If American music had a Mt. Rushmore, few people would dispute the idea that one of its faces should belong to Johnny Cash.

The "Man in Black" was a rock-and-roll pioneer and country music superstar whose popularity defied categorization. His craggy, Lincoln-esque face, prophet's baritone and deep song catalog appealed to young and old, simple folk and sophisticates, liberals and conservatives, hippies and rednecks, punks and patriots, prisoners and lawmen, soldiers and peaceniks, Native Americans and cowboys, and cynics and Christians.

To put it in the context of the current contest between Barack Obama and John McCain, "Johnny Cash transcended party," said Memphis author and filmmaker Robert Gordon, co-creator of the documentary feature "Johnny Cash's America," which screens at 7 p.m. Wednesday during the Indie Memphis Film Festival at Malco's Studio on the Square.

"We can't agree about much in America anymore, culturally, but we can agree about Johnny Cash," said the film's co-director, Morgan Neville of Los Angeles.

"He was America, as far as music was concerned," said Cash's first and longtime bassist Marshall Grant, 80, in an interview from his home in Hernando, Miss. "He just loved America. We traveled the world over, but he always wanted to come home."

Grant -- who played on Cash's first Sun recordings -- is one of close to 30 associates, admirers, childhood friends, family members and biographers who testify to the singer-songwriter's continued influence and relevance during "Johnny Cash's America," which is not a standard biography but a sort of filmed essay that examines Cash's legacy and popularity in chapters titled "Land," "Freedom," "Protest," "Justice," "Family," "Truth," "Faith," "Patriot" and "Redemption."

Among those who discuss the meaning of Cash -- mostly in interviews shot by the movie's director of photography, Memphian David Leonard -- are Bob Dylan, Al Gore, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, Sheryl Crow, Jon Langford of the Mekons, producer Jim Dickinson, Memphis musician Amy LaVere, Ozzy Osbourne and Snoop Dogg. The film also is loaded with rare concert footage and vintage film clips, including a shot of Cash and June Carter Cash attending the Watergate hearings in Washington.

Cash, who died in 2003 at the age of 71, "navigated some of the most contentious issues of our times without losing his audience," says the documentary's narrator, actor Chris Cooper. The film demonstrates this with excerpts from such socially conscious and politically aware recordings as "Ragged Old Flag," "What Is Truth?," "Folsom Prison Blues," "Singing in Vietnam Talking Blues," "All God's Children Ain't Free" and the anthem of commitment, "Man in Black," in which Cash sang: "Just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back/ Up front there ought to be a man in black."

Says U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), in the documentary: "You could almost project onto that big black frame whatever you wanted to."

Gordon, 47, author of such music books as "It Came from Memphis," and Neville, 41, conceived the Cash film last year, "just as the primaries were heating up," Gordon said.

The filmmaking partners -- whose previous documentary collaborations include "Muddy Waters Can't Be Satisfied," "Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story" and "Shakespeare Was a Big George Jones Fan: 'Cowboy' Jack Clement's Home Movies" -- were discussing "the divided nation," Gordon said.

"We were talking about how rare it is to find a unifier, and we sort of naturally started talking about musicians who transcended music, and we started talking about Cash, and we realized that people who couldn't agree with each other on anything else agreed in their respect for Johnny Cash."

Shooting on the film began in March, and the production was relatively smooth. "Johnny Cash opens doors," Gordon said.

"We wanted this to air before the (presidential) election, during 'election fever,'" he continued. "We wanted to draw from people opinions about why Cash could appeal to all people; and we wanted to draw from that notions of what it takes to unite people in general.

"Cash was never partisan, but he was always political. Cash never hid his foibles. His life from the early years seemed to be marked by trouble, but instead of trying to hide that trouble, he foregrounded it and used it as a transformative element in his life and art."

Said Neville: "Watching it in the context of this election makes us realize that we have far more in common with each other than not."

Gordon, Neville, Grant and J.E. Huff, a childhood friend of the singer who still lives in Cash's boyhood town of Dyess, Ark., are scheduled to appear at the Indie Memphis screening, to introduce the film and answer questions afterward.

After some more special showings in other cities, the movie -- a co-production of Sony, A&E Television, the Cash estate and Neville's Tremolo Productions company -- screens at 8 p.m. Oct. 23 on A&E's Bio Channel, with encores later in the week. A Sony Legacy DVD of the film that includes a companion 19-track CD will be released Oct. 28.

Said Grant: "Some people say there'll never be another John Wayne, another Ronald Reagan, another Frank Sinatra, another Elvis Presley. But I can tell you for certain, there'll never be another Johnny Cash."

For more information on the Indie Memphis festival, which concludes Thursday, visit indiememphis.com.

Go to thebloodshoteye.com for more stories about the event.

--John Beifuss: 529-2394

What: "Johnny Cash's America," a documentary by Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville, with panel discussion with the filmmakers and Cash family members and associates.

When and where: 7 p.m. Wednesday, at the Indie Memphis Film Festival at Malco's Studio on the Square.

Admission: $7 online at indiememphis.com, or $9 at the door.

What's next: "Johnny Cash's America" screens at 8 p.m. Oct. 23 on A&E's Bio Channel, and comes to DVD Oct. 28.