Think you know Johnny Cash?

Continuing its Route 66 series of music documentaries, the Knowledge Network is showing Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music tonight.

I wrote about Bob Elfstrom’s 1969 doc last year when it played (to much excitement) at the Vancity Theatre, interviewing Elfstrom and getting the scuttlebutt on the making of the film. The reason it remains the best and most intimate account of the Man in Black is because of the friendship that developed between the two men, at the very height of Cash’s fame. The project expanded as their kinship deepened, and eventually they made The Gospel Road together.

Although Elfstrom was never compensated, it was no small tribute to his work with Cash that the video for “Hurt” included so much of his footage. If you call yourself a fan, Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music is a vital film. If you don’t call yourself a fan, it’s still a vital film, since you’ll be a fan by the time it’s over.

Here’s the interview with Elfstrom.

Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music screens tonight (July 5) on the Knowledge Network, and again on Sunday (July 8).