Daniel Thompson as the Man in Black, Johnny Cash.
FANS of Johnny Cash will have a chance to see "The Man in Black" in Warrnambool this Saturday, or at least the closest possible thing.
Daniel Thompson has been performing as a Johnny Cash tribute act for years and as part of a national tour said he would bring Cash fans at the Lighthouse Theatre an idea of what it would have been like to see the country and rock legend in concert.
"You've got to have the black suit of course and the deep voice certainly doesn't hurt," the 37-year-old told Offbeat.
"The key is knowing the character really well and what he was all about.
"I've done a lot of research into who he was and listened to a lot of music."
The full band performance will showcase Cash's early work right through to the America IV recordings released in recent years, including his covers of Nine Inch Nails' Hurt and Soundgarden's Rusty Cage.
"That's a really important part of Johnny Cash's career and his popularity today," Thompson said.
"Without those albums he would still be the legend he was but may not be the legend that he is.
"I think the fans of Johnny Cash and his music certainly keep the legend alive.
"We try give people something they may not otherwise get - the experience of what it would be like to be at a Johnny Cash show.
"It's really paying tribute to Cash and his music and letting people hear songs the way they should be played."
Thompson said Cash's work continued to impact music lovers because of his sincerity in songwriting.
"He wasn't afraid to talk about hardships in his life.
"There's an honesty in his songs and his music and the way he carried himself.
"People find something of themselves in a lot of his songs and I think they means something different to everybody.
"He's one of those artists with no borders.
"It's funny the amount of people who say they don't like country music but love Johnny Cash.
"This is what country music is all about but people draw a distinction between it.
"He came from that rock 'n' roll background because he came through the same studio as Elvis and Roy Orbison, but I think it was more the industry labelling him a country singer than himself."