Tommy Cash, Brother of Johnny Cash & Fellow Performer, Has Died
The brother of Johnny Cash and acclaimed country music performer himself, Tommy Cash, has passed away. Born on April 5th, 1940, he was 84 years old. The news was confirmed by Bill Miller of the Johnny Cash Museum in Nashville.
“Shannon and I lost a very, very dear friend last evening. I knew him for over 50 years. Tommy Cash was a loyal supporter of the Johnny Cash Museum and a very beloved member of our extended family as well as a highly respected member of the music industry,” Bill Miller said. “This great man will be deeply missed by his friends and many loyal fans around the world. Please keep Tommy’s beloved wife, Marcy and his family in your prayers.”
With the way the legacy of Johnny Cash looms so large, you could almost forget that Johnny’s brother eight years his junior also had a pretty sizable career of his own. Tommy Cash was the youngest of the seven children of Ray and Carrie (Rivers) Cash, and similar to Johnny, his music career started while he was still serving in the military and became a DJ for the Armed Forces Radio Network.
After leaving the military, Tommy Cash started touring around with Hank Williams Jr. before signing with Musicor Records in 1965, and started releasing singles. He wasn’t too successful on the label, and eventual moved to United Artists, where he started gaining attention. It was the song “Six White Horses” in 1969 written by Larry Murray about the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. that put Tommy Cash on the map in his own right, earning him a #4 hit in country, and a #1 in Canada.
Tommy Cash followed this up with two more Top 10’s in “Rise and Shine” and “One Song Away,” and would land a dozen more Top 40 hits over the next four years. Though his commercial impact would slow shortly thereafter, Tommy Cash was and is a regular performer at traditional country gatherings and Johnny Cash remembrances. A licensed real estate agent in Tennessee as well, he’s also helped manage the properties associated with the family.
Tommy’s son Mark Alan Cash is also a performer.
See the Johnny Cash Family Tree of Performers
September 14, 2024 @ 12:10 pm
real sad news
September 14, 2024 @ 5:05 pm
Sad news. I heard a Christmas song by him about 20 years ago on what was then a local country station. I think it was called Christmas Train or something similar. It was about a man going home for Christmas on a train. Never been able to find it any where which is a shame, I really liked it.
September 15, 2024 @ 10:24 am
Don’t recall a Tommy Cash song with that topic.
A song that does fit the theme that you describe is Merle Haggard’s “Goin’ Home For Christmas.” It was the title track of his 1982 Christmas album and was issued as a holiday single release that year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd09P2Ht3d0
September 15, 2024 @ 11:02 am
That’s another great one from Merle I listen to every Christmas.
September 15, 2024 @ 11:08 am
Johnny and Tommy also had a good Christmas song together I stumbled upon trying to find the song I was talking about. It’s called “That Christmas Feeling”.
September 15, 2024 @ 12:31 pm
“That Christmasy Feeling” by Johnny & Tommy Cash was recorded for Johnny’s 1972 Columbia album “Christmas -The Johnny Cash Family.” For the 1973 holiday season, Columbia released that song as a single and the duet received substantial country radio airplay.
Here’s a great clip of the brothers from Johnny’s 1976 Christmas TV Special:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guHlYNQ-5L8
September 15, 2024 @ 12:16 pm
Discussing this topic with a friend, he reminded me that Tommy Cash did indeed record a little known holiday song titled “Christmas Train.” Released on CWE Records for the 2006 holiday season, the performer credits were: Tommy Cash, The Tennessee 3 and Doc Wooten. Written by Doc Wooten & Robert A Johnson. Johnson produced the session. It was released to radio stations on a promotional 2-CD various artists Christmas compilation. Sorry, so far that very rare recording has not been posted to YouTube.
Tommy released two Christmas songs earlier in his career that are also very rare. In the late 60’s/early 70’s he recorded two original songs that were released on an Epic “flex-disc.” Those were very thin plastic records that had poor sound quality and were very inexpensive to manufacture. There was audio on just one side of the disc. They were used as promotional tools for retail or commercial businesses. This particular release by Tommy was sent to customers of the Dial Finance Company as a holiday gift. The second of the two songs on that disc has been uploaded to YouTube. Near the end of the song Tommy delivers a holiday greeting on behalf of the sponsor. Unfortunately the first song on that disc “Come On Home For Christmas” was deemed unplayable by the channel owner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azKa_dkEsbw
September 15, 2024 @ 2:07 pm
That’s some great history. Thanks for confirming I’m not crazy after all these years trying to hear it again
October 22, 2024 @ 4:49 pm
CountryDJ, quick update. Thanks to your info on the song I was looking for “Christmas Train” I was finally able to locate and get a copy of it. It will see the light of day again this Christmas season, atleast on my station anyway. Thanks
September 14, 2024 @ 6:07 pm
Twenty-one years and a day after Johnny passed. My condolences to the extended Cash family.
Godspeed, Tommy.
September 14, 2024 @ 8:09 pm
Oh,gee,right on the 21st anniversary of Johnny’s death. “Six White Horses” is one of my all-time favourite songs,and proves that Country music doesn’t have to be reactionary. (Tommy took a big chance mentioning Dr. King,hated by many throughout Country music).Overshadowed by his elder brother,Tommy Cash was great in his own right.RIP,Tommy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 15, 2024 @ 3:29 pm
Tommy Cash’s “Six White Horses” and also Henson Cargill’s “Skip a Rope,” recorded the year before (and discussed on SCM recently) show that country music–and country radio–had an open tolerant side in that polarized era. Two powerful songs.
September 14, 2024 @ 8:32 pm
I think I saw Tommy Cash twice, but can only confirm one performance in 2015 when he performed as part of Ronnie McDowell & Friends in Crowley, LA. His three songs were: Ring of Fire, Six White Horses, and I’m Gonna Write a Song. Shortly after the show, he signed one of his CDs for me.
September 15, 2024 @ 3:03 am
Welcome welcome to our town
I hope nobody tries to gun you down
Six White Horses
Never gets old!
September 15, 2024 @ 6:22 am
Like so many others I like the 6 white horses! RIP Tommy Cash
September 15, 2024 @ 10:34 am
Six White Horses was a true classic. Released just a year after the MLK, Jr & RFK assassinations it struck a major chord as America was also still grieving for JFK. It was a song of the times similar to Dion’s “Abraham, Martin And John.”
Most of Tommy’s Epic singles were excellent songs and I was disappointed that more of them were not successful. When Collectables issued a Very Best Of Tommy Cash CD in 1999 with his original singles I purchased my copy right away.
Met Tommy several times at radio industry DJ Conventions in Nashville back in the 70’s. He was a very nice man and was always warm & friendly. Unfortunate that his last name seemed to be both an asset and a liability,
Condolences to his family.
September 15, 2024 @ 11:05 am
I always thought Tommy did a good job of trying to keep Johnny’s legacy living on without riding on his brothers fame
September 15, 2024 @ 5:01 pm
How COULD I forget Henson Cargill’s “Skip A Rope?” It and Jeannie C. Riley’s “Harper Valley PTA,” are classic Country songs about the reason youth especially rebelled (and a growing number are rebelling today) against the conservative conformity a great many Americans deem “patriotic,” then and now.
September 17, 2024 @ 3:27 am
In this category, don’t forget the great “Blame it on the Stones” by Kristofferson…
September 20, 2024 @ 11:58 pm
Brother, they tell me
that you burned your flag and you’re flagless
And you didn’t like Merle Haggard songs,
so I guess you’re Hagless
Well I’m not too sure that burning a cloth
is a crime
I know you burned your flag,
but I’m sure glad you couldn’t burn mine
Thoughts On The Flag
Tommy Cash (with Johnny Cash, George Jones & Tom T. Hall)
(Tom T. Hall)