In 2004, singer Shawn Barker auditioned for the part of Elvis Presley in the Broadway production of “Million Dollar Quartet.” Floyd Mutrux, the original director of the show, recognized Barker’s talent and asked him to audition for the part of Johnny Cash.
“They called me back to submit something as Johnny Cash,” Barker said. “So I got cast as Cash in ‘Million Dollar Quartet.’ But they were still getting financial backing and that took time. It was going on something like two years. In the meantime, with my management company, we put together a Johnny Cash show and I started touring.”
“Million Dollar Quartet” eventually opened on Broadway in April 2010.
“So I never went on stage with the ‘Quartet’ show,” Barker said.
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Instead, he has been doing his Johnny Cash tribute show for 18 years.
“The Man in Black: A Tribute to Johnny Cash” will be presented at 8 p.m. March 17 at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora.
Johnny Cash was one of the bestselling music artists of all time, having sold more than 90 million records worldwide. Throughout his career, Cash recorded and performed country, rock ‘n’ roll, blues, folk and gospel songs.
“They were songs of the people,” Barker said. “His music speaks to everybody.”
“The Man in Black: A Tribute to Johnny Cash” features Barker’s high-energy performance as he recreates Cash’s sound and signature style down to his acoustic guitar and harmonica. Barker is backed by a four-piece band with special lighting and video displays.
“One part is a montage of his life and career,” said Barker of the videos. “Other scenes are more artistic.
“And there is a still shot of a backdrop of San Quentin prison,” he continued, referring to one of Cash’s live albums “Johnny Cash at San Quentin,” which was released in 1969.
But Barker insists that his show is a tribute and not an impersonation.
“I dress the part. The persona is there. But it is a third-person type of thing,” he said. “It’s about him. When I talk to the audience, I don’t say ‘I’ as if I am Johnny Cash.”
Barker’s tribute includes such Cash hits as “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Ring of Fire” and “I Walk the Line.”
“We try to do all the big hits from his Sun Records days, his time at Columbia Records, his TV show, and those songs with record producer Rick Rubin,” Barker said. “We try to do as much of his catalog in the time we have. He recorded more than 1,500 songs. We can’t do them all.”
Barker and his band also try to keep the arrangements as accurate as possible.
“The songs were never over-processed,” he said. “All the songs are done in the original key. A lot of the songs are not musically correct. Some musicians I work with will say, ‘That’s not right’ and I say ‘That’s how they did it.'”
Barker’s greatest satisfaction comes from the audience.
“We want to keep Johnny Cash’s music in the forefront,” he said. “We see memories come back to people in the audience, especially the older people. They seem to be reliving things. It is cool that we can do that through his music.”
‘The Man in Black: A Tribute to Johnny Cash’
When: 8 p.m. March 17
Where: Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora
Tickets: $35-$42
Information: 630-896-6666; paramountaurora.com
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Randall G. Mielke is a freelance reporter for the Beacon-News.