The Wild Card Line September 2007
                                             http://thewildcardline.blogspot.com/2007/09/cash-lives.html
                                                              
Last Saturday night, I met the Ghost of Johnny Cash. I saw him singing and playing on the Farnsworth Park
Amphitheater stage up in beautiful Altadena, California. I even shook "Johnny's" hand, but mostly I heard the
Ghost of Johnny Cash.... His voice is stronger now, it must be all that pure water they have up in heaven.
It is reassuring to know that The Man in White lets The Man in Black still perform gigs for the people.
The Man in Black and The Man in White are not alone, they have a faithful servant in the person of
Terry Lee Goffee to do most of the heavy lifting. Terry is a big man who seems to do the near impossible
without effort. He brings Johnny Cash back to life for two hours a night all over the country.

I'm here to tell you, I have seen the light... Cash Lives!

Posted by Lance Anderson at 11:41 AM

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Centre Daily Times editor Bob Heisse
Johnny Cash in Centre Hall

One of my great disappointments in music -- being a big fan of country and reggae -- is that I never saw Johnny Cash or Bob Marley perform live.

I don't ever recall having a chance to see Cash; I did fumble an opportunity to see Marley.

To make up for this shortfall, I've acquired dozens of their CDs and play them regularly. I have other favorites, but Cash and Marley stay near the top.

So with that, it was great last night to join hundreds at a packed Grange Fair grandstand and enjoy Terry Lee Goffee's performance in the Ultimate Johnny Cash Tribute.

Goffee has been doing this for six years and you can tell. He's Johnny Cash, and his show is Johnny Cash's. It's no wonder that fans follow his band around the country.

From "I Walk the Line" to "A Boy Named Sue," the Grange crowd had a close encounter with Cash last night, and they enjoyed it. 

Thanks, Terry.

Honoring the Man in Black

By MICHAEL FORTUNA, DAILY SUN

THE VILLAGES — From the time he was 6 years old, Terry Lee Goffee has been a fan of Johnny Cash.

Now Goffee gets to honor the Man in Black’s music by playing him on stage.

“I’ve got some big shoes to fill,” Goffee said. “People who come to the show appreciate the fact that I’m attempting to

give them a piece of something they can’t get anymore — a live Johnny Cash show.”

As part of the Great Pretenders series, Goffee re-created some of Cash’s biggest hits during two sold-out performances

Wednesday night at Savannah Center.

When he walked out on stage, Goffee approached the microphone and told the audience, “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.”

Joined on stage by electric guitarist Ben Volke, Goffee — clad in black and using his baritone voice — brought to life songs like 

“A Boy Named Sue,” “Cry Cry Cry,” “Hey Porter,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Get Rhythm,” “I Walk the Line” and “Ring of Fire.”

Goffee strummed along on his acoustic guitar, occasionally aiming it up in the air or toward the audience.

Goffee, who calls Wellington, Ohio, home, has spent the past five years performing as Cash.

He has performed throughout the New York/Pennsylvania/Vermont area, and he is branching out further. Next March he will perform

 a few shows in Ireland.

“I started noticing a lot of tribute bands popping up — the Beatles, the Doors, Hank Williams Sr.,” Goffee said. 

“I felt like I could do (a show) like Johnny Cash. I’ve been rehearsing for it all my life.

“I grabbed every opportunity to watch him on variety shows. I would put the records on the turntable, and I’d grab my guitar

and mimic the vocals and the moves. I couldn’t get enough of it.”

As for which Cash song is Goffee’s favorite, he points to “Give My Love to Rose.”

“It’s a song, for whatever reason, when I pick up a guitar to mess around, it’s the one song (I play),” Goffee said.

“It has some kind of hypnotic effect on me.

“You really believe that he believes in what he’s singing about,” he said. “He has universal appeal.”

Goffee’s interest in music began “ever since I was old enough to reach the dials on the radio,” he said.

He listened to everything, from early rock ’n’ roll to polka, blues and gospel.

While he learned his way around the guitar, Goffee considers his voice his main instrument.

“I can play enough guitar to make some background noise,” Goffee said. “I know enough chords to accompany.”

Michael Fortuna is a reporter with the Daily Sun.

 

Arlington Heights Post
Crystal Lake IL.
September 28, 2006

Show honors Man in Black

By LILLI KUZMA Contributor

TERRY LEE GOFFEE

"Train of Love: The Ultimate Johnny Cash Tribute" 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30 at Raue Center for The Arts, 26 N. Williams St., Crystal Lake. $31 to $35 (815) 356-9212 or www.rauecenter.org

"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash," says Terry Lee Goffee, of Wellington, Ohio, delivering the famous greeting in an eerily authentic way.

No, this isn't some guy having fun at the local bar on karaoke night.

Goffee regularly becomes the legendary Man in Black, as the star of his touring show, "Train of Love: The Ultimate Johnny Cash Tribute." More than an impersonator, Goffee performs the music of Johnny Cash with a three-piece band that also stays in character, reflecting Cash's actual band in look and sound. He also incorporates some story-telling and dialogue, tracing Cash's career from his childhood in Arkansas to his time in the Air Force and recording years with Sun and Columbia.

Goffee's tribute show makes its Illinois debut with two performances Saturday at the Raue Center for the Arts in Crystal Lake.

"I want people to feel like they've just seen Johnny Cash when they walk out of my show," said Goffee. "I've got the moves, guitar work, inflection of his voice. I have a couple of outfits, black slacks and a black shirt, the long coat."

Country and Cash

Goffee, who gives his age at "50-ish," has been a Johnny Cash fan his whole life. Growing up in Ohio, he remembers hiding his love of country music from his peers.

"Sure, in junior high and high school, I was a fan of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, American Bandstand, all that stuff, but I was a closet country fan, my parents were huge country music fans, and I remember going to sleep with a transistor radio literally pressed to my ear listening to the music."

Self-taught at guitar and vocals, Goffee believes he honed his skills mainly "from listening to the radio and records, to how artists phrased things."

Goffee developed into an accomplished performer and songwriter, has performed at the Grand Ole Opry, recorded several albums and received acclaim and awards from the music industry. He also has a significant background in radio, serving as program director and country music show host of "The Goffee Break" for classic country music station WOBL in Oberlin, Ohio, for more than eight years.

"This past May, I decided to leave the station because I had become so busy with the tribute show. The show is my day job now," said Goffee.

"I got the idea for the tribute show five and a half years ago, about 15 months before Johnny Cash's death," he said, "when a guy told me he had just been to a Cash concert, and that Johnny Cash was too ill to perform the way he used to, that he had seen Cash perform many times over the years and it just wasn't the same."

Sharing the sound

Goffee had been performing covers of Cash's songs all his life in various country music bands, and felt a tribute show would fill a need for people yearning to experience a Cash concert.

"I'd always admired Johnny Cash, he contributed so much to society, and he was able to overcome personal problems and become productive again," he said.

Goffee's tribute show has been going strong for four years. Among his many fans are his family members.

"They love it. My wife, Kay, works for the show as the road manager and helps with sound," he said. "She likes it when I perform some of my own material at non-tribute shows, where I usually play a set of country covers and my music, and then a set of Johnny Cash songs."

This tribute show features classic Cash hits like "Folsum Prison Blues," "I Walk the Line" and "Ring of Fire."

"The real Johnny Cash is gone, but, like with Elvis Presley, there are something like 39,000 Elvis impersonators in North America alone," Goffee said. "There is something about seeing a body and connecting with a voice."

In Tribute to Johnny Cash, Terry Lee Goffee Walks the Line

By DEBORAH STINSON

editor@funcoast.com

Like Elvis, Johnny Cash isn't really dead. Rumor has it he's been seen in the area and he'll be on stage in the form of Terry Lee Goffee.

Goffee looks and sounds so much like Johnny Cash, you will be hard-pressed to believe that "The Man in Black is Gone," which is also the name of a song written by Goffee, with partner Jerry Duncan shortly after Cash's death in 2003. Goffee is not just an impersonator of Cash; he becomes Cash in his heartwarming tribute to the country music legend.

Goffee performs most of Cash's much-loved favorites such as "Folsom Prison Blues," "Ring of Fire," "Ragged Old Flag," "Sunday Morning Coming Down," "I Walk the Line" and "A Boy Named Sue."

In between songs, Goffee tells the stories behind the songs and about Cash's life. He does a first-person narrative of Cash's career. He looks the part, dresses the part and becomes Johnny Cash in this not-to-be-missed tribute.

Goffee hails from Cambridge, Ohio, and grew up with music. He became proficient at a very young age and made music his life's goal. He said he's a huge fan of the late Johnny Cash and just wants to give everyone a taste of a live show featuring Cash's music.

This is what radio is saying
Hi Terry
     My wife and I and some listeners caught your show at the Agora Theater in Cleveland last weekend and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  I wish we could have come backstage to meet you, although I think we did meet some years ago at a Concert In The Park in Madison.   Anyhoo, thanks for mentioning WKKY on stage and that we are playing your Man In Black is Gone.  I get so many request for that song that it is amazing.   Keep up the good work and if you get time, could you send along another copy of Man In Black, ours got scratched here at the station.   Also anything new that you have I would love to get my hands on and get on the radio. 

This is what radio is saying
If there's one song that has struck a long-sleeping response chord in our audience, it's Terry Lee Goffee's "The Man In Black Is Gone." We introduced the song on our "Showdown at the K-Great Corral." Terry Lee sent the challenging artist to meet the necktie party five solid nights in a row! Once the song was retired into regular rotation, the phones have been quite active with requests to hear and buy the song.
Terry Lee found a topical niche as the nation so freshly mourns Johnny Cash. The voice and production are wonderful, and it definitely seems as though country fans in Las Cruces want Terry Lee to have a timely hit.
Sheila Kirsch, KGRT - Las Cruces, NM                                                        

August 11, 2005

Oberlin Area Chamber Of Commerce
Re: Summer Concert Series
"Terry drew what is easily this years largest crowd - nearly 1000!"
Marcus Fowler

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                                                               
                                                                

October 24, 2003
Robert K. Oermann Music Row Magazine

"By far...one of the best tribute acts in the country. 
The show was amazing, the crowd response was overwhelming. 
Johnny Cash is a legend and b/c of Terry,
I was able to experience his music live" 

Tommy said, "The show is great, my brother would be proud" 

Originally published by Cleveland Scene Jul 03, 2002 ©2002 New Times, Inc. All rights reserved.

Terry Lee Goffee perfects his tribute to The Man in Black.

By Jason Bracelin

Only the glasses give him away. Standing in the kitchen of his rural Wellington home, Terry Lee Goffee is the spitting image of one of country music’s most revered icons.

"Hello, my name is Johnny Cash," Goffee says, his deep Southern inflection eerily approximating The Man in Black’s burlap, world-weary timbre. "I sung for murderers and drug addicts, common folks and presidents. I guess you could say that I’ve come a long way from Kingsland, Arkansas." About 850 miles to be more precise. Granted, the man standing before us in black jeans, a button-down black shirt, and a Toyota-sized belt buckle isn’t Johnny Cash, but you’d have to look twice to be sure. With his sturdy jaw, burly frame, and dark shoulder-length hair, Goffee’s resemblance is betrayed only by those black-rimmed glasses. He’s getting fitted for contacts this week.

They’ll arrive just in time for the debut of Train of Love, Goffee’s elaborate two-hour tribute to Cash, which premieres July 18 at the Concert in the Park in Madison. Half stage show, half concert, Train of Love combines 31 Cash chestnuts with Goffee’s first-person narrative of the singer’s colorful, controversial career.

Backed by a three-piece band, Goffee delivers a sample of the show from the dining area of his home, where a huge Newfoundland, an excitable boxer, and Goffee’s wife are the only audience. "You know, I’ve often said that I don’t dance, I don’t wear tight pants, and I don’t tell jokes, but I do know about a thousand songs," Goffee recites before plucking through such Sun Studios-era Cash classics as "Cry Cry Cry" and "Hey Porter," peppering his performance with every kind of Cash mannerism, from his icy, heart-stopping glare to his penchant for wielding his guitar like a rapier. Goffee’s monologue is cheeky and fact-filled, dispelling some Cash myths the performer addressed in his second autobiography, Cash. (An example: Despite his many prison songs, Cash has never done any hard time, though he did spend about seven days in county jail in the ‘60s, after getting caught crossing the border with methamphetamines sewn into the lining of his guitar case.) Goffee purchased Cash three years ago in Tennessee, and it was from the book that he gained his inspiration for the tribute. Having been a lifelong Cash fan and possessing the same kind of sonorous delivery, Goffee was a natural fit to play the man.

"I can remember, as a teenager, taking my dad’s old 45s and LPs and just stacking them on the record player—usually when nobody was home—and standing there and singing along to the songs," Goffee says. "I probably memorized every 45 and every album cut that my dad had in his library. The emotion really comes through in Johnny Cash’s voice. When he sings a song, you just feel like he believes every word he’s singing, and he imparts that to the listener. The listener believes that he believes it, and it kind of becomes a part of your sensibilities as well." Goffee’s love of Cash—and country music in general—led him to pursue a career in music. And he’s had some success of his own: He’s performed at the Grand Ole Opry, released a half-dozen records, and filled his home with scores of music awards. He also landed a gig as the music and promotions director for Oberlin’s WOBL radio (1320 AM), where he’s been a popular personality for four and a half years. A year ago, Goffee began dedicating two to three nights a week to writing the script that forms the basis of Train of Love. He began rehearsing early this spring and has since obtained the blessing of both Columbia Records, which owns the rights to much of Cash’s back catalog, and the publisher of Cash’s autobiography. The result is one of the more entertaining music shows we’ve seen in some time: a fun, absorbing ride that Goffee plans to take national, should early performances go well and the few remaining hurdles be cleared.

"There’s still a possibility that we could run into some obstacles down the road. Columbia Pictures apparently owns the rights to the Johnny Cash story. Whether or not they would consider this to be something that infringes on their rights, I don’t know," Goffee says before continuing with an ornery chuckle. "But then, I said to somebody, ‘Hey, I’m going through with this anyway.’

"And they said, ‘Well, that’s great, because that’s probably the way that Johnny Cash would have done it.’"