The first time Kris Kristofferson shook Johnny Cash’s hand, it helped change the course of Kris Kristofferson’s life. Nearly four decades later, the two country music legends shared a quiet embrace when Johnny Cash was too ill to talk.
For Kris Kristofferson, those two moments remained connected by a friendship that began long before fame, hit records, and the Highwaymen.
In a revealing 2013 interview, Kris Kristofferson recalled the embrace and explained why Johnny Cash had never stopped being larger than life, even after decades of friendship.
A Handshake That Changed Everything
In 1965, Kris Kristofferson was serving in the United States Army and facing a major decision about the future. A successful military career was within reach, but songwriting had become an increasingly powerful ambition.
During a two-week leave, Kris Kristofferson visited Nashville. Songwriter Marijohn Wilkin and producer Cowboy Jack Clement helped introduce Kris Kristofferson to the city’s music community.
One evening, Kris Kristofferson went backstage at the Grand Ole Opry and met Johnny Cash.
There was no long conversation or promise of a recording contract. Just a handshake with one of the most important figures in country music.
But that encounter stayed with Kris Kristofferson.
Years later, remembering the meeting, Kris Kristofferson said:
“That handshake changed my life.”
Seeing Johnny Cash backstage helped convince Kris Kristofferson to leave the military and return to Nashville to pursue songwriting. The decision meant walking away from a promising career and entering an industry where success was far from guaranteed.
From Nashville Dreamer to Fellow Highwayman
The years that followed were difficult. Kris Kristofferson worked as a janitor at Columbia’s Nashville recording studio while trying to get established as a songwriter.
Eventually, Johnny Cash became one of the most important supporters of Kris Kristofferson’s music.
Johnny Cash recorded “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” turning the deeply personal composition into a country classic. The song won the Country Music Association’s Song of the Year award in 1970.
In December 1978, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson performed the song together on a Christmas television special. For Kris Kristofferson, singing alongside the artist who had inspired such a dramatic career change was something special.
During the 1980s, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson joined Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings to form the Highwaymen.
Despite sharing stages and recording sessions with three legendary performers, Kris Kristofferson never entirely lost the feeling of being a fan.
In the 2013 interview with Rock Cellar, Kris Kristofferson remembered looking at Johnny Cash onstage and thinking the famous profile belonged on Mount Rushmore.
Even after years of friendship, the admiration had never faded.
The Quiet Embrace Near the End
Johnny Cash died on September 12, 2003, at the age of 71, just four months after the death of June Carter Cash.
Ten years later, journalist Marshall Ward asked Kris Kristofferson whether there had been an opportunity to say goodbye.
The answer was brief, but deeply personal.
“We had a warm embrace.”
Kris Kristofferson explained that Johnny Cash had been too ill to hold a conversation at the time.
There was no lengthy farewell speech to remember. Instead, Kris Kristofferson remembered the physical closeness of an embrace and the extraordinary respect that had survived throughout their friendship.
Kris Kristofferson did not describe the encounter as their final meeting or provide an exact date. What remained clear was how much Johnny Cash still meant to Kris Kristofferson.
One Final Tribute in Hendersonville
On September 15, 2003, family members, musicians, and close friends gathered at First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee, for Johnny Cash’s funeral.
Kris Kristofferson was there.
According to a contemporary Los Angeles Times report, Kris Kristofferson sat near Johnny Cash’s casket alongside longtime manager Lou Robin and Reverend Courtney Wilson.
At the beginning of the ceremony, Kris Kristofferson offered a prayer of gratitude for Johnny Cash’s life.
In that prayer, Kris Kristofferson described Johnny Cash with a simple tribute:
“He was the best of America.”
The words came from someone who had known Johnny Cash not only as a celebrated performer, but also as a mentor, musical partner, and friend.
A Friendship Remembered Through Two Simple Gestures
Kris Kristofferson went on to write songs that became standards, build a successful acting career, and earn a permanent place in country music history.
Yet when Kris Kristofferson looked back in 2013, the first handshake at the Grand Ole Opry and the quiet embrace near the end of Johnny Cash’s life were still among the memories worth sharing.
One encounter had helped give Kris Kristofferson the courage to pursue a different future. The other belonged to a time when Johnny Cash’s life was coming to an end.
Between those moments were decades of music, performances, friendship, and mutual respect.
For Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash had been a hero from the beginning. And even after becoming a fellow country music legend, Kris Kristofferson never stopped seeing Johnny Cash that way.