Tennessee Flat Top Box (3:17)

“Tennessee Flat Top Box” is a song written and recorded by American country music singer Johnny Cash. It was released as a single in late 1961, reaching #11 on the Billboard country singles charts and #84 on the pop charts.

Rosanne Cash Version
Cash’s daughter Rosanne Cash recorded a cover version of “Tennessee Flat Top Box” in 1987 on her album King’s Record Shop. Released in late 1987 as that album’s third single, it was also the third of four consecutive #1 country hits from that album, peaking in February 1988. Randy Scruggs played the acoustic guitar solos on it.

Rosanne Cash recorded the song at the suggestion of her then-husband, Rodney Crowell. When she recorded the song, she was unaware that her father wrote it, and assumed that it was in the public domain. Johnny later told Rosanne that her success with the song was “one of {his} greatest fulfillments.” The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll cited Rosanne’s cover as a “healing of her strained relationship with her dad.”

Specific Meaning of “Flat Top Box”
A flat top box is generally said to be a steel-strung acoustic guitar. This is the kind that Johnny Cash used as a child.