Please, no “ring of fire” jokes: the Tennessee house Johnny Cash lived in for more than 30 years with June Carter Cash burned to the ground Tuesday; the cause is still unknown but appears to have been exacerbated by “a flammable wood preservative” (?!!) that construction workers were applying to the house. In addition to hosting a whole variety of famous friends of Cash, the house was also the setting for the emotional video for “Hurt,” one of the covers from his American Recordings albums that make you go “Oh, that’s how that song’s supposed to be.”
An Oak Ridge Boy lives down the road and gives a quote that seems like a bit of a dis on current owner of the house… wait for it… Barry Gibb. Again, may I just say, “?!!”? Anyway, the Oak Ridge Boy says “maybe it’s the good Lord’s way to make sure that it was only Johnny’s house.” Which is nice, but the image in my mind is more like the good Lord letting Johnny reach down and zap the house himself. Or, come to think of it, Barry Gibb burning down Johnny Cash’s house.
