I remember this, Dave Grohl responded to it and actually went and held a concert for them in Italy.....
I've got friends from the town where he lived. Castias Springs, on the canyon rd from Ventura up to Ojai. That place is like another little backyard for me.
The hype, as you call it, comes from having a voice and attitude that were always recognisably him, over a career spanning decades.
I look at Cash in that video and I think straight away Elvis, only three years age difference between the two. Must be the Tennessee influence.