JOANNE CASH YATES, VINCE GILL DISCUSS THIRD ANNUAL JOHNNY CASH MUSIC FESTIVAL, HOME RESTORATION

Jack Hill discusses the third annual Johnny Cash Music Festival featuring Cash’s two surviving siblings, Joanne Cash Yates and Tommy Cash, as well as work on the family’s old home in Dyess. The article also includes a conversation with Joanne Yates about the restoration of the family home. “I’m elated about how the construction on our old house has been coming along,” says Joanne Cash Yates. “I spent my first 17 years in that house, and I remember every table and bed that was there. It’s been like a job for me to act as sort of a consultant to Ruth Hawkins of Arkansas State University, who’s in charge of the Heritage Sites project, to replicate some of the furnishings from that era. “One of the most exciting things we found was the original linoleum in the kitchen, which had been covered up, under layers and layers of other floors. Ruth has been searching antique stores and so on and if she finds something that looks right, she sends photos to my phone, and I’ll answer ‘yes’ or no’ to her.” Yates also talks about memories of her brother, saying “I was 10 years old and I made him and his girlfriend take me with them to the movies,” she says, laughing. “But he had to bring me home, so I messed up that date, I remember.” The lineup for the third annual Johnny Cash Music Festival is also discussed. For the full article, click here.