The Man in Black will soon be the Man in Marbles. Later this year, a statue of country icon Johnny Cash will become the first professional musician to take his place in Statuary Hall at the US Capitol. The tribute to Cash will be presented during a ceremony in the Capitol's Emancipation Hall on September 24.
Cash will take his place in the National Statuary Hall Collection, where each US state receives two statues to honor important figures from its history. Cash, born in Dyess, AR, will be enshrined alongside civil rights activist Daisy Bates, whose statue was installed in May. in 2019, the Arkansas state legislature passed a bill to replace the existing statues of Senator James P. Clark and Attorney Uriah Rose with Cash and Bates.
News of the eight-foot-tall bronze statue of a stern Cash holding a Bible and a guitar designed by artist Kevin Kresse was announced Thursday (Aug. 1) by House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Democratic Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries. In December 2022, Kresse posted a picture of the statue, writing, “Although I finished this 8ft. The tall Johnny Cash sculpture 2-3 months ago, I couldn't get it to the foundry until we got approval from Washington DC for the whole package. (Sculpture, Pedestal, Inscriptions, Mechanics, etc.). Yesterday we got “official” approval from DC Although I don't know when the unveiling will happen, I do know that the Daisy Bates and Johnny Cash statues will be the new representatives of Arkansas on the US Capitol starting in 2023. I could Don't you are happier with these options for Arkansas. I am also extremely proud to be a native son of Arkansas, to have this opportunity to sculpt an image of Arkansas for the nation's Capitol.”
Vesting Cash will place him inside good company next door historical figures such as Ethan Allen, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune (educator, civil rights activist, and co-founder of the United Negro College Fund), Pulitzer Prize-winning author Willa Cather, Amelia Earhart, inventor Thomas Alva Edison, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Andrew Jackson, Helen Keller, astronaut John Swigert, Jr., George Washington and many others.
With his signature baritone voice and songs of faith, murder, longing and love, Cash was a beloved country outlaw best known for such iconic tracks as “I Walk the Line,” “Ring of Fire,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Man in Black” and “Daddy Sang Bass”, and many more.
According NBC News, Johnson, Jeffries, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders and Cash's family are expected to attend the unveiling. Cash died in 2002 at age 71 of respiratory failure linked to complications from diabetes.
See the announcement and an image of the statue below.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/country/johnny-cash-statue-us-capitol-1235745327/
