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At the beginning of The Pilgrim he says who he wrote it about. One of them was Billy Joe Shaver. “See him wasted on the sidewalk in his jacket and his jeans” is a perfect description of BJ.

I don’t see Johnny Cash in either of the two songs you mentioned. To Beat The Devil could have been Kris’ story. But it could have been about thousands of dreamers who tried their luck in Nashville.

I still like his songs but, wow! What a leftie!

The Pilgrim Chapter 33 is about many including Cash. The opening of "To beat the devil he's talking about a great and wasted friend he run across in the halls of a recording studio and saw he was about a step away from dieing. He then on that recording says he's happy to say he's no longer wasted and got a good woman and he'd like to dedicate this song to John and June who showed me how to beat the devil. It is about him and Cash and even Cash in an interview said so but was shocked that Kris had made it public.

Kris was a janitor at the studio and would show Cash his songs that was before Sunday Morning Coming Down. That would have been late 60's I guess in Cash wilder days.

I can't find that video either but I have seen the interview and it was Cash telling the story. They didn't meet in a bar but it was about him. The Junkie and the Juicehead was one Kris obviously did about himself.