By MIKE MATHER in Rotorua
Tennessee McDonnell may have been named by country legend Johnny Cash, but her music of choice is hip-hop.
Cash's music is experiencing a resurgence through the movie biopic Walk The Line.
Tennessee, the granddaughter of Rotorua country musician Max McDonnell, has a permanent reminder of the
Man in Black, who died in 2003.
She goes by her middle name, Sapphire, rather than Cash's suggestion - but Max doesn't mind.
A chance meeting with Cash 15 years ago prompted Max to ask him for his thoughts on what his then new-born granddaughter should be named.
Cash was on the legendary Highwaymen tour with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson and was backstage at a concert in Auckland.
Given Cash was well known for a song titled "A Boy Named Sue", the answer could have been interesting. It was, but for different reasons.
"He said 'A lot of young mothers where I come from are naming their babies after states in the United States, like Virginia and Tennessee.'
"Finally he selected Tennessee as the best name he could think of and said 'let me know the outcome'."
Mum and Dad liked the suggestion and the baby was duly named Tennessee Sapphire. Although as time has gone by, she has grown up with a preference for her second name over her first and is more a fan of hip-hop artists like 50 Cent than she is of Cash and Co.
But Max happily accepts that his granddaughter is her own woman.
Although he had not seen Walk the Line he was keen to see how Hollywood had depicted his musical hero.
A member of several country rock bands over the years, Max has met many other prominent musicians, including Eric Burdon of The Animals, who signed Max's guitar following a jam session.
Although he has been more or less retired from making music, Max still has grand plans, including possibly converting one of his properties on Te Ngae Rd near Rotorua Airport into a honky tonk bar.
"It would be great to have the Johnny Cash departure lounge right there."
