What do you think?
Rate this book
A Heartbeat and a Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears
A Heartbeat and a Guitar tells of the collaboration of two distinct yet connected musicians--iconoclast Johnny Cash and pioneering folk artist Peter La Farge-- Bitter Ballads of the American Indian , the album that influenced the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan. In this intimate portrayal of the two musicians, D'Ambrosio interviewed surviving members of Cash's band, his producers, and admirers Pete Seeger and Kris Kristofferson. He renders a dramatic picture of both an era of radical protest and the making of one of the most controversial and enduring works of political pop art of the 1960s.
A Heartbeat and a Guitar is the inspiration for the new album "Look Again to the Johnny Cash's Bitter Tears revisited" featuring a collective of top Americana artists including Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Gillian Welch, and Kris Kristofferson.
A Heartbeat and a Guitar is the inspiration for the new album "Look Again to the Johnny Cash's Bitter Tears revisited" featuring a collective of top Americana artists including Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Gillian Welch, and Kris Kristofferson.
296 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
5 people are currently reading
103 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
September 23, 2021
This book was an interesting find with a pretty solid risk/reward ratio. I have read about Cash but this advertised to be specifically about the Bitter Tears album.
The Bitter Tears album is hard to imagine without context added. I went on a Cash album binge in the late 00s and to a modern ear, it sounds like a ‘theme album’ from a guy who age many theme albums. The album itself is a pretty solid piece of work, not just because those were the days where many long players were hit or miss. It’s a solid group of songs. The album’s defining moment “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” is a classic- one of the best known songs from one of the most well known of all singers.
So, it’s hard for a modern listener like me to place this album in context. It came out not in 1974 or 1969 but 1964. “Ira Hayes” is a bit of a gut punch. I suspect most listeners like myself remember the first time they heard it. It famously led to the incident where Cash took an ad out in Billboard to challenge radio stations to play it.
This book really isn’t about the making of Bitter Tears. It is the story of three men. Ira Hayes, who is a tragic figure, Peter LaFarge, the key songwriter and a tragic figure, and Johnny Cash, who is one of music’s ultimate survivors but certainly seems doomed at that point in his life.
D’Ambrosio also adds in the story of the last 70 years of the Native American Rights movement and the 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene. There’s plenty of tangents from there- Pete Seeger, John Trudell, Alan Lomax, Marlon Brando, Buffie Sainte Marie, the civil rights movement and much more.
Which would be all fine, but the book is a bit of a mess- never quite hanging onto one topic before moving to the next (Perhaps LaFarge gets enough pages, but Cash and Hayes probably could use more). The text itself closer to academic reading than pleasurable.
There’s a lot of interesting stuff here to be sure, but for such a short book, it’s pretty dense reading. The afterword puts the album in its context. Released six years before Dee Brown’s seminal “Bury Me at Wounded Knee”, the album also predates the 70s events like the Alcatraz Occupation, the Wounded Knee Occupation and the Pine Ridge Shooting and trial of Leonard Peltier.
Also to be fair, I have also just watched a Cash doc that covered the same time frame. Johnny Cash and Me was a reflection of the filmmaker who made a film in the 60s of spending 8 months with Cash called Johnny Cash: The Man His World His Music.
It’s a shame, D’Ambrosio doesn’t do a better job of presenting his info in a snappier way. That said, if any of the topics I mentioned are of interest, this book could still be worthwhile.
The Bitter Tears album is hard to imagine without context added. I went on a Cash album binge in the late 00s and to a modern ear, it sounds like a ‘theme album’ from a guy who age many theme albums. The album itself is a pretty solid piece of work, not just because those were the days where many long players were hit or miss. It’s a solid group of songs. The album’s defining moment “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” is a classic- one of the best known songs from one of the most well known of all singers.
So, it’s hard for a modern listener like me to place this album in context. It came out not in 1974 or 1969 but 1964. “Ira Hayes” is a bit of a gut punch. I suspect most listeners like myself remember the first time they heard it. It famously led to the incident where Cash took an ad out in Billboard to challenge radio stations to play it.
This book really isn’t about the making of Bitter Tears. It is the story of three men. Ira Hayes, who is a tragic figure, Peter LaFarge, the key songwriter and a tragic figure, and Johnny Cash, who is one of music’s ultimate survivors but certainly seems doomed at that point in his life.
D’Ambrosio also adds in the story of the last 70 years of the Native American Rights movement and the 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene. There’s plenty of tangents from there- Pete Seeger, John Trudell, Alan Lomax, Marlon Brando, Buffie Sainte Marie, the civil rights movement and much more.
Which would be all fine, but the book is a bit of a mess- never quite hanging onto one topic before moving to the next (Perhaps LaFarge gets enough pages, but Cash and Hayes probably could use more). The text itself closer to academic reading than pleasurable.
There’s a lot of interesting stuff here to be sure, but for such a short book, it’s pretty dense reading. The afterword puts the album in its context. Released six years before Dee Brown’s seminal “Bury Me at Wounded Knee”, the album also predates the 70s events like the Alcatraz Occupation, the Wounded Knee Occupation and the Pine Ridge Shooting and trial of Leonard Peltier.
Also to be fair, I have also just watched a Cash doc that covered the same time frame. Johnny Cash and Me was a reflection of the filmmaker who made a film in the 60s of spending 8 months with Cash called Johnny Cash: The Man His World His Music.
It’s a shame, D’Ambrosio doesn’t do a better job of presenting his info in a snappier way. That said, if any of the topics I mentioned are of interest, this book could still be worthwhile.
October 29, 2009
johnny cash's 1964 concept album "bitter tears: ballads of the american indian" is certainly one of the finest (and most underrated) records of his career. d'ambrosio's book a heartbeat and a guitar: johnny cash and the making of bitter tears, while well-researched and mostly fascinating, is perhaps somewhat mistitled. though cash's album, devoted to the vicious and unfair treatment of indigenous peoples, is the pivot upon which the narrative depends, a majority of the book is spent relating the not-unrelated tales of peter la farge (who wrote five of the albums eight songs, himself a folksinger), the native rights and civil rights movements, and the reemergence of the folk scene (guthrie, seeger, dylan, etc.). little room (or, maybe, room not ample enough) is devoted to cash and his truly singular album. while "bitter tears" was met with a combination of disregard and reproach, the album did meet with some success, eventually climbing to #2 on the country charts and 47th overall. there is much to like in d'ambrosio's book, and it is evident that he is fond of the subject and excited to have been able to write about it. for any well-read music lover, cash fan, or folk devotee, many of the facts and faces will be familiar. woven together, the story of converging movements is intriguing, and d'ambrosio's portrait of an era is vivid and well-constructed. a heartbeat and a guitar is not, however, so much a biography of johnny cash as it is a memoir of a chapter in american history rife with great change and upheaval.
he died drunk one mornin'
alone in the land he fought to save
two inches of water in a lonely ditch
was a grave for ira hayes
call him drunken ira hayes
he won't answer anymore
not the whiskey drinkin' indian
nor the marine that went to war...
he died drunk one mornin'
alone in the land he fought to save
two inches of water in a lonely ditch
was a grave for ira hayes
call him drunken ira hayes
he won't answer anymore
not the whiskey drinkin' indian
nor the marine that went to war...
December 18, 2018
An incredible read.
Incredible.
This was almost a religious read for me. I grew up idolizing Johnny Cash, and feeling an intense kinship with and desire to help the Native American movement. I am, obviously, a person who very much benefits from White Privilege....I strive in my day-to-day to learn ways to help and use it to better other people. My family history includes a Native American on my Dad's side 2-3 generations back, and I'm thankful that it inspired in my father an interest in Native culture and struggles, which he spent time teaching me and passing on to me in various ways. This book opened my brain wide up.
It's fascinating to read about famous people like Cash, Mohammad Ali, and Marlon Brando putting their careers and reputations on the line to join arm-in-arm with the native people and work towards a true civil rights movement victory. It's also fascinating to learn that, and i'm going to all-caps this because it's important, oftentimes: THINGS DON'T GET DONE UNLESS YOU STAND YOUR GROUND, AND SOMETIMES THIS MEANS BEING UNCIVIL AT BEST AND RIOTOUS AT WORST.
A very topical and powerful message for a book about a very niche and singular record. Read this if you have any interest at all in the music it talks about.
Incredible.
This was almost a religious read for me. I grew up idolizing Johnny Cash, and feeling an intense kinship with and desire to help the Native American movement. I am, obviously, a person who very much benefits from White Privilege....I strive in my day-to-day to learn ways to help and use it to better other people. My family history includes a Native American on my Dad's side 2-3 generations back, and I'm thankful that it inspired in my father an interest in Native culture and struggles, which he spent time teaching me and passing on to me in various ways. This book opened my brain wide up.
It's fascinating to read about famous people like Cash, Mohammad Ali, and Marlon Brando putting their careers and reputations on the line to join arm-in-arm with the native people and work towards a true civil rights movement victory. It's also fascinating to learn that, and i'm going to all-caps this because it's important, oftentimes: THINGS DON'T GET DONE UNLESS YOU STAND YOUR GROUND, AND SOMETIMES THIS MEANS BEING UNCIVIL AT BEST AND RIOTOUS AT WORST.
A very topical and powerful message for a book about a very niche and singular record. Read this if you have any interest at all in the music it talks about.
March 31, 2018
I gave this book a 3 rating because there was a lot of very interesting historic information in it. That said, the title is either intentionally misleading or the writer's ability to structure his theme was just not what was needed.
The book is mostly about singer-songwriter Peter LaFarge who essentially launched the movement to take on the cause of Native peoples in American who have been so badly treated by the government for decades. The centerpiece song that drives this historical piece is the Ballad of Ira Hayes, which was a powerful song in Johnny Cash's "Bitter Tears" record.
The books provides all the details about Ira Hayes, the song, how the song attracted celebrities to the issues of mistreatment of Native peoples, drove resistance movements, explained what Native Americans really wanted v. what was portrayed, and summarized what little was actually achieved, but it was something.
All of this was eye-opening and powerful information. The author then connected lots of dots from the times: the civil rights movement, women's rights, the economically disadvantaged, and the Viet Nam War. Here and there, what Johnny Cash was doing as a singer was slotted in, sometimes focusing on his relationships with LaFarge and lots of other singers of the times, Native American activities, the record industry, and his abuse of a variety of drugs. There was lots of mention of the Carter Family sprinkled in too.
At times, it seemed that the author was on his own pulpit. He spent many pages covered with quotations from newspapers about all of these issues, at times to the point of overload. How many times can you say the same thing about the same subjects. The book was fascinating at times and laborious at others. Keeping a sense of continuity and forward progress was difficult. In the end, it was not what the title seemed to imply, but there was value in the pages.
The book is mostly about singer-songwriter Peter LaFarge who essentially launched the movement to take on the cause of Native peoples in American who have been so badly treated by the government for decades. The centerpiece song that drives this historical piece is the Ballad of Ira Hayes, which was a powerful song in Johnny Cash's "Bitter Tears" record.
The books provides all the details about Ira Hayes, the song, how the song attracted celebrities to the issues of mistreatment of Native peoples, drove resistance movements, explained what Native Americans really wanted v. what was portrayed, and summarized what little was actually achieved, but it was something.
All of this was eye-opening and powerful information. The author then connected lots of dots from the times: the civil rights movement, women's rights, the economically disadvantaged, and the Viet Nam War. Here and there, what Johnny Cash was doing as a singer was slotted in, sometimes focusing on his relationships with LaFarge and lots of other singers of the times, Native American activities, the record industry, and his abuse of a variety of drugs. There was lots of mention of the Carter Family sprinkled in too.
At times, it seemed that the author was on his own pulpit. He spent many pages covered with quotations from newspapers about all of these issues, at times to the point of overload. How many times can you say the same thing about the same subjects. The book was fascinating at times and laborious at others. Keeping a sense of continuity and forward progress was difficult. In the end, it was not what the title seemed to imply, but there was value in the pages.
February 24, 2019
This book needed written, or, I needed to read it, and found it very readable.
Completing this read will be a pleasure for someone with passionate interest and empathy for the genocide of the American Indigenous People. Being familiar with the background of Folk Music also helped me, but it was a pleasure that so many new names, places, and issues of the Folk scene were introduced.
The afterword is dry reading, I think, because so many issues are being condensed, rather than expanded. Only two dry points in the book for me, when D'Amrosio allows a few pages at a time to focus on a subject.
Pre/Post-requisites: Dee Brown's Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee and PBS doc. Rumble: Indians who rocked the world.
Completing this read will be a pleasure for someone with passionate interest and empathy for the genocide of the American Indigenous People. Being familiar with the background of Folk Music also helped me, but it was a pleasure that so many new names, places, and issues of the Folk scene were introduced.
The afterword is dry reading, I think, because so many issues are being condensed, rather than expanded. Only two dry points in the book for me, when D'Amrosio allows a few pages at a time to focus on a subject.
Pre/Post-requisites: Dee Brown's Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee and PBS doc. Rumble: Indians who rocked the world.
May 27, 2010
I expected this book to detail the actual recording of Johnny Cash's Bitter Tears album, one of the few albums that I distinctly remember in my parents' record collection.
Instead, I was blown away by the detailed context D'Ambrosio provides about the Native rights movement, the flowering of folk and protest music in the 20th Century, a thorough treatment of the life of Peter LaFarge, composer of "The Ballad of Ira Hayes," and Ira Hayes himself.
Without being overly academic, D'Ambrosio provides a scholarly, satisfying read about one of the most controversial, important albums in history.
Instead, I was blown away by the detailed context D'Ambrosio provides about the Native rights movement, the flowering of folk and protest music in the 20th Century, a thorough treatment of the life of Peter LaFarge, composer of "The Ballad of Ira Hayes," and Ira Hayes himself.
Without being overly academic, D'Ambrosio provides a scholarly, satisfying read about one of the most controversial, important albums in history.
July 14, 2016
Although this book is filled with fascinating information about Johnny Cash, Peter LaFarge and the making of the Bitter Tears album, the writing is sloppy, tedious and amateurish. Which is surprising because I believe this not the author's only work.. I love all the background info about Johnny, the folk music scene during the sixties and all the players. I learned many things about the history and connections between well-known and less well-known singers, songwriters and musicians. An incredible amount of research went into this book, for which I am very grateful. I just wish the writing and organization was better.
April 26, 2016
Best book I've read all year. Everything I love in book form.
April 21, 2025
This is the most “catfish” ass book I’ve ever read. The good ol bait and switch.
On the surface, you would think you’re going to be reading a book about Johnny Cash, but maybe 15 pages total even talk about Johnny Cash.
This book is more about the Native Americans during the civil rights movement and Peter La Farge than it is Johnny Cash. While some of the information in here is pretty interesting, it is unfortunately VERY poorly written. It just feels like the author is unable to focus on a subject and is all over the place the whole time.
If you’re looking for an academic read, maybe this book is for you. If you’re looking for a pleasurable/interesting book about Johnny Cash, then this most definitely IS NOT for you.
On the surface, you would think you’re going to be reading a book about Johnny Cash, but maybe 15 pages total even talk about Johnny Cash.
This book is more about the Native Americans during the civil rights movement and Peter La Farge than it is Johnny Cash. While some of the information in here is pretty interesting, it is unfortunately VERY poorly written. It just feels like the author is unable to focus on a subject and is all over the place the whole time.
If you’re looking for an academic read, maybe this book is for you. If you’re looking for a pleasurable/interesting book about Johnny Cash, then this most definitely IS NOT for you.
November 18, 2022
D'Ambrosio's well-researched and wide-ranging story of Johnny Cash and his recording of "Bitter Tears," his collection of Native "protest" songs. The book covers the story of Ira Hayes, the origins of the song, via Peter LaFarge, the NY folk scene, Native organizations and protest, US Governmental machinations attempting to eliminate all Natives, the opposition at governmental levels, the battles Cash had with his record company to make his own "concept" albums, and his addiction and personal problems and history, at the time.
April 24, 2020
Despite the subtitle, the author devotes about 3 pages to the making of Cash's 1964 album, Bitter Tears. This book is more about the cultural and musical context of the time. In fact, the context sort of swallowed up the story that the author was trying to tell. I would have liked more focus on Cash and the story of the Native Americans who inspired him.
March 4, 2020
Very informative book. Explores not just the making of the album but the whole movement and influence that lead to Cash to create this album.
May 25, 2024
Soon after Johnny Cash signed on with Columbia records he became friends with Peter LaFarge, a songwriter and fervent sympathizer of the plight of the American Indian. LaFarge had written a ballad immortalizing Ira Hayes, one of the marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima in WW2 and celebrated in the iconic photograph. Cash wanted to record a song utilizing the LaFarge lyrics but executives at Columbia sought record-selling hits from Cash and nixed the idea. Cash fought back and eventually the song was recorded. It influenced other musicians and activists to take up the cause of the plight of the Indian. Two editorial errors I found on the first few pages: Author has McGovern as Nixon’s opponent in 1968; and at another point he mentions Hayes as a captain in the marines. It seems that these days I often find editing and proofreading errors in books. I don’t think publishers are as thorough as they used to be.
October 1, 2011
I just couldn't get into this book. I just marked as read to get it off my currently reading list. Found the Ira Hayes story interesting, and I would have liked if the book was more about the shories behind the music than the music scene/producer//song writer stuff I (as a music industry layperson) have no interest in.
August 26, 2012
Interesting read which gives the history of the 40's-60's (especially the 60's) mainly through the stories of 3 men: Cash, Peter La Farge & Ira Hayes.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews