Matt DeBlass

Johnny Nash Remembers With a New Album

By Matt DeBlass

Hunterdon's own Man in Black is releasing a new album called “Johnny Nash Remembers”

Johnny Nash is the stage name of Carl McGifford, who has been performing his tribute to the late Johnny Cash for about 20 years now, along with

The new album, which McGifford's manager said will be for sale at Cracker Barrel and at Johnny Nash shows, will be coming out early next month. While most of the songs are, not surprisngly, Johnny Cash covers, the opening track is an original song by McGifford's friend Tom Daniels about Johnny Nash.

McGifford said one of his favorite tracks is a new version of “Fulsom Prison Blues” which, while remaining mostly true to the original, has slightly modernized instrumentation and feel. Rather than record a straight copycat performance, McGifford said, he tried to do the song “the way Johnny Cash would have done it today.”

Other songs on the album include “Three Wooden Crosses,” which is dedicated to his sister, who died two years ago, and a version of “Ring of Fire” which McGifford said took at least 30 takes to get perfect. He credits his fiancee and fellow Cash fan Jeannie Lauber with helping him get the songs right, in part by having the patience to listen to each of those 30 takes as well as multiple takes of the other songs.

He recorded the album in Phillipsburg with Mike Hennessey. “Johnny Nash Remembers” features live music, but when he performs live he sings along with background tracks provided by D.J. Harry Hubert. Over the course of his career as Johnny Nash, he has given over 500 performances, he said, a great many of them at nursing homes and V.A. Hospitals. He and his D.J. (who joins in the act singing as Elvis Presley) are often joined by Barbara Hunt, of High Bridge, who sings the parts of June Carter.

McGifford has been performing one way or the other for almost five decades. He started singing at 5 years old in Christmas shows his mother organized for orphans through the Maritime Association in Manhattan. He's been a longtime fan of Johnny Cash, and got to meet him in 1975. However, he said, in spite of his admiration for the legendary singer, he has hasn't emulated him in every way: “I don't drink or smoke,” he said, “those are two rules my mother told me.”

For booking information or to get your copy of “Johnny Nash Remembers,” contact him at (908) 329-7486.