"The Man in Black" was born J. R. Cash in Kingsland, Arkansas to Ray and Carrie Cash, and raised in Dyess, Arkansas. By age five, he was working in the cotton fields, singing along with his family as they worked. The family farm was flooded on at least one occasion, which later inspired him to write the song "Five Feet High And Rising." His older brother Jack died in a tragic accident, while working a high school shop table saw, in 1944. His family's economic and personal struggles during the Depression shaped him as a person and inspired many of his songs, especially those about other people facing similar difficulties.

Cash's early memories were dominated by gospel music and radio. Taught by his mother and a childhood friend, Johnny began playing guitar and writing songs as a young boy. In high school he sang on a local radio station. Decades later, he would release an album of traditional gospel songs, called My Mother's Hymn Book. Traditional Irish music that he heard weekly on the Jack Benny radio program, performed by Dennis Day, influenced him greatly.

He was reportedly[citation needed] given the name J. R. because his parents could not agree on a name, only on initials. Giving children such names was a relatively common practice at the time. He enlisted as a radio operator in the United States Air Force. The military would not accept initials as his name, so he adopted John R. Cash as his legal name. When he signed for Sun Records in 1955, he took "Johnny" Cash as a stage name. His friends and in-laws generally called him John, while his blood relatives often still called him by his birth name, J. R..