Chet Flippo has written another insightful Nashville Skyline (yeah, I know how perilously close to a fan-boy I am at this point) on the burning of Johnny Cash’s lakeside home he shared with his wife June Carter-Cash.
The house had become a virtual shrine. There were tourists out there every day, but it never took on the atmosphere of Graceland. The visitors were respectful. It was a homing site for country music fans and country music stars alike. To the point that aspiring country music songwriter Kris Kristofferson once landed his helicopter on Cash’s lawn to hand him a song demo for “Sunday Morning Coming Down.” I’m sure you saw the house in the movie, Walk the Line, and in Cash’s music video for “Hurt.” The house was a central character in both and clearly possessed a character of its own.
It just begs the question that I’ve had about real estate vs history. The Ryman was almost torn down in the 80’s and Johnny’s house was put on the market, bought (By frikin Barry Gibb!) and put in a situation to be burned to the ground. Maybe Nashville could stop shoveling crap for a few moments and try and preserve it’s legacy. At least the parts that are within the Tennessee border.
I didn’t know all this about Johnny’s and June’s home. Thanks for the information.
(…no shame in being a fan boy!)
You’re right about Nashville and preserving country music landmarks. The Ryman Auditorium is my absolute favorite place to see a concert, and everytime I go there I think about how if it had been torn down in the eighties or hadn’t been restored in the nineties, I never would have had the chance to experience it.
However, I don’t think the Cash home is the best example. No one was suggesting that it be torn down, it was being sold to another musician for artistic purposes, and Nashville certainly didn’t put it in a situation to be burned to the ground as any historical organization that bought it would have had to restore it with just as much wood preservative as Gibb used.
Matt, you’re right, but I was wanting to lash out at someone for this and beating up on natural chemical reactons just is not that gratifying.