James Garners Tribute to Johnny Cash celebrates the life and music of the legendary music artist Johnny Cash. Lead singer James Garner portrays Cash in such a vivid, genuine and realistic way that the audience feels caught up in the moment, reliving their youth, especially those that had the opportunity to see the authentic Cash perform.
Garner has perfected the mannerisms of Cash, as well as vocal inflection. Each song played by Garner and his band took the audience on a historical walk through Cash's career. Garner and the band played classic hits such as "Ring of Fire," "I Walk the Line," and my absolute favorite song "Daddy Sang Bass."
Garner was accompanied by his bandmates Nick Auriemmo on the drums, Denny Colleret on the guitar and Rick Duncan on the bass. According to the tribute band’s website, the band has more than 300 professional shows to credit including theaters, festivals, showrooms and even prisons.
Garner is a personable artist on and off stage, he greeted everyone in attendance and gave several photo opportunities to those who choose to wait in line. Garner, a bit better looking than the true to life Johnny Cash has perfected the Cash look and mannerisms.
Garner became hooked on Cash’s music at an early age, getting his hands on everything Cash sang.
Garner does not consider himself an impersonator of Johnny Cash, but rather one of his biggest fans that will continue his legacy by performing many of his hit records.
At age fourteen, Garner said he met Cash backstage after one of the singer’s shows, shaking his hand and telling him he was his “biggest fan.” Now, Garner and his band present the Man in Black’s music as fans, for fans.
Garner provides historical context before performing many of the songs by annotating the value of the song and how that tune came to be.
Among the many unknown facts that Garner told the audience was that Kris Kristofferson, singer-songwriter and actor, was once a janitor who would pitch songs to Cash.
One of these pitches became a huge hit known as "Sunday Morning Coming Down," written by Kristofferson.
Garner also shares the true to life personal facts of June Carter.
“Number one hit on the country charts, number 17 on the pop charts, and a song that was written by June Carter and at the time (1962), Johnny Cash and June Carter were married to other people, not each other, and June wrote this song about how she felt about falling in love with a married Johnny Cash,” says Garner as he opens for the song performance of “Ring of Fire”.
Carter the love of Cash’s life, later became his wife.
The musical performances provided by Garner and the Tribute Band at the Candlelight Pavilion, located in Claremont, California are remarkable and entertaining. More importantly they reflect and express the passion that these band members have for a lost country legend that is remembered based on the performances of his songs.
Synced to sound like the original Tennessee Three, The Cash Tribute Band is composed of Nick Auriemmo, on the drums, Denny Colleret, guitarist, and Rick Duncan, on bass and vocals.
Colleret has also personally met Cash when he was younger, at the screening of the country star’s film “The Gospel Road”, in 1973.
Duncan honed his bass playing technique by training at the prestigious Julliard School of Music in New York City, N.Y. He later followed it up by earning a degree at the world-renowned San Francisco Conservatory of Music.Auriemmo is a native of Long Island, N.Y. and made his way to the west coast after earning a bachelor's in music from Fredonia College and a master's at Northern Illinois University.
The Johnny Cash Tribute Band has been recognized throughout several states within the US and has even been featured on KVIE, a public station provided by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). They continue to perform throughout California and parts of the US, performances that leave their audience wanting more. A list of tours and dates can be found on their website cashtribute.net.
After the show, Garner and the band dedicated a lot of time with different audience members and fans to take photos and sign autographs.