Nat Winston

Nat Winston is an American psychiatrist, Tennessee's former commissioner of mental health, and a former candidate for Governor of Tennessee.



Nat Winston was responsible for helping Johnny Cash end his addiction to amphetamines and barbiturates. According to an interview with Cash on Larry King Live, Winston told Cash “I’m a doctor, I’m a psychiatrist, and I’ve seen a lot of people in the shape you’re in. And frankly, I don’t think there is much chance for you. I’ve never known of anyone as far gone as you are to really whip it. Only you can do it, and it would be a lot easier if you let God help you.” - Anthony DeCurtis, “Johnny Cash Won’t Back Down,” Rolling Stone, October 26, 2000.

According to one source, right before Dr. Winston said this, Johnny Cash had ridden a tractor into an icy-cold pond, and upon emerging these were the Dr.'s words. - http://www.christianitytoday.com/tc/2003/005/5.00.html

Nat Winston was also responsible for helping Raymond Fairchild become a famous musician. "In early 1970 he made a contact which would later bring him to the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. Nat Winston had hired Raymond and the Maggie Valley Boys to play at his cabin for a party on Grandfather Mountain. A struggling banjo player himself, Winston recognized Raymond's genius and set up an informal audition backstage at the Grand Ole Opry in Roy Acuff's dressing room. While Loretta Lynn and Ernest Tubb were entertaining the Opry audience with "Sweet Thing," Raymond was playing the daylights out of "Whoa Mule" and "Orange Blossom Special" to the slack jaws of the crowd that Raymond gathered." - http://www.nativeground.com/raymondfairchild.asp