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Fundraiser held for Johnny Cash Boyhood Home

by | Aug 15, 2023 | Johnny Cash, Music

A fundraiser was held in northeast Arkansas on Saturday, August 12, to benefit Johnny Cash’s boyhood home. Rosanne Cash, Rodney Crowell and Sarah Jarosz performed in the first annual “Sunken Lands Songwriting Circle,” held in a theater on the Arkansas State University campus. It featured a new format compared to previous concerts over the past 12 years and replaced the Johnny Cash Heritage Festival, with the last in-person event taking place in 2019 before being put on hold by the pandemic.

John Leventhal and Rosanne Cash open Saturday’s concert with the song “The Sunken Lands.” All Photos: Michael Hibblen

For three years, the annual show had been held in a field next to the small Cash family farmhouse. But Dr. Ruth Hawkins, former director of the university’s Arkansas Heritage Sites program, which oversaw the restoration of the home and nearby Dyess colony, told me there were challenges in holding the event there without the needed infrastructure for the crowd it attracted. A virtual event was held in 2021 with Rosanne and husband John Leventhal hosting an intimate performance with just the two inside the boyhood home.

This year’s concert featured Rosanne, Rodney and Sarah rotating songs, singing several of their own, as well as a few Johnny Cash songs. They played acoustic guitars in front of a crowd of several hundred, including many people who had been key in preserving the house more than a decade ago when the dilapidated structure seemed almost like a lost cause. 

Most songs were introduced with poignant stories. While one singer would perform, the other two sat and listened. Each was accompanied on guitar by Leventhal, who was referred to as their band. After the show, Rosanne told me, “Tonight’s concert was such a beautiful, moving event for me. I felt like I was in the audience part of the time and it warms my heart to see how many people are supporting the boyhood home project.”

I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing her a few times over the years since the university acquired the home and held its first fundraising concert in 2011. If you would like to learn more about the background of this amazing project, you can find links to some of my previous reports at the bottom.

Rosanne Cash spoke briefly during a reception before Saturday’s show. She said snacks provided were prepared using her grandmother Carrie Cash’s recipes. “I had a friend run out here and grab me a banana pudding before it disappeared,” Cash told the crowd.

In the audience Saturday was Kevin Kresse, the sculptor selected by a state committee to make a statue of Johnny Cash that will soon represent Arkansas in the U.S. Capitol along with one of Little Rock civil rights leader Daisy Bates. Kresse told me he was at the foundry last week, which is casting the bronze statue using his clay model and is really pleased with how it’s coming along.

Each state has two statues on display in the Capitol, with Arkansas’ current statues being more than a century old featuring attorney Uriah Rose and former governor and U.S. Senator James P. Clark. When then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed legislation in 2019 to replace them with Cash and Bates, he said he hoped to have unveiling ceremonies before the end of his term in January. But the process of getting the needed federal approvals has taken longer than originally hoped. It’s now expected that separate ceremonies for each of the new statues can take place this fall or next spring.

Rosanne Cash spoke about the statue of her dad at one point during the concert, praising Kresse for his work. On display in the lobby of the theater were a bust of the Cash statue and a three-foot maquette of the full figure. She encouraged audience members to take a good look at them. There had been hesitation about having a sculptor make the statue, Rosanne later told me, but said she’s extremely pleased with how the project is coming along. 

“My family was nervous about how it would turn out. Would Kevin really be able to see the subtleties of my dad’s bone structure and his demeanor and his dignity? Kevin got all of it,” she said. “It was really remarkable and deeply moving that he really took in who my dad was and that comes through in the sculpture, the statue — it’s beautiful — I’m really proud.”

John Leventhal, Rosanne Cash, Sarah Jarosz and Rodney Crowell got a rousing ovation at the conclusion of Saturday’s concert.

After the concert, all four of the performers took part in a meet-and-greet with the crowd. A long line snaked outside of a room to the side of the auditorium with the musicians talking at length with people, signing autographs and posting for photos.

It really was a great event and Rosanne said, “I’ll be back next year.” I’m looking forward to it!

MY PREVIOUS REPORTS ON THE BOYHOOD HOME AND STATUE:

Thousands Attend Fundraiser To Restore Johnny Cash Home
August 5, 2011, KUAR News
The project to restore the boyhood home got a strong start with this first concert featuring four generations of the Cash family, including daughter Rosanne Cash, son-in-law Rodney Crowell and son John Carter Cash, as well as longtime friends Kris Kristofferson and George Jones.

The restoration of Johnny Cash’s Boyhood Home
February 29, 2012, Arkansas Times
On what would have been Cash’s 80th birthday, family members and university officials joined fans and residents in Dyess to formally mark the beginning of work to restore the home. Ray and Carrie Cash moved with their children to the community in 1935, which was created as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Depression-era New Deal program.

Johnny Cash’s Boyhood Home Tells The Story Of A Town
Dec. 29, 2012, NPR News
In a story that aired nationally on NPR’s Weekend Edition, I reported how nearly a decade after Cash’s death, fans still traveled from around the world to see the place he described as key to his development. Plans called for turning the house into a museum — serving not only as a tribute to Cash, but also to tell the unique history of the town.

Rosanne Cash Reflects As Opening Of Johnny Cash Boyhood Home Nears
Nov. 25, 2013, KUAR News
Ms. Cash performed in Little Rock in advance of the release of her album The River & The Thread, with songs focused on the southern region of the country. Some of the songs were set in Arkansas and inspired, she said, by her experiences watching the restoration of the home and community where her father was raised.

Hundreds Turn Out For Dedication Of Johnny Cash Boyhood Home
August 17, 2014, KUAR News
After years of restoration work, a grand opening ceremony was held for the Cash house. The original wooden walls and flooring were restored and furnishings inside were identical to how the home looked when Cash grew up there, said his surviving brother and sister.

Rosanne Cash Holds Fundraiser At Governor’s Mansion For Johnny Cash Boyhood House
March 3, 2016, KUAR News
Then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson invited Ms. Cash to hold a fundraising concert at the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion, calling her dad’s boyhood home, which had been turned into a museum, “a great asset for the state.”

Legislation to place statues of Johnny Cash, Daisy Bates in U.S. Capitol signed into law
KUAR News, April 11, 2019
Statues of singer Johnny Cash and Little Rock civil rights leader Daisy Bates will eventually represent Arkansas in the U.S. Capitol. Gov. Hutchinson was joined by members of the Cash family and the goddaughter of Bates for a bill signing ceremony at the state Capitol.

Finalists to make Johnny Cash and Daisy Bates statues for U.S. Capitol present their visions
June 9, 2021, KUAR News
Five sculptors vying to make the statues spoke to members of two state committees about how they envisioned their works would look and what inspired them.

Final modifications being made for Arkansas’ statues of Daisy Bates and Johnny Cash
Sept. 11, 2021, KUAR News
Sculptors creating the statues were finalizing designs before being submitted to federal officials for approval. During a committee meeting, the artists discussed subtle changes that had been made or were being considered to make the statues more accurate.

Sculptor discusses inspiration in making Johnny Cash statue for U.S. Capitol
June 28, 2021, KUAR News
Artist Kevin Kresse, who was selected by the state to create the statue of Cash, spoke with me on KUAR’s Not Necessarily Nashville about his appreciation for the musician and what inspired him in this project.

Johnny Cash Heritage Festival to celebrate 10th anniversary with virtual, but more intimate event
August 18, 2021, KUAR News
The annual event had to be cancelled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid a resurgence of cases, it was decided the 2021 festival would be held online with daughter Rosanne Cash performing from the living room of the boyhood home.

Rosanne Cash honored by ASU, meets sculptor of Johnny Cash statue for U.S. Capitol
May 7, 2022, KUAR News
Ms. Cash received an honorary doctoral degree from Arkansas State University for her work on the project to restore her dad’s boyhood home. She also met with the sculptor making the statue of Johnny Cash and was interviewed by me while getting her first look at a bust of the statue.

Work advances on statues of Daisy Bates, Johnny Cash for U.S. Capitol
Oct. 27, 2022, KUAR News
The architect of the U.S. Capitol notified the state that approval had been granted for a bronze statue of Bates to be cast. Meanwhile, the sculptor of the Cash statue said he had completed work on a clay model and was preparing to submit a packet of material for approval.