June Review | The Woman Comes Around

With the insightful biographical documentary June, an already celebrated country music artist gets their proper due. While June Carter Cash has been rightfully lauded for her work with her musical legacy family and for supporting her husband, Johnny, both on and off stage, director Kristen Vaurio seeks to remind viewers that these commonly accepted platitudes are only skimming the surface of her talents and accomplishments. June goes the extra mile to bring a life filled with often unsung successes back into the light, reminding fans and the uninitiated alike that Carter Cash was a powerhouse.

June was born into the fabled Carter family, a highly influential force in country and bluegrass that gave her a solid start when it came to performing, recording, and touring. Over time, June Carter would slowly start to break out on her own as a star, whether as a sought after backing vocalist, studio musician, or a solo act, even landing a spot opening up for Elvis Presley early on in his career. She would be a staple of the Grand Ole Opry, gaining further television exposure. Eventually, she would come into the orbit of legendary singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, and one of the most fabled husband and wife musical partnerships would be born.

Or, at least, that’s how the legend goes, and as Vaurio is quick to point out in June, that mythologizing leaves out a lot of nuance, hardship, and success. Early in her career as a solo artist, Carter was tasked with playing an “uncouth hick” on television alongside then husband, Carl Smith (a honkytonk legend in his own right), and that image couldn’t be further from who June was as a person. To advance her career, Carter went to New York City to study acting under the tutelage of esteemed instructor Sandy Meisner. Before marrying Johnny, June went through a pair of divorces, both of which were contentious and cast a shadow over her in a music industry that liked their women to be submissive and wholesome. And once she started following Johnny around and helped him through addiction and declining fame, many observers saw June playing second fiddle to Cash as a step down in her career, despite the fact that during this period of her life she functioned as a mentor and provider for the next generation of up and coming country music superstars.

While it’s structured as a straightforward, unfussy biographical documentary, June accomplishes its overall goals with grace, tact, and a willingness to be critical or contradictory when necessary. There are two primary and obvious goals in mind for Vaurio with her documentary. The first and most prominent is to look beyond the obvious and show Carter Cash as an underrated and often misunderstood artist whose responsibilities extended far beyond singing and functioning as Johnny’s emotional and professional rock. Through extensive interviews with collaborators, admirers, contemporaries, and family members, a broader, yet more detailed picture of June Carter Cash emerges, and her influence on country music as a whole comes into sharper focus. Vaurio is also privy to a wealth of never-before-seen footage, archival materials and family photographs – most notably an inside look at the recording of her 1998 solo comeback album, which netted Carter Cash her first ever solo Grammy and provides a framing device for June – that shows viewers that the film’s subject was never a back-up to anybody. She was her own unique talent at all times.

The other main goal, especially in the later stages of the documentary, is to demystify June’s partnership with Johnny. There are many classical country and rock super-fans who probably know just how important June Carter Cash was to the landscape of popular music, but most casual observers probably only know the Walk the Line version of events and relationships. While that semi-fictionalized biopic did a good enough job of showing the ups and downs of loving a self-destructive addict, June puts their lives in total into a more proper and respectful context that goes beyond the obvious. Their life together was both challenging and loving, but there was also a healthy undercurrent of professional rivalry that often goes unspoken, especially with regard to June’s solo work and her crediting of being a co-writer on some of Johnny’s biggest hits. Vaurio also shows how much each of them put into their relationship, often stretching their capabilities as human beings to show support for each other when they needed it most.

For the most part, June is as standard of a documentary in structure, tone, and style as one can get, but the substance provided is an indispensable deep dive into the heart of country music itself. Vaurio makes a credible case that June Carter Cash was a key supporting pillar of country music, and a figurehead whose tremendous, often unspoken influence continues to endure into the modern era. As a tribute, June is more than mere flattery and lip service. It’s quite pleasingly definitive and nuanced; something that would likely make its subject very proud and humbled.

June is now streaming on Paramount+.