Johnny Cash was the patriarch of an ever-growing family.
The “Ring of Fire” singer, who died in September 2003, was the father of seven children and stepchildren. The late musician and his first wife, Vivian Liberto, welcomed four daughters: Rosanne Cash, Kathy Cash, Cindy Cash and Tara Cash. Following his divorce from Liberto in 1966, Johnny married June Carter in 1968. She already had two children from her previous relationship, daughters Carlene Carter and Rosie Nix Adams. They also welcomed one child together, son John Carter Cash.
Rosanne is a mom to five children. She welcomed daughters Caitlin Rivers Crowell, Chelsea Jane Crowell and Carrie Kathleen Crowell with her first husband Rodney Crowell and raised his daughter Hannah Crowell from a previous relationship. She also shares a son, Jakob William Leventhal, with her husband John Leventhal.
Carlene welcomed daughter Tiffany Anastasia Lowe with her first husband, Joseph Simpkins Jr. She then welcomed her son, John Jackson Routh, with her second husband, Jack Wesley Routh. Kathy has three children, including her son Thomas Gabriel from a previous relationship. She also has two children with her husband Jimmy Tittle: Dustin Tittle and Kacy Tittle.
Cindy is mom to one child, daughter Jessica Dorraine Brock, whom she welcomed with her first husband. Tara has two children, Aran Thomas Schwoebel and Alexander Roland Schwoebel. John has three children from previous marriages: Anna Maybelle Cash, Joseph John Cash and Jack Ezra Cash. He also shares two children with his wife Ana Cristina Cash: Grace June Cash and James Kristoffer Cash.
Here’s everything to know about Johnny Cash’s 18 grandchildren: Hannah, Caitlin, Chelsea, Carrie, Jakob, Tiffany, John, Dustin, Kacy, Thomas, Jessica, Aran, Alexander, Joseph, Anna, Jack, Grace and James.
Johnny stepped in to help raise his first grandchild
Kathy was a teenager when she welcomed her son Thomas. He spoke to Forbes in March 2019 about his experience being the first grandchild in the family, and his grandfather’s role in his life.
“My mother (Kathy) was very young, only 16, when she had me,” he explained. “So the grandparents, as they often do, stepped in to help.”
By the time Thomas turned 11, he had begun to learn how to play the guitar. When he was a teenager, he also started to show signs of a potential substance abuse problem, which his grandfather famously struggled with. Johnny made efforts to help his grandson, with Thomas explaining, “He was the one who made me go to Alcoholics Anonymous that first time. He knew from the time I was 13 years old that I had the same addiction he had.”
Johnny tried protecting his grandson into his 20s when Thomas started showing his grandfather his music. “He said the writing’s good, your vocals are good, but you need to work on it. In the meantime, I want you to leave it alone and get a back-up plan,” Thomas told Forbes.
For Johnny, that backup plan was for Thomas to become a police officer, about which he said, “About a month later, I was in the academy. And I did it for the next eight years.”
His grandchildren carried on his musical abilities
Johnny passed on his musical talent to his children, including Rosanne, who released 14 studio albums and won four Grammy awards during the course of her career. Carlene, Kathy and John have also carved out their own careers in the family business as musicians, with John also serving as a producer and collaborator with famous artists, including producing his own mom’s albums.
That torch was passed on to the next generation, with Johnny’s grandchildren carrying on his legacy through their own music. According to his website, Thomas began working on his debut album, Long Way Home, in 2018 after struggling for years with substance abuse, which included a stint in prison. He also released his acoustic album Treehouse Sessions in 2021, which featured original music and several covers of his grandfather’s songs.
Chelsea has also released her own music, including her 2009 self-titled debut album and 2011’s Crystal City. She spoke to the San Diego Troubadour in 2013 about coming from a musical family. “It’s definitely not something that’s there all the time, but you find your areas and make peace with it,” she said.
“Once I had my own records, I began to feel a little bit more confident, to feel a little less pressure,” she added. “It’s a paying-your-dues type of thing.”
Jakob has released his own music over the years, including his 2019 album Oh, So Bittersweet. The musician has also released several singles, including the songs “Commotion,” “Hello Ms. Moon” and “Romance No.1” in 2024. In addition to releasing his own music, Jakob works with other artists, lending his talents in engineering, producing, songwriting, mixing and playing several instruments.
Joseph carried on the family legacy in a different format, choosing a musical theater route. In January 2017, his father, John, shared on Facebook that Joseph was “at it again in another top notch Nashville Shakespeare production” and was starring in Romeo and Juliet.
According to his website, he works as an actor, director and producer in Nashville.
Johnny’s music makes his grandchildren feel connected to him after his death
Johnny may have died in September 2003, but his memory lives on through his music for his fans and his family. Thomas tried to separate himself from the family name to find his own success, but still plays a few of his grandfather’s songs for sentimental reasons.
“There are two reasons why I do his songs. One, it makes me closer to him. It really does. I feel closer to him now than I did when he was alive,” Thomas told K2 Radio in September 2021. “[The second reason is because] people miss him. I miss him. It just so happens that I have a similar voice so I’m able to keep his voice alive.”
Thomas added, “I don’t do it to walk in his footsteps, because I never could. Nobody could. He was an old soul — very wise and an extremely deep person.”
They’ve started their own creative careers
While some of Johnny’s grandchildren followed in his footsteps by pursuing music, others carved their own paths.
Hannah is an interior designer and creative director, according to her Instagram bio. Her website states that she previously founded and co-owned Belak & Crowell Interiors before she opened her own design firm, Crowell & Co.
Her sister also started her own Nashville-based company, Crowell Floral. According to the official Facebook page for her brand, Crowell Floral made “elegant” and “eclectic” floral arrangements for special events, including weddings.
Dustin is a film producer and even worked on a movie about his grandmother called My Darling Vivian in 2020. Tiffany is a visual artist who focuses her portraits on musical icons.
“My grandmother, June Carter Cash, was the first person to ‘commission’ portraits from me of family members and they hung in her house until they both passed away in 2003,” she wrote in her bio on Saatchiart.com.
They’ve honored their grandfather’s legacy
Throughout his career, Thomas’ voice has been compared to his grandfather’s.
In October 2018, Thomas performed at Folsom Prison to mark the 50th anniversary of Johnny’s famous performance at the California prison. Thomas performed a mix of his own songs and his grandfather’s, including “Ring of Fire” and “Folsom Prison Blues.”
“It was surreal. I’ve sung Folsom Prison Blues a million times and I’ve heard it my entire life,” Thomas told Radar Online. “And to be singing it and looking around and realizing you’re right in the middle of Folsom Prison while singing it to the inmates who live IN Folsom Prison – it was very emotional.”
He added, “I think my grandfather would be proud as he could be.”
The legacy of some of the grandchildren’s grandmother Vivian also lives on. In an interview with KXL 101, Tara said that she was continuing to be a pillar for her sons Aran and Alexander even in their adulthood because of her late mother’s influence.
They’ve started another generation
Johnny’s grandchildren have already started a new generation of the Cash family.
Hannah is a mom to two daughters: Adeline and Iris. She also parents her stepdaughter, Hailey. Carrie shares two children with her husband, musician Dan Knobler: Willoughby Bert Crowell-Knobler and Olive Vivian Crowell-Knobler.
Carlene is also a grandmother to at least seven grandkids. In October 2019, she told Americana Highways that she had moved back to the southern city to be closer to her grandchildren.
Grace starred in her grandfather’s posthumously released music video
Despite being born more than a decade after the death of her grandfather, Grace got to share a special connection with Johnny. In June 2024, Grace starred in the music video for his posthumously released song “Hello Out There.”
The black-and-white video follows Grace as she stumbles upon the Cash Cabin, which was Johnny’s “hallowed sanctuary” in Tennessee where he wrote and recorded some of his last songs. While inside the cabin, she gets to know her late family members through photos and items that belonged to both Johnny and June.
“It’s a black and white video but right at the end of it you see you my daughter’s beautiful blue eyes that are just the same as my mother’s,” John said in a press release. “I can’t help but cry every time I watch it.”
Source: People
