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Johnny Cash Honored With Tennessee Music Pathways on Late Icon’s Birthday

Hendersonville, Tennessee honored legendary musician Johnny Cash on what would have been his 90th birthday. The city added a “Tennessee Music Pathways” marker at the site which housed the House of Cash music publishing company.

Located at 700 E Main Street, the site was dedicated on Feb. 26. Attendees included local officials as well as Cash’s son, John Carter Cash. The latter opted to give a statement commemorating the moment.

“Having lived in Hendersonville my whole life, I am grateful and indebted to Tennessee for preserving critical music sites and noting the former House of Cash building as one of those,” the younger Cash said. “In the early 1970s, this building housed my father’s recording studio. He made hundreds of historical recordings here. I remember sitting on his lap and recording a song with him when I was no more than four years old. Later, it became the Johnny Cash Museum, bringing hundreds of thousands of visitors to Sumner County.

“On behalf of the John R Cash Revocable Trust and the rest of my family, we look forward to further working with the state to develop additional locations so that fans of music and students of history alike can continue to learn about my father, Johnny Cash,” he concluded.

Tennessee Officials Grateful to Commemorate Johnny Cash

In addition, several local Tennessee officials praised the work of Cash. They expressed gratitude for his legacy as well as the desire to encourage fans to visit the historic site.

“When I think about Johnny Cash, I think about an American icon,” Sumner County Mayor Anthony Holt said.“I think about somebody that started their lives from very humble beginnings and did amazing things. He’s our hero, an American icon… and we’re so glad this Tennessee Music Pathways (marker) will be here for people to come visit where he lived and raised his family.”

Tennessee Department of Tourist Development Commissioner Mark Ezell echoed Holt’s sentiments.

“He was truly, as many have said, one of the most important, influential, and respected artists in the history of recorded music,” Ezell said.”When the idea of the Tennessee Music Pathways came about… it was artists like Johnny Cash that helped to lay the foundation of this statewide initiative.”

Also in attendance was Bill Miller, owner of the Johnny Cash Museum. A lifelong fan, Miller first visited the House of Cash as a teenager. For Miller, this event felt full circle.

“I think it’s really appropriate that this marks a pathway at House of Cash because the pathway, 2,000 miles from California, led me to this, which was and still is the mecca for Johnny Cash fans around the entire world,” Miller said. “They came by jet, they came by bus, they came by car, they hitched hiked to come to this very spot to get a glimpse of one of the greatest men I’ve ever known in my entire life.”