once it’s over, for 98% of people, it’s over. Sure, you may languish around in the semi-pro ranks for a while, but few of you are going to succeed at the highest levels.
Then again, every now and then, you’ll find that Tom Brady.
December 11, 2014 @ 2:08 pm
Yeah, Scotty McCreary’s out touring. Big deal! Is he putting out big number one hits? NO! An “IDOL” is not someone who is a flash in the pan, one hit wonder! An Idol, IMHO, is someone who kicks the door down, has multi platinum albums and sells out shows. You have a PERFECT comparison using college athletics. Colt McCoy, awesome in college/Went into the NFL: never heard from again. Johnny Football’s gonna be the same way.
Yes and no about should they be rolling out a “Carrie Underwood” every season. I think it’s a joke personally, reality competition shows. Hell, the fact that American Idol has hired King Bro Country Turd himself should be a clue to that! And you make a valid point about shitty marketing for these people once they win it. Like I said in my OP, my buddy won CMT’s Next Superstar with a recording contract, $100,00 and he fell through the cracks. Damn straight I think they should be cranking Garth and Carrie level talent every season! With as much money as they dump into those shows, uh yeah, I’d want a mega star every damn year if I were a sponsor or producer name one of those shows! Not somebody who goes out on with “Winner of such and such TV show” in front of their name. Like Waylon said “I don’t think Hank done it this way”!
December 11, 2014 @ 2:48 pm
McCreery’s first album was certified platinum, and he was named the ACA Breakthrough Artist of the Year in 2013.
Colt McCoy is currently the starting quarterback for the Washington Redskins.
What are you up to these days?
December 11, 2014 @ 3:02 pm
Same thing your clown ass is up to!
December 11, 2014 @ 4:27 pm
You’re writing songs for a new album too?
Cool…
December 11, 2014 @ 4:32 pm
Actually drinking beer and waiting for the grill to get hot. I haven’t written anything since my brother came home last week. Too busy hunting and drinking. I DID wind some new pickups yesterday for a used American Standard B-bender tele I just bought in Shreveport though!
December 12, 2014 @ 9:03 pm
I watched Colt and VY play here in Austin. Colt broke most of VY’s records but VY got screwed in the pros but beat the prophylactics in their own house for the championship. Colt lost his chance on the 5th play. Scotty ain’t no Craig Boyd. Scotty doesn’t have enough miles on him. The country gospel fan base is a sleeping giant and Boyd started to rouse them the other day.
December 12, 2014 @ 6:23 pm
John cash told travis tritt years ago he did the best version of I walk the line he ever heard and yes it was waylons arrangemeant this voice don’t even compare…. but its cool hes got it out there
December 12, 2014 @ 7:10 pm
Amen!
December 12, 2014 @ 8:46 pm
I love Waylon, Willie, and Johnny was the best; The arrangement was similar but there’s a big number of people who like Craig’s singing of it better.
December 12, 2014 @ 8:41 pm
I’ve been in Austin honky tonkin’ since the “outlaws” album came out. This kid’s got something and the numbers prove it. “The Old Rugged Cross” he did has more hits than walk the line by a lot. The crossover he’s generating is country gospel, he’s old enough to be believable and has a good story. He’s around Blake’s age and they’ll learn a lot from each other. It’s always magic when someone hits it big and there’s only a handful every decade. I wouldn’t bet my two-step but this kid could have a run
At 65 I’m selective.
December 14, 2014 @ 10:36 am
Great that a classic like I WALK THE LINE gets this exposure.
Great that the singers get some exposure whether it amounts to a career or not .
BUT Boyd is a heartthrob for young women ( just look at how Gwen can’t stop gushing over him ) and if a heartthrob on that show sang the alphabet , girls would download it . PEOPLE WILL BUY INTO WHATEVER IS CONSIDERED HIP OR COOL , TRENDY OR ‘HOT’ if that makes them a part of something . It’s just the way the culture has been conditioned .
Again I give you Ms Swift ( sorry but its still the best example I can think of ) .
C’mon …….NO ONE is buying into her because of her vocal ‘talents’ .Sure …maybe a few kids relate to her lyrics …..but It’s hip and trendy and cool to be her fan and she’s marketed to every faction of the culture respectively in a way each finds buy-in able.
I love that Boyd sang a country standard …and I’d like to think that’s why people are downloading it . But I can’t be that naive. I mean no disrespect whatsoever to the song or the songwriter or Boyd …..but Its hip and trendy to like Johnny Cash right now and its hip and trendy to like ” Boyd …the hunk on The Voice ” .