It's easy to feel intimidated when you first meet Doug Benson.

Standing at more than 6'2 tall and with the bearing of someone who never loses a wrestling match, Benson walks into the dressing room of the Mystic with a casual swagger and eyes me suspiciously.

He's wearing a black shirt, black silk vest and black cowboy boots. His hair, also black, is slicked back into a slight coif, a style favored by the rockabilly set. On his right arm is a tattoo of Johnny Cash, the man whose throaty "cigarettes and whisky" sound Benson has spent close to a decade replicating.

Benson, 39, is the lead singer of Cash'd Out, a Johnny Cash tribute band that put on a rollicking good show Saturday night at the Mystic. In signature Johnny Cash style, Benson kicked off the set with "Folsom Prison Blues," followed by classics like "Sunday Morning" and "Ring of Fire."

The band, formed in 2004 in San Diego, perfectly captured the Cash sound, the husky, melancholy voice coupled with infectious and highly danceable melodies. 

Cash may have died in 2003, but you wouldn't know it from being at the Mystic on Saturday.

Click on the video on the right to hear some of the show.

Benson stumbled into the role of Johnny Cash somewhat by chance. Back in 2001, he was a fiber optic engineer whose job required a lot of travel around the country.

"I was driving at all hours of the night and to keep myself from falling asleep at the wheel, I'd sing along to Johnny Cash," said Benson. "It literally kept me alive."

In towns small and large across America, Benson would stop off at a bar, and if they had karaoke, he's grab the mic and perform a song or two. Everywhere he went, he heard the same thing: "It's amazing. You sound just like Johnny Cash."

That prompted Benson to pick up the guitar and teach himself how to play. In 2004, he put an ad in a local newspaper. It read: "Johnny Cash cover band seeks guitarist. Must sound like Luther Perkins." Perkins, of course, was part of the Tennessee Three and is known as the creator of Cash's signature "Boom Chicka Boom" guitar picking style.

Today, Cash'd Out is made up of five members, with a couple of stand-ins since the band spends a big chunk of its time on the road. They average some 150 shows a year, at both private events and clubs.

"Our fans range from six years old to death," says Benson.

But what started as a way to entertain friends and have a good time has transformed into something bigger, something that Benson, himself, never anticipated. He has become the unofficial keeper of Johnny Cash's memory, for which he has been thanked by the Cash family.

"I feel so close to him even though I've never met him," Benson said. "But when Cindy Cash tells me I'm keeping her dad's memory alive, it's special."

And with that, the big burly guy downing shots of Bourbon before the show, is in tears.

To see a schedule of upcoming shows, visit Cash'd Out's site.