Cash on demand
Terry Lee Goffee performs his Ultimate Johnny Cash Tribute on Saturday in Albion.

BY BRYAN OBERLE
bryan.oberle@timesnews.com [more details]
Published: September 11. 2008 12:01AM

When Terry Lee Goffee starts his ultimate Johnny Cash show "Train of Love" by announcing to audiences, "Hello, my name is Johnny Cash," he eerily looks and sounds the part.

You don't think so?


Fire up your computer. Go to YouTube. Type in "Terry Lee Goffee." Hit search. Up pops Goffee performing a two minute, 51-second clip that sure resembles the Man in Black singing "Walk the Line" during a performance in Kutztown that was posted on Feb. 28.

There are plenty of performers who can pull off a solid "Walk the Line" or "Folsom Prison Blues" or even "Ring of Fire." Getting the Cash look -- the classic sturdy jaw and the familiar burly frame -- is doable.

But as you watch YouTube clips of Goffee performing these classic Cash tunes, what stands out is how he nails the raw emotions that define Cash's iconic songs.

That is not easily accomplished.

The Wild Card Line September 2007

 Goffee strummed along on his acoustic guitar, occasionally aiming it up in the airor 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 upa 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’ssinging 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 listenedto 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."

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."

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.

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.

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

Article published Aug 8, 2005
'Man in Black' comes to Bucyrus Johnny Cash impersonator thrills crowd

By Mike Redelson
Telegraph-Forum staff

BUCYRUS -- Concertgoers expecting to hear some bayou boogie got "the man in black" instead.

More than 400 people came to the Crawford County Fairgrounds grandstands Saturday night expecting to hear the Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute band, the Bayou Boys, but were entertained by Johnny Cash tribute performer Terry Lee Goffee.

According to Bucyrus Police Public Information Officer Ralph Grubel, the Bayou Boys were detained at the U.S.-Canadian border en route to Bucyrus. So, the local Fraternal Order of Police had to scramble to get another act or call the concert off.

"I just came to hear a concert," one concertgoer said when he was informed the Creedence tribute band wouldn't appear.

It didn't take long for Goffee to get the crowd into the groove.

Goffee, a resident of Wellington, was backed by his Tennessee Three: Richard VanWinkle on lead guitar and keyboard, Bob Ronez on bass and Todd VanWinkle, decked out in white blazers and black ties and pants, just like Cash's boys.

Hooting a train whistle and wearing all black, Goffee set into his Cash persona and belted out dozens of Cash favorites such as "Folsom Prison Blues," "Hurt" and "Ring of Fire."

In between songs, Goffee in Cash's own words told of his life and the origins of many of Cash's songs, such as "A Boy Named Sue," which was one of Cash's crossover hits between rock and country in 1969, and Cash's first number-one single, "I Walk the Line."

"Ragged Old Flag," a Cash hit from 1971, got the crowd on its feet. The song speaks about what America's red, white and blue flag has been through from the Revolutionary War to Vietnam to unrest at home.

The audience thunderously applauded "Sunday Morning Coming Down," a song written by country star and actor Kris Kristopherson, whom Cash first met when Kristopherson was sweeping out CBS Studios as a custodian. Cash seldom did a show without including one of his friend's songs, Goffee said.

Goffee did a set of Cash's best known train songs and prison songs, one in which he counts down the 25 minutes before hanging. Goffee did an upbeat version of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' twang on "No Expectations" during the train set.

Most of the audience listened intently as Goffee, in his Cash persona, told the story of Cash's "Man In Black."

The song explains why the legendary performer wore black, saying he wore it for the poor, lonely persons who were prisoners of their time and also the disenfranchised.

The audience grew quiet as Goffee sang Cash's last song, the haunting "Hurt," which Cash said he regarded as the best anti-drug song he had ever heard.

Goffee closed the show with a song he wrote with partner Jerry Duncan, a tribute to Cash called "The Man In Black Is Gone," composed shortly after Cash's death in 2003.

Goffee and crew called their tribute "Train of Love" and said they had gotten great reviews from the Cash family.

A country disc jockey with WOBL 1320 AM in Oberlin, where he hosts a show called "The Goffee Break," Goffee does about 50 shows a year and recently played casinos in Wisconsin.

He also has several original cassettes and plans to host a trip to Nashville along with his band, which will do the Cash tribute at the Nashville Hard Rock Cafe.

Several of Cash's family members have given him kudos.

"There were tributes to Patsy Cline that (were) a huge success down in Nashville. There was another devoted to Hank Williams, so I thought I would like to do the tribute thing," Goffee said.

One thing he set out to do was make the tribute unique by portraying Johnny Cash in first person, rather than just through song.

"I had the vocal range, plus my facial features had become a little craggy over the years," he said, adding he does a theatrical portrayal of Cash.

His moves are identical in both the theater and concert portrayal to Cash's holding and strumming his guitar at the neck. He's also got Cash's growl and laugh.

"Yeah, I came to see the Creedence guys but this guy was super. He sounds just like Johnny. It was like being in Nashville. I bet Johnny's looking down smiling," Cash fan Larry Beach said after the concert.

"It was good country. I didn't know who I was coming to see, (I came) just listen to music," Darell Au said.

"Fantastic. I thought it was Johnny. I had tears in my eyes when he sang 'Ragged Old Flag,' " John Zakro said.

Zakro, who bought two of Goffee's CDs, said he would like to see the Bratwurst Festival Committee bring Goffee in for the festival.

"I hope he comes back. The people here will drag all their friends back to hear him," Zakro said.

Norma Brown, who got Goffee's autograph and a CD, said "the concert was great," and added, "I didn't want it to end."

http://www.bucyrustelegraphforum.com

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.’"

TRIBUTE TO JOHNNY

AN AREA COUNTRY MUSIC ARTIST PORTRAYS THE MAN IN BLACK

Steve Brown

The Chronicle Telegram

When Terry Lee Goffee was a young boy, two singers had a profound impact on him. 'I have been a fan of Johnny Cash since I was 6 or 7," Goffee said. "He and Elvis were my first two musical influences. I always felt Johnny's music got better After Elvis came out of the Army, he got so caught up doing movies and sound‑tracks.” Johnny appealed to me more,” Goffee said. "He addressed a lot of issues common to a lot of people, whether it was sensitive social issues or something the average person can relate to." This probably explains why Goffee, a country singer and on‑air personality for WOBL 1320‑AM, decided to start performing "Train of Love: A Tribute to Johnny Cash" with-in the last year. He will do his “Train of Love" show Saturday night at Casey's Comedy Club in Lorain. "I had knowledge of others who were doing tributes," Goffee said about why he made decision to put together such a show. "There was a tribute to Patsy Cline that was a huge success down in Nashville. And there was another one devoted to Hank Williams. So I thought I would like to do the tribute thing."

But Goffee wanted to do something a little different. "I decided to make mine a little unique by portraying Johnny Cash) in first person, rather than just me standing there doing the music," Goffee said. "I had the vocal range, plus my facial features had become a little craggy over the years ‑ I said, 'I think I can do this.’”

There was one problem that faced Goffee - how do you decide what songs from Cash’s vast musical catalog?

“That was the most difficult (decision) of all in putting this together,” Goffee said. “I knew I wanted to include a good part of his early Sun recordings.

Then I thought I would just move chronologically, picking up his biggest hits along the way. I also wanted to include some of the new American recordings that he started doing in 1993.

"I wanted to include those to keep the interest of some of the younger fans," Goffee added. "But all in all, trying to whittle down 1,500 songs to 34 to fit in two hours was hard.

Among the 34 songs to be heard Saturday night will be such Cash classics as “A Boy Named Sue,” Sunday Morning Coming Down,” “I Walk The Line.” “Ring Of Fire,” and “Folsom Prison Blues.”

Cash's recent death had an obvious effect on Goffee.

"Though I never met the man, I feel like I've lost my mentor," Goffee said. "I've been singing his songs and attempting to copy his moves over the last 40 years. I think I'll feel a little awkward in the beginning because he's gone. But then I will have a sense of duty to keep performing this show to keep his music and legacy alive.

In June, Goffee took his “Train of Love” tribute to Nashville for a couple of performances. Cash’s brother and sister, Tommy Cash and Joanne Cash Yates, attended the show and came away impressed.

"That was the greatest endorsement we could get ... his brother and sister enjoying the show," Goffee said. "That was a great boost to our confidence. We came away from Nashville saying, 'We must have gotten something right.'"

Goffee recently went into the studio to record a new tribute song "The Man In Black Is Gone.”

For Saturday’s show, Casey’s will have its cook on duty until midnight so patrons can dine before or after the show. The club itself will remain open until between 2 and 3 a.m. Following the Goffee show, a country deejay will play music on the second floor.