Essay written for Rolling Stone's book on Johnny Cash

"When I was locked up, he sent me a letter saying how everybody was pulling for me."

Johnny was on of the few people who wrote me when I was locked up - he sent me a very encouraging letter saying how everybody was pulling for me, that he and June were praying for me and that he would see me when I got out. I saw him again when I helped put together the band for his song on the Dead Man Walking soundtrack. When I got to the studio, nobody was there but John and the engineer. I walk in and there's this old-fashioned picnic basket sitting in the middle of the pool table - you know, gignham tablecloth, the whole bit. John's got his hand in hte picnic basket, and he looks up and says, "Steve, would you like a piece of tenderloin on a biscuit that June made this morning?" I was really hungry, so I said "Yeah," and he said, "I knew you would." We could've talked about our shared demons - I'd been clean probably a year and a half - but he knew that sometimes it's better to leave some things private adn just talk about tenderloin and biscuits.