CMT Blog: Archive

Today is the one-year anniversary of a tragedy in the Nashville suburb of Hendersonville - an incident that’s already showing signs of becoming legendary. The former home of Johnny Cash and June Carter was undergoing a restoration by new owner Barry Gibb when it caught fire and burned to the ground.

The event is already captured in a piece of folklore on George Strait’s new album, Troubadour. “House Of Cash,” a duet with Patty Loveless plays with the facts and the symbolism to reach new levels of understanding. Cleverly crafted by songwriters Monty Holmes and Leslie Satcher, it suggests the ghosts of Johnny and June simply would not allow another soul to occupy the place. “No one sleeps in Cash’s bed,” says the chorus, “but the Man in Black and the woman he wed.”

An appropriate thread of other-world spirituality runs through “House Of Cash.” It’s hellfire-and-brimstone dark in tone, and by incorporating a song June wrote about Johnny — “The ring of fire comes full circle” — it makes some interesting connections. Johnny, of course, believed in the afterlife and played with its images by remaking the cowboy classic “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky.” June’s “Ring Of Fire” was co-written with Merle Kilgore, who made a deal with Johnny Horton that whoever went first would send a specific message from the other side. After Horton died in a car accident, the exact, agreed-upon words were spoken to Kilgore, who believed it was indeed a sign from Horton’s spirit.

Was the 2007 fire a parting message from Johnny and June? Probably not, but it makes for a friggin’ great song.

See photos from the House of Cash.