OPINION

OPINION | REX NELSON: An uncloudy day


I'm in the vehicle with Wayne Cash on this uncloudy day. We're headed from Kingsland to the Cross Roads community in Cleveland County to see the birthplace of Wayne's most famous distant cousin, Johnny Cash.

There's no house left, just an empty lot. But Wayne, who lives at Woodlawn in the northeast part of the county, has seen to it that there's a marker nearby. Wayne's efforts to turn the former public school campus at Kingsland into the Kingsland Heritage Center was the subject of Sunday's column.

In writing that column, I realized that Wayne has latched onto an idea that people in other rural Arkansas counties that are losing population need to understand. Developments such as Kingsland Heritage Center not only bring visitors with money to spend, they increase pride and self-worth in the young people who live in those counties: "If someone as poor as Johnny Cash could be born here and go onto great things, so can I."

Already one of the state's smallest counties in terms of population, Cleveland County lost another 13.1 percent of its residents between the 2010 and 2020 census. There are now 7,550 residents, down from 8,689 in 2010.

The Cash family came to south Arkansas from Georgia in 1857. They had arrived in this country from Scotland in the 1600s, first settling in Virginia.

Johnny was born to Ray and Carrie Cash in February 1932. The notice in the Cross Roads column in the local newspaper simply read: "Born, to Mr. and Mrs. Ray Cash, a 11-pound boy, February 26. He has been named John R."

The same edition noted: "Jack Cash, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Cash, has been sick with the flu, but is greatly improved."

Johnny Cash's father was from the Rison area, while his mother was from the Kingsland area. The family moved when Johnny was 3 to Dyess Colony in Mississippi County, a New Deal resettlement colony for impoverished farmers. They often made the long trip back to Cleveland County for family reunions and other events.

The first of three markers placed this year was the one near the birthplace. The second marker was placed at Kingsland's old post office, where photographs of Johnny Cash and fellow country star Johnny Horton were taken in 1959. The nearby Kingland water tower features a large image of Cash.

A third marker was placed at Rison High School's George Walker Field of Champions, where Johnny held a 1976 concert. The fourth marker will be on the grounds of the Cleveland County Courthouse at Rison and tell of his trips there for Cash family reunions. A digital tour features the voice of Johnny's daughter Rosanne Cash.

I remember that March 20, 1976, visit well. I was in high school at Arkadelphia at the time, and our coaches let us out of off-season football practices early so they could head to Rison. Cash took a special train from Kingsland to Rison that day.

"Johnny always said he looked forward to coming home to Cleveland County when he was a boy at Dyess," Wayne says. "His father had farmed and done other jobs when the family lived here. One of Ray's brothers was county judge for a time."

Johnny had six siblings: Roy, Louise, Jack, Reba, Joanne and Tommy. Jack's 1944 death in a sawmill accident haunted Johnny for years.

The Cash family reunion was held the second Sunday of October in Rison. Wayne says that even after Johnny achieved stardom, he would bring his father back for reunions.

Wayne hands me a 1970 newspaper clipping that reads: "Cleveland County's most widely known native son came home Sunday to attend the Cash family reunion at the Rison Community Center, and after a brief visit with kith and kin returned to Nashville. Johnny Cash, star of country and western music, arrived in Rison shortly before noon and for over an hour mixed and mingled with the large crowd at the reunion and participated in the bountiful lunch served picnic style.

"To close his visit to the reunion, Cash told the group that he had to go but before leaving wanted to lead the singing of 'The Uncloudy Day,' one of the favorite songs of his aunt, Mrs. Edgar McKinney. Cash, who had come from Nashville by plane to Pine Bluff, was met there by Otis Cash of Warren, a cousin. He had to cut his visit short in order to get in the air ahead of a storm cloud approaching from the southwest."

The visiting superstar said: "I'm proud of my heritage and my people, and it's good to be here with you this short time. If you see our show, you'll know that we close with the most important part, the singing of a religious song. Now join with me in singing a favorite that we've used on the show and requested by Aunt Mable."

The previous year might have been Cash's best. Long plagued by addiction problems, Cash was clean and sober in 1969 and sold more than 6 million albums. His album "Johnny Cash at San Quentin" went to No. 1 on both country and pop charts. He had two No. 1 country singles that year, "A Boy Named Sue" and "Daddy Sang Bass." He recorded with Bob Dylan on Dylan's "Nashville Skyline" album. He even came to Arkansas on April 10, 1969, for a concert at Cummins Prison Farm.

The "show" he referred to in his comments at Rison was television's "Johnny Cash Show," which was filmed at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and aired by ABC in prime time from 1969-71. Cash began 1970 with another No. 1 country song, "Sunday Morning Coming Down." He wouldn't have another No. 1 song until 1976.

"The Cash family was Baptist," Wayne says. "His mother's family, the Rivers, was Methodist. They both had strong church music traditions, and Johnny often appeared at Billy Graham crusades."


Senior Editor Rex Nelson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.


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