In the weeks since I've been working on getting lyric permissions. The rights of most of Johnny Cash's songs are held by Hal Leonard and Alfred Music. So I had to go through the process of requesting from both publishers permission to quote Johnny Cash lyrics in the book. It's a process you have to be patient with.
So far, I have received permission to quote from the following songs:
"I Walk the Line"Each chapter of the book is built around one songs above.
"The Man in Black"
"Folsom Prison Blues"
"San Quentin"
"The Ballad of Ira Hayes"
"Give My Love to Rose"
"The Legend of John Henry's Hammer"
"Sunday Morning Coming Down"
"Ragged Old Flag"
"Drive On"
"All God's Children Ain't Free"
"Delia's Gone"
"The Man Comes Around"
"The Gospel Road"
I'm still wanting and working on getting permissions for two other songs.
The first is "Hurt," the Johnny Cash cover of the Trent Reznor song. "Hurt" is controlled by Kobalt Music and I'm still trying to get a response from them.
The other song is "Greystone Chapel," written by Glen Sherley when he as an inmate at Folsom Prison and famously sung by Johnny Cash during the recording of the live concert album At Folsom Prison. Alfred Music controls the worldwide rights to "Greystone Chapel," and I have secured that permission. But a different company controls the US rights to "Greystone Chapel." That company is Copyright Management Inc. However, it seems this company no longer exists.
Copyright Management Inc. was in Tennessee, but according to Tennessee it seems like the company dissolved in 1982. It looks like the company might have became Copyright Management Inc. of New York in 1989, but that company seems to have dissolved in 1999.
All that to say, without knowing if Copyright Management Inc. exists and where I can find it, I have no idea how to get the US permissions to "Greystone Chapel." Is it possible, if this company dissolved that "Greystone Chapel" is now in the public domain and I can quote the song?
You have any knowledge or expertise in this area, or can locate who controls the US permissions to "Greystone Chapel," I'd be much obliged.
UPDATE:
Thanks to some sleuthing from Kyle M. we have some more leads. It seems William (Rusty) Courtney with Family Airs Publishing may have the rights to "Greystone Chapel."
However, I can't find contact information online for Mr. Courtney or Family Airs Publishing. The only lead is his LinkedIn profile. And his Twitter account, which hasn't been used in some time.
I tried to call Mr. Courtney's last place of employment listed on LinkedIn, but the establishment doesn't seem to have a direct line. So, if you're in the Nashville airport, stop by to see if Mr. Courtney is sill bartending at Hissho Sushi and ask how I might get in touch with him.
