Vince Mira Won't Walk the Line
Billed as the Second Coming of Johnny Cash, a teenager from Federal Way wowed rock stars, morning news shows, Ellen DeGeneres, and the Cash estate. There’s just one problem: Vince Mira is done parroting the Man in Black.
And everywhere the crowds couldn’t get enough—of Johnny Cash incarnate. They kept clamoring for the cover songs. Worse, fans and the media still referred to him as “Juanny Cash.” “I cringe every time I hear that name now,” Snell confesses. Snell’s plan had worked too well. Mira’s star was, it seemed, inexorably tied to that of the legendary singer.
Questions emerged—in comments attached to Mira clips on YouTube, whispers in the stairwell after shows—“Talented kid, but what next?” Would Mira become anything more than a Vegas-style lounge act on par with El Vez, the longtime Latino performer who channels Elvis Presley?
Snell regrets sticking his top act with the unshakable “Juanny Cash” sobriquet, but suffers no qualms about pushing the Boy in Black meme early on. “You want media attention. Do you tell Good Morning America no? You have one opportunity to do this, one chance, and you turn it down? I think we probably made the right decision.”
“If I were him I’d never do another Johnny Cash song again.” —Dave Roe, Johnny Cash’s bass player
Dave Roe, the Nashville bassist and member of Johnny Cash’s band, offers some advice: “If I were him I’d never do another Johnny Cash song again,” Roe said. “It’s one thing for people to say he’s reminiscent of Johnny Cash. But if he keeps doing Cash they’re going to say he’s—if not an impersonator—a tribute artist at the very least. I don’t see any way out of that other than to refuse to play those songs.”
Though Mira hasn’t taken that suggestion, he dilutes the Cash content in his shows with his own material, including songs from a second album he recorded with Roe at the Cash Cabin last year, ranging from the sweet, sentimental “Closer” to “Mr. Harrison,” a Bob Dylan–inspired salvo against hypocrisy. (Dylan became an increasingly important source of inspiration after Mira saw him live in Nashville.)
Next for Mira is a third session later this year at the Cash Cabin, where he’ll record another slew of original songs, a performance at Austin City Limits music festival in October, and—proof that Mira and Snell are reluctant to wean themselves off the Cash cow—a possible commemorative Folsom Prison concert next year when the singer turns 18.
“The next time somebody hears from us,” Mira insists, “they’ll say, ‘Hey, it’s Vince Mira,’ not ‘Hey, that kid that plays Johnny Cash songs.’”
Published: July 2009
I dug the Johnny Cash act, (have you ever seen it? It’s A-MAZ-ING) but there has already been a Johnny Cash – And Vince is amazing enough to pull his own weight and not just ride on the man-in-black’s coattails.
If he knows what is good for him, he’ll start refusing to sing like Cash. It’s just too eery.
Thank you for pleasing us and sing for us, you have improved A LOT and I am very impress and proud of you because I know how hard it is to feel alone and You are back. Te quiero mucho. Thanks again.