(Radio Iowa) – Musicians from across the region will be playing a concert in central Iowa next month that pays tribute to the Man in Black. Growing up in the southwestern Iowa town Atlantic, Randy Burk says he had -heard- Johnny Cash, but when he hit his mid-20s, he realized that’s the kind of music he wanted to write — and play.

“I would go into a country venue, and there’s Johnny Cash. I would go into a rock and roll venue, and you heard Johnny Cash,” Burk says. “You could go into punk-metal, you could go into the theater, he transcends everything and I always thought that was amazing.”

Randy Burk

This marks the 20th year Burk has organized and performed in a Cash tribute concert in Iowa, and he says the beginnings of the long-standing tradition were relatively humble back in 2003.

In addition to the heart-felt lyrics and catchy, toe-tapping tunes, Cash had incredible memorization skills and performed songs like “I’ve Been Everywhere” that are almost-impossible for any other singer to cover.

Burk will be playing with his band, The Prisoners, along with a host of other artists on Sunday, April 7th at X-B-K Live in Des Moines.

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