Kris Kristofferson Accepts Johnny Cash Visionary Award

Rosanne Cash, Johnny Cash's daughter, presented Kris Kristofferson with the Johnny Cash Visionary Award Monday night. The award was presented during the CMT Awards show held in Belmont University's Curb Center in Nashville, TN. The Johnny Cash Visionary Award is presented to "an artist with an extraordinary musical vision, innovative and groundbreaking music and pioneering initiatives in entertainment."

What was already a special night for everyone there- soon became an extremely emotional night as well. Before Rosanne Cash presented the award to Kristofferson she had some really kind and personal words to share-

"When I first began to collect my thoughts about presenting this award to Kris and about what I would say," she said, "I kept thinking, 'Nothing I say will be good enough. Nothing I say could convey the respect I hold in my heart, the love the admiration and the plain awe of the humanity and talent contained in that one gorgeous man.'

"When I played some shows with Kris last year, I realized and knew that he is an artist with nothing to lose. He can risk everything because he never compromises his integrity. He is his art, and his art is him. They are inseparable.

"He has the power and the fearlessness of one who acts purely from the truths of his own heart, unsullied by concerns about image or marketing or popularity. He is not 'a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction' -- as he once aptly described my father. He has whittled away his own contradictions to the essence of his humanity ... a man who believes in love, honor, peace, compassion and who acts accordingly and who writes like an oracle."

A video presentation chroncling Kristofferson's career achievements was shown before the award was given. As Kristofferson accepted the award he was a bit teary-eyed. Showing more reason as to why Kristofferson deserves to be honored, his comments focused on the 2003 recipient and the man for whom the award was named: The man in black, Johnny Cash. See the video of his acceptance speech below:






On a similar note, Rosanne and Kris recently visited the grounds where the home of the late Johnny and June Carter Cash once stood to reflect on the family, friends, and their memories.