by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Kurt Chaboyer

Age: 37

Occupation: Musician

Bio: This free-wheelin’ Plateau resident arrived here via the Bronx, N.Y., eight years ago after a stint working the always artistically satisfying home renovation beat in New York City. Originally from Vancouver, B.C., Kurt says he’d played in college bands and the like but quickly realized his low vocal register “didn’t allow me to sing your average Britpop choirboy vocal, so singing like Johnny Cash became one of my things.” Although he didn’t really discover the Man in Black until he was all of 21, after a girlfriend first spun “Ring of Fire” for him, Kurt has since become “a huge fan. I just love where he was coming from lyrically—especially the prison and murder songs.” Recently, he’s been doing his thing Monday nights at the 1221 Crescent Street Pub. “In a province full of Elvis imitators, it’s kind of nice to be a Johnny Cash tribute artist.”

Why Kurt’s Johnny Cash shtick might not be as lame as other tribute acts: For starters, because he’s doing Johnny fuckin’ Cash! And how wrong can you go with that? Also, Kurt has a legitimate rockabilly band with him and appears to actually kind of “get it.” “I try to stay with the legendary stuff. I like that he comes out of traditional American music, that he wasn’t afraid to write about death, prison, poverty—all that blues-based subject matter dating back to the early 20th century. All the great blues, country and bluegrass lyrics come from that era, and I think Johnny Cash was a fine conduit for this traditional American music.”

Would he whore himself out to do a Bobby Vinton tribute if a major Hollywood biopic were coming out on him as well? “Definitely not.”

Can one really do a convincing Man in Black without suffering the darkness the way Johnny did? Or at least without having burned down a national forest? “Truth is, when you’re delivering a line like, ‘I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die,’ you have to do it with some anger. I actually have problems expressing my anger—which is one of the reasons why I do this. I can really work it out via the Johnny Cash conduit. If you can’t feel the anger then you have no business being a Johnny Cash tribute artist.”

Must one be whacked on booze and amphetamines to do Johnny Cash authentically? “For the anger maybe. You do need something to get you angry.”

Given that he’s working Crescent Street, long known as the shittiest, lowest-paying strip in town for earnest bar bands, isn’t just thinking about how much he’s being paid enough to stir up a little Johnny-sized anger? Apparently not.

Do female fans ever approach him saying they’ve always fantasized about riding Johnny’s johnny to sexual oblivion, but since he’s dead would it be okay if they took a short hop on his instead? Rarely.

Childhood ambition: To become a Catholic priest.

Last book read: Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown.

Musical preferences: Nick Cave, Lou Reed.

Words of wisdom: “What doesn’t make you stronger, kills you.”

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