Tune into "Dark Side of the Highway" this Sunday (Feb. 12) from 4-6 AM EST on WHUS 91.7 FM (listen online at whus.org) for a special presentation of Johnny Cash's final concert performance at the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Virginia on July 5, 2003. He went on to die just a little over two months later....

That night the strain showed but it was still a solid performance. Johnny Cash was a trouper right until the end.

June Carter Cash died on May 15, 2003, at the age of 73. June had told Johnny Cash to keep working, so he continued to record, completing 60 more songs in the last four months of his life, and even performed a couple of surprise shows at the Carter Family Fold outside Bristol, Virgina. At the July 5, 2003 concert (his last public performance), before singing "Ring of Fire", Cash read a statement about his late wife that he had written shortly before taking the stage:

"The spirit of June Carter overshadows me tonight with the love she had for me and the love I have for her. We connect somewhere between here and heaven. She came down for a short time, I guess, from heaven to visit with me tonight to give me courage and inspiration like she always has."

Cash died of complications from diabetes at approximately 2 AM CST on September 13, 2003 while hospitalized at Baptist Hospital in Nashville - less than four months after his wife. He was 71. It was suggested that Johnny's health worsened due to a broken heart over June's death. He was buried next to his wife in Hendersonville Memory Gardens near his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

For those who are keen, they can search out the DVD featuring Johnny Cash's last performances at the Carter Family Fold on June 21 and July 5, 2003 respectively. Some fans have reported that they could only watch it once as it was too painful to watch again.

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