When most people hear the name Johnny Cash, they think of The Voice -- that world-weary, molar-rattling baritone; at once instantly recognizable and impossible to forget.

But just as integral to Cash's trademark sound were the musicians behind the voice, usually a spare-but-resonant combo of guitar, standup bass and drums.

It's that sound that'll fill the room at Silverado's tonight, when two members of the Tennessee Three -- Cash's longtime backing band -- take to the stage.

But ask guitarist Bob Wootton, who joined Cash's band after picker Luther Perkins (Carl's brother) died in a house fire, if he had any reservations about stepping into Cash's shoes, and the answer is an unqualified no.

"It wasn't just Johnny's sound, it was our sound too," says Wootton, who -- along with Cash's original drummer W.S. Holland, Wootton's wife Vicky, his daughter Scarlett, and upright bassist Lisa Horngren -- makes up the current incarnation of the TN3. "Even back in the 1950s, when a record started and you heard it, you knew Johnny Cash was fixin' to start singing. It was that boom-chick-a-boom sound, just like a train coming."

To hear the stories, you'd think Wootton and Holland were destined to eventually share a stage with the Man in Black.

Holland (who also played drums on Carl Perkins' original version of Blue Suede Shoes, and performed on the Million Dollar Quartet session featuring Cash, Perkins, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis) was once famously told by Cash, "I want you to work with me every show I play for as long as I'm in show business."

Wootton's voice is so similar to Cash's that even his mother often couldn't tell the difference, and the years he spent practising Perkins' distinctive playing style came in mighty handy in 1968, when he was asked to fill in for two band members who'd missed their flight.

"It's a certain touch that I have, and that Luther had," he explains. "Some people get close to it, but it's just not the same."

So while new generations of fans continue to be turned on to Cash's catalogue -- thanks in part to the recent biopic Walk the Line, and his late-career collaborations with producer Rick Rubin -- there's also a core contingent that has been there from the start, Wootton says.

"Johnny Cash fans and Tennessee Three fans are a different breed of people," he laughs. "They're like pit bulls, you can't get rid of 'em."

"Big stars come and go," he continues. "But the sound behind Johnny Cash will always be there. People are always going to be intrigued by it."

Tickets for the Tennessee Three are $25 or $50 (with dinner) at Canad Inn Garden City or 694-SHOW.