ROOTS of Country Music

The Professional Work of Marshalol Grant

Marshall Grant was raised in Bessemer City, North Carolina. Grant was one of twelve children born of Willie Leander (1888--1968) and Mary Elizabeth (Simmonds) Grant.  Marshall settled in Memphis, Tennessee (TN) in 1947. He worked as a mechanic for Automobile Sales Company. It was during this time that he met fellow Automobile Sales Company employees Luther Perkins and Roy Cash, Sr., older brother of Johnny Cash.

When the younger Cash returned to Memphis, TN after serving in the U.S. Air Force, Grant, Perkins and Johnny began playing together as three rhythm guitarists, along with another Automobile Sales Company co-worker and steel guitar player, A.W. "Red" Kernodle.

Grant, a self-taught musician, learned to play the bass after the group collectively decided that he should switch to playing bass and that Perkins would play lead guitar. Grant recorded with Cash from 1954 until 1980. In addition to playing bass, Grant also served as road manager, stage manager and driver for Johnny Cash. Following his career with Cash (1980), Grant managed the Statler Brothers until their retirement in 2002.

The Tennessee Two was the backing band for Johnny Cash The band started in the mid-1950s consisting of Johnny Cash (guitar/lead vocals), Cash's friends Luther Perkins on electric guitar and Marshall Grant on upright bass. Originally called the Tennessee Three, Sam Phillips of Sun Records suggested that the band be called Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two. There was also a third member of the group, Red' Kernodle, who played steel guitar during the first audition.

In late 1954, when Cash got an audition with producer Sam Phillips (Memphis, Tennessee), he brought Perkins, Grant and Kernodle along to back him instrumentally. The experience made Kernodle nervous and he ended up leaving before the session was over, with Perkins and Grant providing the instrumentation. Initially, Cash presented himself as a gospel singer, but Phillips turned him down. Phillips asked him to come back with something more commercial. Cash returned with Hey Porter (1955), which immediately caught Phillips' attention.

Signed to Sun as Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, their first chart single, Cry, Cry, Cry, became a moderate country hit. After the singles So Doggone Lonesome and Folsom Prison Blues, the band had their first major country hit with Cash's own I Walk the Line in 1956. They appeared on the Louisiana Hayride in December 1955, becoming regulars, before graduating to the Grand Ole Opry in July 1956. They subsequently achieved major country hits with Ballad of a Teenage Queen and Guess Things Happen That Way (1958).

Their initial recording sessions produced the album, With His Hot and Blue Guitar, Sun LP-1220 (1957) with Johnny Cash (vocal/guitar), Luther Perkins (lead guitar), Jack Clement (guitar) and Marshall Grant (bass). The band honed their trade playing every school house and cat house in Dixieland, travelling In Johnny's 1954 Plymouth with the nig doghouse bass strapped to the roof. Their sound rarely changed over the years, it just got tighter.

Grant was residing in Hernando, Mississippi and had been in Jonesboro, Arkansas for a Johnny Cash Festival that featured stars such as George Jones, Kris Kristofferson and Cash's son and daughter, Roseanne Cash and John Carter Cash. Mr. Grant spent Wednesday afternoon at rehearsals, hearing artists including Kris Kristofferson, George Jones and Rodney Crowell rehearse for the Thursday concert along with Rosanne Cash, Johnny Cash's son John Carter Cash, daughter-in-law Laura Cash, brother Tommy Cash and many others.

Grant was preparing to speak about Cash's early recordings at the concert. "He was excited and passionate about the day," said John Carter Cash. "He was right in the thick of it and he saw history coming full circle." After the Wednesday rehearsal, Mr. Grant grew weary at his hotel while spinning stories with Cash family members. He then collapsed and was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where he had emergency surgery to remove a blood clot. He died Sunday morning, August 7, 2011.

Researched and written by Richard Bell, Country Music Historian, Roots of Country Music, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. August, 2011.