“After Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash passed away, there was a great void within me, as I admired their artistry deeply,” says Dan Blakeslee on he and his band, the Calabash Club’s, latest single.
He continues, “I was immediately compelled to write a song, which for a stretch time was unfinished. I was in Arkansas on tour a couple years back and decided to go to Johnny’s home town. As I was traveling a stretch of dirt road through farmlands, I got stuck in the mud. Right then and there, verses started filling my head and I was finally able to complete a song honoring them.”
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Indeed, the aptly-titled ‘Johnny and June’ is a gorgeous ode to the two influential songwriters, not only acting as an idyllic tribute to the two artists but humanizing them with special thanks to Blakeslee’s warming croon. Musically, the Calabash Club deftly evolves the track over time to offer a sonic hand to the many hats that Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash wore in the world of song, with country, folk, rock, and gospel influences all having their say throughout its five minutes and 35 seconds without ever feeling crowded.