Let's hear it for Johnny Cash.

In a career that spanned almost five decades, Johnny Cash was the personification of country music to many people around the world, despite his distaste for the Nashville mainstream.

Yet, like Ray Charles, The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley, Cash was a musician who transcended genre.

He recorded songs that could be considered rock and roll, blues, rockabilly, folk and gospel, and exerted an influence on each of those genres.

Moreover, he had the unique distinction among country artists of having "crossed over" late in his career to become popular with an unexpected demographic, young indie and alternative rock fans.

His diversity was evidenced by his presence in three major music halls of fame:

the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,
the Country Music Hall of Fame
and
the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Only ten performers are in both of the first two, and only Hank Williams Sr. and Jimmie Rodgers share the honor with Cash of being in all three.

His pioneering contribution to the genre has also been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.