“After shows, I like to shake hands and talk to people, and I get a lot of folks varying in ages. Such moments are what make Church of Cash - and the music it pays homage to - so special nearly twenty years after Cash himself perished at the age of 71. I want to live in the moment of the show and feel the energy of the audience and ride that energy and give them what I think they want." “We’re just off-the-cuff kicking out songs and keeping it in the moment. I obviously have the big hits that everyone knows, but I could look at the audience and size them up where I think I know what they’re going to like,” he adds. … I do not have a set list where I come out and do the same twenty songs every night. Instead, the quartet - including drummer Jonathon TeBeest, guitarist “Jumpin’” Jack Mansk and bassist Tony Wirth - picks from its ever-growing catalogue and plays to the spirit of the audience, a skill Ernest has perfected over the years. That’s why I call it the Church of Cash.”Įrnest and company are so embedded in the Cash ethos and aura that the band doesn’t need to put together a set list before performances. We are celebrating his life and his music all under one roof. How different is that then when you come to my Johnny Cash show? We’re listening to these stories. … When you go to church, you’re listening to stories and singing songs. “My main objective is to take people on more of a journey. Like, what was his sound like when he was young, and when did he transform? When did he become the Man in Black? When did he talk to the boys and become the Highwayman? Then what happened when he met Rick Rubin and did the American Recordings? That’s the stuff you get beyond a cover band,” he explains. We’re exploring Johnny Cash’s career together beyond just giving the audience what they want with the hits. … I might throw out a little-known track from 1958 that I think is a wonderful song that they might be curious about. “We’re going to dive deeper into Johnny Cash. The band is more about the music than mimicking the country crooner’s mannerisms, Ernest says. But don’t get it twisted: While Ernest employs the same baritone voice as Cash, Church of Cash is not a cover band - it's an experience in everything that is Cash. Kyle Moon & the Misled are providing support. He and the band were inducted into the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame in 2021.ĭenver will get a taste of Church of Cash when it holds service at Globe Hall on Thursday, September 15. We’re up over 200 right now,” Ernest adds. Johnny Cash has somewhere in the realm of 1,500 recorded songs. “Throughout the years, it’s just been learning more and more songs. Ernest moved back to his home state of Minnesota shortly after, and the band has been touring ever since. In 2010, his Cash-inspired tribute band, Church of Cash, was officially formed. … I guess that was a part of my childhood that I really didn’t remember until that moment.” “I quickly realized that I already knew these songs. I’m going to go home and learn a bunch more of his songs,’” he recalls. Some people would say, ‘Hey, you do a really excellent Johnny Cash.’ I thought, ‘How cool is that? I really love Johnny Cash. I guess I didn’t know at the time, but they either thought I stunk, or they liked it. I played Irish music, country music, Men at Work - but every time I would play Johnny Cash, people would set down their beers and stare at me. But after patrons started commenting on how much he sounded like the Man in Black, he had an idea: He would start a tribute band to honor Johnny Cash. His set list included material by everyone from Men at Work to Cash, songs to “get the drinks flowing,” as he describes them. A longtime touring bassist and guitarist with bands including Go Jimmy Go and Warsaw Poland Bros., Ernest made a steady living through music, including regularly playing at an Irish pub in the city’s Chinatown area. As a gigging musician, Jay Ernest had no intention of becoming a guitar-wielding Johnny Cash revivalist while living in Honolulu.
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