The old Zenith radio would come on every night about the time I went to bed. My father loved listening to the Grand Ole Opera and country music and one of his favorites was always Johnny Cash. Dad could identify with those songs of picking cotton and the hot sun in the delta.
I always loved the guitar picking; and loved it even more when I realized that an integral part of the Tennessee Three and the Man in Black was Bob Wootton, a native of Paris. He was the son of long-time Subiaco resident R.C. and Norma Wootton, close friends of my grandmother. R.C. , Bob’s dad, played mandolin, taught him to play the guitar. Wootton’s first musical performances were in area churches. R.C. was a coal miner at Red Coal Camp when Bob was born and he later took Bob to California when he went there for work.
Bob grew up in California and later served in the army before moving back to the Tulsa area. He extensively practiced Cash’s music and happened to be in Fayetteville, Arkansas at a Cash performance when Cash’s guitarist Carl Perkins got caught in a storm and couldn’t make the performance. Bob’s girlfriend was able to get the attention of June Carter Cash and told her Bob could stand in for Perkin’s. Bob had it down, playing the music and hitting the notes just like the legendary Perkin’s. Obviously it was the right time and right place for Wootton and he was hired after the show. He went on to perform with Cash for the next thirty years. He was featured on the San Quentin live album and appeared on the Johnny Cash show on ABC for several years. Bob liked to dress in black like Johnny and resembled him so much that he played double to Cash in several movies that Cash made. He married Anita Carter, sister of June Carter cash and the two of them often sang together on the Cash show. One of the most recognized songs they sang together was “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” which they sang as a duet on the Johnny Cash show.
With many relatives in the area, Wootton could often be seen touring down highway 22 and visiting the Huber’s and other close friends in the area. He enjoyed driving through Paris and stopping at various places dressed in black and driving a big car.
When Johnny Cash passed away, Bob and the other members of the Tennessee Three toured the country performing original Cash hits. His most successful album was Guaranteed Cash, released in 2012.
Wootton passed away in April of 2017. The Logan County boy made it good. In 2006, Bob was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
