Johnny Cash becomes first musician honored with statue inside US Capitol

A statue depicting country music legend Johnny Cash was unveiled Tuesday morning at the U.S. Capitol, making the "Man in Black" the first musician to have his likeness represented in Statuary Hall.

At an unveiling ceremony in at the United States Capitol Visitor Center, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders joined over 100 members of the Cash family to reveal artist Kevin Kresse's bronze statue.

The 8-foot-tall statue depicts the "I Walk the Line" singer with his head slightly downturned, a Bible in one hand and the other on his chest. A guitar is slung over his back.

"Today we have the pleasure of recognizing — get this — the first musician to ever be honored with a statue here in the Capitol," Johnson said. "And Johnny Cash is the perfect person to be honored in that way. He was a man who embodied the American spirit in a way that few could."

Cash, a Kingsland, Ark. native, died in Nashville, Tenn., at the age of 71. Throughout his career, he produced 40 years of hits, including "Folsom Prison Blues," "Ring of Fire," "A Boy Named Sue" and "Hurt."

Johnson shared that he recently learned, "as fate would have it," he is a distant half-cousin of Cash's, joining the many other Cash family members present for the reveal.

Rosanne Cash, the daughter of Johnny Cash, took the podium at the ceremony. "What a remarkable day," she said. "In my wildest dreams, I couldn't have imagined."

"Words cannot come close to expressing our pride to see my dad accorded such a singular privilege, the first musician in history to be included in the Statuary Hall Collection," Cash said on behalf of the family. "I'm very careful not to put words in his mouth since his passing, but on this day, I can safely say that he would feel that of all the many honors and accolades he received in his lifetime, this is the ultimate."

"Thank you Kevin Kresse for capturing his very essence in bronze," Rosanne Cash said. "You see this statue and you know this is no one else but Johnny Cash."

A sculptor from Little Rock, Ark., Kesse has crafted two other statues of Cash and other Arkansas musicians like Al Green, Glen Campbell and Levon Helm.

"In this statue, Kevin, I can actually see the 'gravel in his gut' and the 'spit in his eye,'" U.S. rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., said later at the podium, referencing the iconic lyrics of "A Boy Named Sue."

The ceremony closed with a performance of "I Walk the Line" from the United States Air Force Band and the Benediction delivered by Dr. Mike Garrett, a nephew of Johnny Cash.

Johnny Cash, Daisy Bates statues now represent Arkansas in Capitol

In the Capitol's National Statuary Hall Collection, each state has the opportunity to donate two statues to represent their most notable residents.

The statue of Cash joins the Capitol on behalf of his home state Arkansas, which voted to replace its two existing statues in 2019, ones that have stood in the Capitol on behalf of the state for over 100 years.

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The past two statues depicted Senator James P. Clarke and Uriah Rose, a lawyer who became the first president of the American Bar Association.

A statue of Daisy Bates, a civil rights activist and journalist who documented the end of segregation in Arkansas, most recently joined the gallery on behalf of Arkansas.

According to the Associated Press, the statues of Bates and Cash won out over proposed statue ideas of Sam Walton, Walmart's founder, and a Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan.

Audrey Gibbs is a music reporter for The Tennessean. You can reach her at agibbs@tennessean.com.