(NewsChannel 5) HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. - The house of the late country music legend Johnny Cash has burned to the ground.
The fire started shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday. The 13,000-square-foot home was sold in January 2006 to a corporation owned by Barry Gibb, vocalist for the Bee Gees. The house was sold for $2.3 million.
Gibb purchased the home and planned to restore it. The house caught fire during part of the construction process, and was caused by a flammable spray sealer.
"They was using some type...of wood preservative inside the house. The last few days they had it outside the house and then something ignited it and we had fire pretty much from one end to the other," Hendersonville Fire Chief Jamie H. Steele said.
Gibb was going to move into the house in July. It was not known on whether he would rebuild or sell the property.
The home is located in Hendersonville on Old Hickory Lake.
Cash died in September 2003 at the age of 71. His wife, June Carter Cash, died in May 2003 at the age of 73. Both were buried in the Hendersonville Memory Gardens.
The late Johnny Cash built his home on Claudill Drive in Hendersonville in 1968. On a tour of the Cash home in 2005, NewsChannel 5 got to see inside the home.
The Cash lakefront property was home to many with its 14,000 square feet, seven bedrooms and five bathrooms, and it will always be known as a part of country music history.
"It's not only a piece of my heart and soul and my family's and this community's, but it's also a piece of American culture gone too," country star Marty Stuart said.
Johnny Cash's home was visited by everyone from U.S. Presidents to everyday fans. He taped his music video Hurt, which won best video of the year from both the Grammy's and the CMA's, inside his home.
There were no injuries in the fire.
Full Version: Johnny and June Carter Cash's house
i just saw this on the news
so sad
so sad
QUOTE
"It's not only a piece of my heart and soul and my family's and this community's, but it's also a piece of American culture gone too," country star Marty Stuart said.
Marty said it the best. So, so sad.
It is so sad to lose such a piece of country music history like this. I'm sure the Cash family is devastated by the loss. I'm just glad no one was hurt in the fire.
House revered by stars and fans now just ashes
Fire destroys Cash's former home
By PETER COOPER
Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, 04/11/07
"Camelot."
That's what June Carter liked to call the Hendersonville home she shared with her husband, Johnny Cash.
"She thought of it as her and dad's private kingdom," wrote the couple's son, John Carter Cash, in his Anchored In Love: The Life and Legacy of June Carter Cash, a book slated for June release.
The Cashes' Camelot is in ruins, the victim of a Tuesday afternoon fire that destroyed the more than 13,000-square-foot property. Its new owner, Barry Gibb of Bee Gees fame, bought the house for $2.5 million in early 2006, and he and wife Linda were renovating it for use as a summer home.
Built in the late 1960s, the home had 18 rooms, including a signature round living room and a bedroom that overlooked Old Hickory Lake. It was important for reasons that had nothing to do with size, architecture and design. Like the Cashes' Virginia home — the one that used to belong to June's mother, legendary guitarist Maybelle Carter — this was a house of music.
Cash wrote here, of course. He placed acoustic guitars in most rooms, so that he could pluck out chords and melodies as inspiration struck. In the 1970s, he and June often opened the house for guitar pulls that included luminaries such as Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and Mickey Newbury. They'd also often invite up-and-coming writers that Cash respected and encouraged, including Vince Matthews and Larry Gatlin.
When the house wasn't open to visitors, it was seemingly impenetrable. As an aspiring songwriter, a down-and-out Kristofferson wanted to hand a tape of his music to the by-then-legendary Cash, but he figured he wouldn't be able to get past guards. He landed a helicopter in the yard, and Cash ended up recording "Sunday Morning Coming Down" and other Kristofferson songs.
House was a sanctuary
June Carter Cash also worked on her music at the house, and she played a private concert on the grounds to celebrate the release of her Press On album in 1999.
For the most part, Johnny and June did not record at the home, though beginning in the late 1990s they recorded many tracks at Cash's small cabin studio located across the street and down a winding, unpaved road.
Johnny Cash recorded some vocal tracks in the house, after June died in 2003. He was grief-stricken, and in such poor health that it was difficult for him to make it to the cabin studio. Sessions were arranged in his round bedroom.
"It was a sanctuary and a fortress for him," singer Marty Stuart said of the house. Stuart lives next door to the Cash estate in Hendersonville, and he was married to Johnny Cash's daughter, Cindy, in the 1980s. "So many prominent things and prominent people in American history took place in that house," Stuart said, name-checking Dylan and evangelist Billy Graham as two of the most notable.
When Cash first bought the house, he used it as a place of healing. His body ravaged by drug abuse, he retreated to that round bedroom to rid his system of toxic substances. He and June were not yet married, but she and her parents were a near-constant presence.
"June and her mother and father formed a circle of faith around me caring for me and insulating me from the outside world, particularly the people, some of them close friends, who'd been doing drugs with me," Cash wrote in Cash: The Autobiography.
Home reflected June
After Johnny and June married in 1968, June — a shopper and a collector of art and furniture — lavishly furnished the interior. The result could be seen in the video for Cash's 2002 release "Hurt," some of which was filmed in the house.
"I found photos of the lake house from late 1967, before dad and mom married," wrote John Carter Cash, who was born in 1970. "They showed wide open rooms with very little furniture, and only a few scattered mementos. I have a few of those items still. … These things remind me of how my father changed to bring my mother into his life."
After June's death, Johnny Cash sought to remove many of the items his wife had
collected because the reminders saddened and depressed him.
After Cash's death in September 2003, it was left to relatives to sift through the belongings. Many of their paintings, clothes and musical instruments were sold at a Sotheby's auction in 2004. The family hung onto the home until 2006, when it was sold to the Gibbs. John Carter Cash kept the cabin studio, where he regularly records (including a tribute album to June Carter Cash that will be released in June).
Album detailed the loss
Johnny Cash's daughter, singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash, wrote about the painful process of parting with the home on her 2006 Black Cadillac album.
"There's nothing left to take," she sang in "House on the Lake." "There's nothing left to take/ But love and years are not for sale/ In our old house on the lake."
Barbara Orbison, a neighbor of the Cashes for many years and the widow of Roy Orbison, spent many days at the house on the lake.
"Every inch of the house was something June bought or put there," she said. "If you thought about Johnny and June, you thought about that house. That was their house. I guess it will forever be their house."
http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl...ENT06/704110441
Fire destroys Cash's former home
By PETER COOPER
Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, 04/11/07
"Camelot."
That's what June Carter liked to call the Hendersonville home she shared with her husband, Johnny Cash.
"She thought of it as her and dad's private kingdom," wrote the couple's son, John Carter Cash, in his Anchored In Love: The Life and Legacy of June Carter Cash, a book slated for June release.
The Cashes' Camelot is in ruins, the victim of a Tuesday afternoon fire that destroyed the more than 13,000-square-foot property. Its new owner, Barry Gibb of Bee Gees fame, bought the house for $2.5 million in early 2006, and he and wife Linda were renovating it for use as a summer home.
Built in the late 1960s, the home had 18 rooms, including a signature round living room and a bedroom that overlooked Old Hickory Lake. It was important for reasons that had nothing to do with size, architecture and design. Like the Cashes' Virginia home — the one that used to belong to June's mother, legendary guitarist Maybelle Carter — this was a house of music.
Cash wrote here, of course. He placed acoustic guitars in most rooms, so that he could pluck out chords and melodies as inspiration struck. In the 1970s, he and June often opened the house for guitar pulls that included luminaries such as Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and Mickey Newbury. They'd also often invite up-and-coming writers that Cash respected and encouraged, including Vince Matthews and Larry Gatlin.
When the house wasn't open to visitors, it was seemingly impenetrable. As an aspiring songwriter, a down-and-out Kristofferson wanted to hand a tape of his music to the by-then-legendary Cash, but he figured he wouldn't be able to get past guards. He landed a helicopter in the yard, and Cash ended up recording "Sunday Morning Coming Down" and other Kristofferson songs.
House was a sanctuary
June Carter Cash also worked on her music at the house, and she played a private concert on the grounds to celebrate the release of her Press On album in 1999.
For the most part, Johnny and June did not record at the home, though beginning in the late 1990s they recorded many tracks at Cash's small cabin studio located across the street and down a winding, unpaved road.
Johnny Cash recorded some vocal tracks in the house, after June died in 2003. He was grief-stricken, and in such poor health that it was difficult for him to make it to the cabin studio. Sessions were arranged in his round bedroom.
"It was a sanctuary and a fortress for him," singer Marty Stuart said of the house. Stuart lives next door to the Cash estate in Hendersonville, and he was married to Johnny Cash's daughter, Cindy, in the 1980s. "So many prominent things and prominent people in American history took place in that house," Stuart said, name-checking Dylan and evangelist Billy Graham as two of the most notable.
When Cash first bought the house, he used it as a place of healing. His body ravaged by drug abuse, he retreated to that round bedroom to rid his system of toxic substances. He and June were not yet married, but she and her parents were a near-constant presence.
"June and her mother and father formed a circle of faith around me caring for me and insulating me from the outside world, particularly the people, some of them close friends, who'd been doing drugs with me," Cash wrote in Cash: The Autobiography.
Home reflected June
After Johnny and June married in 1968, June — a shopper and a collector of art and furniture — lavishly furnished the interior. The result could be seen in the video for Cash's 2002 release "Hurt," some of which was filmed in the house.
"I found photos of the lake house from late 1967, before dad and mom married," wrote John Carter Cash, who was born in 1970. "They showed wide open rooms with very little furniture, and only a few scattered mementos. I have a few of those items still. … These things remind me of how my father changed to bring my mother into his life."
After June's death, Johnny Cash sought to remove many of the items his wife had
collected because the reminders saddened and depressed him.
After Cash's death in September 2003, it was left to relatives to sift through the belongings. Many of their paintings, clothes and musical instruments were sold at a Sotheby's auction in 2004. The family hung onto the home until 2006, when it was sold to the Gibbs. John Carter Cash kept the cabin studio, where he regularly records (including a tribute album to June Carter Cash that will be released in June).
Album detailed the loss
Johnny Cash's daughter, singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash, wrote about the painful process of parting with the home on her 2006 Black Cadillac album.
"There's nothing left to take," she sang in "House on the Lake." "There's nothing left to take/ But love and years are not for sale/ In our old house on the lake."
Barbara Orbison, a neighbor of the Cashes for many years and the widow of Roy Orbison, spent many days at the house on the lake.
"Every inch of the house was something June bought or put there," she said. "If you thought about Johnny and June, you thought about that house. That was their house. I guess it will forever be their house."
http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl...ENT06/704110441
I saw this on the news last night--definitely a devastating loss, especially with all the memories that went up in smoke. Although nobody was hurt, thankfully, it still goes to show the fragility of things, and of life itself.
Barry and Linda Gibb have made known their plans for the Nashville home formerly owned by Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, that was destroyed by fire last week.
"Linda and I have decided to build our own home on the higher ground surrounding the Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash home, and the original foundations shall be kept intact and preserved for the people of Hendersonville and the people of Nashville," Barry says.
Adding, "This land is sacred land to all of us here and must be protected forever. To the Cash-Carter families we owe the highest respect and the deepest regret that our dream could not be realized. Now there is a new dream for us and a new beginning."
Barry and Linda Gibb purchased the Cash home in 2006.
"Linda and I have decided to build our own home on the higher ground surrounding the Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash home, and the original foundations shall be kept intact and preserved for the people of Hendersonville and the people of Nashville," Barry says.
Adding, "This land is sacred land to all of us here and must be protected forever. To the Cash-Carter families we owe the highest respect and the deepest regret that our dream could not be realized. Now there is a new dream for us and a new beginning."
Barry and Linda Gibb purchased the Cash home in 2006.
Some very good news...thanks for sharing, Sandi.
How cool and respectful is that?!! Barry and Linda Gibb obviously are good people who have decided to let the dream go on forever. I applaud them!
How cool and respectful is that?!! Barry and Linda Gibb obviously are good people who have decided to let the dream go on forever. I applaud them!
I saw the footage on CMT Insider and it made me ache for a family who has suffered so much the last few years. I know it technically didn't belong to the Cash family any longer, but it's such a huge chapter in their story.
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