Johnny Cash's 80th Birthday And Legacy To Be Celebrated
Posted by Joseph Lee on 02.07.2012
His birthday is February 26...
Both Johnny Cash's upcoming 80th birthday and his legacy will be celebrated this year.
First, there will be a groundbreaking on the project to preserve Cash's childhood home on his birthday, which is February 26. This will happen in Dyess, Arkansas. A new Cash museum will open in Nashville later this year. There are also several music releases being planned, as well as three documentaries.
His son, John Carter Cash, said: "He appealed to people and still appeals to people who have a small CD collection and live in middle America just as much as the punk on the streets of Germany. And that's sort of magical the way he's been able to do that still, that his image still draws people from all walks of life."
Many of Cash's children and grandchildren will be a part of the groundbreaking ceremony for the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home Project, led by Arkansas State University. Fundraising began last summer. Both the family and university hope to restore his home and its outbuildings. The university have taken over other buildings in the New Deal era Dyess Colony and want to reflect the reality of The Great Depression. At the time, the government put 500 families in homes with small agricultural land grants. Rosanne Cash says it saved her family. Cash's time in Dyess is said to be instrumental in building his sound and world view.
She added that out of all the tributes and recognition her father has earned, the restoration "has really captured my heart." The house will be restored using photos and memories of relatives. It will be furnished and decorated to look like it did when the family lived there during the 30s and 40s. ASU also plans to build a museum and space for workshops, demonstrations and classes.
Rosanne Cash said: "It's so amazing how you don't realize how important these touchstones in your ancestry are until your parents are gone. There's this paradox that you can't really feel it or realize it while they're here, so there's a tremendous amount of poignancy and embracing it and protecting it and preserving it for future generations, and drawing my own children into it. It's a big deal to me."
The man behind the Cash museum is Bill Miller, who owns a lot of Cash memorabilia and runs the website. It will be located on the Lower Broadway tourist strip, "right in the middle of the hubbub.". It will include pieces from The House of Cash (which closed in 1999), and items donated by the family.
Rosanne added: "He's been an incredible supporter of my dad and one of the largest collectors of memorabilia. If anybody has the whole structure to put up a museum, he does. So I have a lot of trust in him and I think it's great at this point. I think he'll do something with dignity and class that's historically important, not some kitschy thing. I'm very interested in seeing what he does."
A new album, Bootleg IV: The Soul of Truth, will be out April 3. It will be two CDs and focus on gospel and spiritual songs recorded in the 70s and 80s. It will also include unreleased material. Columbia/Legacy plans more releases later this year, including a large box set.
John Carter Cash concluded: "Dad was, I don't know how else to put it but to say, he was the real deal. He had a humility and a charm and a style and a charisma that just still attracts people to him. Through his music, his writings and the other people who study his life, it's inspiring. And I think that's a great thing that people are inspired by my father still."
