Who Are Johnny Cash's 7 Kids?

Every country music fan worth their salt could probably put together their own Mount Rushmore of Country without needing to put more than a few minutes of effort into it, and it's a fair bet that more often than not those mountainous permutations would feature the visage of Johnny Cash. Known far and wide as "The Man in Black" for the reasons explained in his song of the same name, Cash wasn't just a country music legend, he was a music legend, one who can be found in the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Gospel Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, not to mention the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame. Rest assured that all of that fame was well earned, and while Cash is now one of many legendary country stars who have sadly died, his music has resulted in a legacy that will live on for years to come.

Beyond his music, however, Cash left a family legacy behind: five biological children (Rosanne, Kathy, Cindy, Tara, and John Carter), as well as two stepchildren (Carlene and Rosie) who — based on all accounts — he couldn't have loved and supported more if they had been his biological children. A couple of the kids have followed in Cash's footsteps and become singer-songwriters in their own right, but all of his children have made their mark on the world in one way or another. Here's your chance to find out what life is like for all seven of Johnny Cash's kids.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee on May 24, 1955, Rosanne Cash arrived just about two months before her father's first single ("Hey Porter" / "Cry! Cry! Cry!") was released on Sun Records. After moving from Tennessee to California when she was still a toddler, Rosanne lived in Los Angeles, then in Ventura, where — despite her parents separating in 1962 and divorcing in 1968 due to Cash's affair with June Carter (one of the most scandalous country music romances to date) — she lived until graduating from high school. At that point, she went on tour with her father's road show, which ultimately led to Rosanne making her recording debut on "Broken Freedom Song," a Kris Kristofferson composition included by Johnny Cash on his 1974 album "The Junkie and the Juicehead Minus Me."

"I was nervous," Cash recalled to Q Magazine in 2023, a year before Kristofferson's death (the "A Star is Born" legend died at 88 years old in September of 2024). "Really nervous. It was sweet of my dad to ask me to do it, because I wasn't formed as a singer yet at all. But just singing Kris' words ... I remember that. Like, 'Wow, this is an honor to sing his words.'" Two years later, it was Rosanne's father who was singing her words: Johnny recorded "Love Has Lost Again" for his 1976 album "One Piece at a Time," providing Rosanne with her first taste of success as a songwriter.

Although Carlene Carter beat her stepsister to the punch by a few months in regard to releasing their self-titled debut solo albums (they both came out in 1978), Rosanne Cash's biggest initial concern as a recording artist was trying to figure out how to traverse her own path, a process that involved stepping out of Johnny Cash's shadow and keeping some distance to show that she wasn't trying to ride on his coattails. "I don't think it's that different for any young person, particularly one that enters the same field as their parent," Cash told Billboard in 2010. "You have to separate to find out who you are. It so happened that my dad cast a very large shadow. I probably pushed away longer than was necessary or gracious. But fortunately, he completely understood that."

Rosanne didn't find overnight success, but with the release of her third LP, "Seven Year Ache," in 1981, she scored her first #1 hit on the Billboard Country Albums chart, as well as a #1 country single with the album's title track. (The song also proved to be a crossover hit, climbing to #22 on the Billboard Hot 100.) Since then, Rosanne has had nine additional #1 country singles, including 1985's "I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me," a song which was inspired by losing a Grammy Award to Juice Newton and then – irony alert! – went on to win the Grammy for best female country vocal performance.

In 1979, Cash married fellow country artist Rodney Crowell, and the couple had three daughters together — Caitlin, Chelsea, and Carrie — before divorcing in 1992. Cash remarried in 1995 to musician-songwriter John Leventhal, with whom she shares her son, Jakob.

Born on September 26, 1955 in Gallatin, Tennessee, Carlene Carter is the only daughter of June Carter Cash and her first husband, Carl Smith. Although Smith had over 30 Top 10 country singles during his lifetime, it was actually Carlene's eventual stepfather, Johnny Cash, who provided her with the first recording opportunity. This break came courtesy of Johnny's 1974 album, "The Junkie and the Juicehead Minus Me," on which Carter — credited as Carlene Routh — took lead vocals for the song "Friendly Gates," but it would take a few more years for her to kick off her music career in earnest.

Carter released her self-titled solo debut in 1978, but her sophomore effort, 1979's "Two Sides to Every Woman," spawned her first hit single, "Do It in a Heartbeat," which was a Top 40 hit on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart and hit #42 on the Country singles chart. That same year, Carter also married British singer-songwriter Nick Lowe (her third husband, following Joseph Simpkins, Jr. and Jack Wesley Routh, with footage from their actual wedding appearing in the music video for Lowe's own hit single, "Cruel to Be Kind."

After her divorce from Lowe in 1990, Carter dated Howie Epstein, bassist for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, but their mutual fondness for illicit pharmaceuticals was destined to end poorly. "The road we were on was so dark and scary, and as it turned out, he didn't survive it and I did," Carter told No Depression in 2007. "I knew if I didn't get out of there I was going to die. Not even from drugs ... I thought somebody was going to kill me, just the people who were around us."

Carter's music career effectively ended during the course of her turbulent relationship with Epstein — after 1995's "Little Acts of Treason," she didn't release another album for 13 years — but the title of her comeback LP, 2008's "Stronger," made a definitive statement: She'd been through a lot, but she'd come out of it stronger than ever. "I went down another road for a while, and it took me a while to get back out of that," Carter told Country Standard Time in 2008. "I had some great friends who sent me off to get help. I'm really proud to say I haven't used drugs in a very long time."

Since the release of "Stronger," Carter has released another full-length solo album of her own — 2014's "Carter Girl" — and contributed to five tracks on John Mellencamp's 2017 album "Sad Clowns & Hillbillies," including "Indigo Sunset," which she co-wrote with Mellencamp. In 2023, she also collaborated with doo-wop legend Dion on the digital single "An American Hero." She also made a point of speaking up in support of Beyoncé's "Cowboy Carter" album in 2024. "I am here to let Beyoncé and to all those naysayers know that I admire and love her and all she does," Carter said in a statement (via Noise11). "I am delighted to know that Carter spunk is in her just like it's been through nearly 100 years of us Carters choosing to follow our hearts, hearts that are filled with love not just for country music but for all kinds of music. Here's a warm welcome to the Carter Girl Club! It's only a matter of time before those naysayers become Bey-sayers."

Kathy Cash-Tittle was born in Memphis, Tennessee on April 16, 1956 right around the time her father recorded the hit song "I Walk the Line." She and her family moved when Kathy was 3 years old because her dad "wanted to move to California to be a movie star," as she told Curiosity Incorporated in 2023. After the release of the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line," Kathy spoke out about the way her parents' relationship was portrayed. "My mom was basically a nonentity in the entire film except for the mad little psycho who hated his career," she told the BBC, recalling how she walked out during the family's private screening. "She loved her career and was proud of him until he started taking drugs and stopped coming home."

Like her siblings, Cash did have the opportunity to sing with her father on occasion, such as on "The Johnny Cash Show," but she opted out of the spotlight and decided not to pursue a career in music. She did, however, marry a musician: Jimmy Tittle, who played in Johnny Cash's band for many years. The couple have two children, Dustin and Kacy. Dustin, who is also a screenwriter, produced and penned the script for the film "What's the Matter with Gerald?," which features Kathy in the role of May.

Born on July 13, 1958 in Madison, Tennessee, Rosie (sometimes spelled as Rosey) Nix Adams was the daughter of June Carter Cash and her second husband, Edwin "Rip" Nix. Rosie and her older half-sister, Carlene Carter, spent a sizable amount of their childhood on the road with their mother and the rest of the Carter family. "We had our own little world in the floorboard [of the car]," Carlene told NPR in 2014. "We traveled all over the country with them, mostly in the summertime and on weekends. But we'd always do the fair circuit 'cause that was always a nice time for us to get to be with Mom, to get to be with Grandma and Aunt Helen and Aunt Nita."

Adams began her professional singing career as a backup singer for her stepfather on his TV series, "The Johnny Cash Show." Although she didn't follow in the footsteps of her mother, stepfather, stepsister, or half-sister, Adams — like Rosanne Carter and Carlene — recorded with Johnny on his 1974 album "The Junkie and the Juicehead Minus Me," performing a duet on a title-tweaked cover of Cat Stevens' "Father and Son" called "Father and Daughter (Father and Son)." She also co-wrote "Gatsby's Restaurant" on her mother's 1975 album "Appalachian Pride" and co-wrote "Smoke Dreams" on Carlene's self-titled 1978 debut album.

However, Adams life was tragically cut short at 45 years old. In 2003, just months after the death of her mother and stepfather, Adams and bluegrass fiddler Jimmy Campbell were found dead on a tour bus in Montgomery County, Tennessee. Although drug paraphernalia was found on the bus, the cause of death was ultimately determined to be carbon monoxide poisoning.

Born on July 29, 1959, Cindy Cash was 9 years old when her parents divorced, but even though she lived with her mother, she and her siblings still managed to see their father on a semi-regular basis. While he spent much of his time on the road, Johnny nonetheless made a point of seeing his kids whenever he was back in California, though it usually involved them following him to whatever album or acting project was keeping him busy. "We would stay with him and do whatever he was doing," she told the Northside Sun in 2005. "We were with him when he did 'Little House on the Prairie,' 'Columbo' and all that stuff." (While guesting on the former series, Johnny also took his daughters to visit the set of "Happy Days" and meet Henry Winkler, aka "The Fonz.")

Cindy holds a unique distinction amongst the Cash clan: She spent two years as a member of The Next Generation, a touring — but, sadly, non-recording — singing group which also included Loretta Lynn's daughter (Peggy), Conway Twitty's daughter (Kathy), and George Jones' and Tammy Wynette's daughter (Georgette). In addition, Cash can also claim to have made her singing debut with her father (he drafted her with only about 10 minutes warning while he was doing a show at a state fair), as well as performing with him during his final concert. She also served as "his trusted hair stylist and makeup artist," per her website. 

Cash married fellow country singer Marty Stuart in 1983, but the couple divorced in 1988. She remarried in 2003 to Edward "Eddie" Panetta, who died in a motorcycle accident in 2009.

Born on August 24, 1961 in Encino, California, Tara Cash Schwoebel is the youngest of Johnny Cash's biological daughters. Although she also decided not to pursue a music career, she has occasionally worked as an actress – most notably in the 1981 TV movie "The Pride of Jesse Hallam" — as well as behind the scenes as a costume designer and wardrobe assistant.

In 1995, Cash gave her father a book filled with questions about his childhood and asked him to fill in the answers. For her birthday the following year, he gave the completed book back to her, and a few years after his death, she decided that the time was right to release it to the public under the title "Recollections by J.R. Cash." While the book doesn't include juicy secrets such as the age Cash first started smoking or an inside look into Cash's surprising arrest record, it does include personal anecdotes from his formative years, as well as his love for music. "I have held this book close to my heart for all these years," she wrote on the website of the Johnny Cash Museum. "With no hesitation, knowing that Dad would be proud to share these stories, I now want to share it with his fans, friends, and family to cherish, as I do."

Born on March 3, 1970 in Nashville, Tennessee, John Carter Cash is the only son of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, making him a true scion of country music. Like his siblings and step-siblings before him, his parents took him on the road with them, but in his case, they did so virtually from the moment he emerged from the womb. Well, okay, maybe not that quickly. But closer to it than you might think.

"I toured with my parents from when I was born and never knew a time that I didn't travel with them," Carter recalled in an interview with GRITZ. "My Dad put me on stage when I was 3 years old, and I remember the rush of the crowd and I remember the energy and excitement of the audience upon seeing me onstage. There is not really a time that I don't remember singing at the end of the show with them. Even in my teenage years at 18, it was already sort of old hat to get up and perform with him. It was fun to learn timing, musicianship, and record producing."

After his father retired from the road, Carter really leaned into the production side of the music business, helming his mother's 1999 album "Press On," working alongside renowned producer Rick Rubin on his father's final few studio albums ("American III: Solitary Man," "American IV: The Man Comes Around," and "American V: A Hundred Highways"), and twiddling the knobs for such artists as Billie Joe Shaver, Brad Paisley, and even Loretta Lynn before her heartbreaking death.

Since the death of his parents — June Carter Cash died in May 2003 and Johnny died only four months later in September 2003 – John Carter Cash has effectively served as the torchbearer of their legacy, working behind the scenes as either the compiler or producer of such posthumous Cash releases as 2006's "Personal File" (along with its 2007 and 2011 sequels), 2014's "Out Among the Stars," 2024's "Songwriter," as well as a plethora of previously unreleased live recordings.

"My parents aren't alive in the sense that they can think or that they can speak for themselves from their own minds anymore, but we can still hear from them, right?" Cash told Americana UK in 2025. "In their music, and we can hear from their spirit in the music that comes from those that were close to them, friends, and of course, from family. So, it carries on, and I'm grateful to have been a part of it ... I'm just going to keep trying to hold true every step of the way." Cash is doing just that with his own recording career: After releasing his debut solo album in 2003 ("Bitter Harvest") and the belated follow-up, "We Must Believe in Magic," in 2018, he released his third LP, "Pineapple John" in October 2025.