Johnny Cash, Columbia Records, NYC 1959 by Don Hunstein

This shot of Johnny Cash during a recording session at the Columbia Records 30th Street Studios in New York City in October 1959 gives us a glimpse of the inner workings of the man in black, doing his job away from the limelight of an audience. After three years as Sun Records' most consistently top-selling performer, the outlaw country artist Johnny Cash came to Columbia Records in 1958 to record "The Fabulous Johnny Cash," the first in a long series of chart-topping iconic releases for the label. In this candid in-the-studio portrait of a man in black pompadour, Johnny Cash is deep in reflection, pondering the fine points of a playback, ruminating the next move in a career that would take him deep into the American cultural psyche.