we did, by the way. We just celebrated our 54th anniversary.
Wow. Congratulations. Thank you. Well, I didn’t get to go to work on my real job. I got a call from Johnny Cash and he said he wanted me to go out with him for two weeks. He had a big thing happening in New York, and wanted me to go with him. So I called the guy I was going to work for and told him I’d like to wait two weeks to start, and he said that would be fine. I went with John and played in New York and in Atlantic City at the Steel Pier. Then he told me he re- ally liked what was happening and that he’d like for me to work with him occasionally. Well, I told him I couldn’t work occasionally, that I was getting married and had a job so I could draw a regular pay check. He said, “When I said occasionally, I meant I’m gonna try to play ten days a month, and I’d like for you to play with me as long as I’m in the busi- ness.” I told him that sounded like a regular job, and he said it would be as regular as he could make it. And it lasted until 1997, when he started getting sick. But I am so thankful for all my years with John. He was just so great and different and unusual. For some reason or another, out of all the musicians that played with him, I’m the only one that played with him the entire time. People have asked me about that, and I always say I guess John just couldn’t find anybody that played as bad as I did. (Laughs)
So how many years was that you played with Cash? Almost 40. Well, 37. I started in ‘60 and played until 1997. He got to where he just did- n’t feel good enough to play anymore. So we played our last show in ‘97, and I was gonna retire again then, but Ron Haney, my guitar player and band leader said hey, let’s get a band together and keep playing, you don’t
9
need to retire. So I’m really fortunate to be still going and having a great time. I tell peo- ple, here I am 79 years old and I can do every- thing as good as I ever could. (Laughs)
Johnny presents Fluke with a gold record for “Ring of Fire.”
What did you think of the movie Walk The Line? Was in an accurate depic- tion? I’ve been asked that question a lot. I though the movie was great. It was entertaining. I don’t think anybody saw the movie that didn’t like it. I did. I was invited to New York for the opening, and to Hollywood for the opening. If it was up to me there are a few things I would have done different, but it probably wouldn’t have been as good a movie. If you notice, al- most every scene is the wild and crazy, druggy Johnny. One of the first scenes was him on drugs and falling down and all that. All those things that they put in the movie, he wasn’t that way. But I think they thought that’s what people wanted to see. That was an image he had. There’s a lot of people - I still get calls asking about when John was in prison. He was never in prison, and he was never in a sit- uation where he fell down and couldn’t per-
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