The late singer-songwriter Johnny Cash will be given another chance for redemption as Starkville hosts the third-annual Johnny Cash Flower Pickin’ Festival on Oct. 16 through 18.
The festival, which has garnered national attention since its inception, is centered around the pardoning of Johnny Cash, who was arrested in Starkville during a visit to the town.
Robbie Ward, who founded and organized the festival, said the concept behind it was to recognize Johnny Cash’s very colorful, quirky connection with Starkville.
“He was arrested seven times in his life, in seven places, Starkville included along with six other small places, but he only wrote a song about one of those places,” he said. “When Johnny Cash left the drunk tank on May 11, 1965, he didn’t realize it at the time, but he left Starkville with a real treasure that more than 40 years later turned into the Johnny Cash Flower Picking Festival.”
Ward said he discovered a man who had been in the drunk tank with Johnny that May night named Robert Lee “Smokey” Evans.
“Johnny Cash had kicked the steel door and broke his big toe. After that he settled down and he and Smokey talked a little, but when Johnny left the drunk tank, he left [barefoot],” Ward said. “He handed his shoes to Smokey and said, ‘Here are my shoes. I’m Johnny Cash.'”
In the past, the city of Starkville has pardoned Cash for his night spent in the Oktibbeha County Jail, but this year Cash’s family turns the table, issuing Starkville a pardon as well.
The festival begins Friday evening at Grumpy’s restaurant with a viewing of the documentary “Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison” followed by live music.
Saturday, children’s singer-songwriter Barry Marcus will perform a “Man in Black” interactive children’s concert at the Book Mart downtown.
Guided tours of the “Johnny Cash Suite” will be given Saturday morning at the Starkville City Jail. Afterward, festival goers can go to Rick’s Cafe for over 12 hours of live music and the official pardoning ceremonies.
“After we’ve had fun on Friday and Saturday, after we pardon Starkville, we might need a little redemption ourselves,” Ward said. “So, Sunday morning Crosspointe Baptist Church will host John Fischer – a reformed hippy singer-songwriter theologian – who will deliver a message on Redemption.”
With Sunday alcohol sales recently legalized in Starkville, the festival will also feature a Redemption Sunday Brunch, complete with champagne, mimosas and music by local band Nash Street. The brunch will take place at Barrister’s.
Ward said the brunch was inspired by the traditional Sunday Redemption Brunch held at the New Orleans House of Blues. He said tickets for the brunch will soon be available at Barrister’s.
With a smaller budget, many community members and businesses are stepping in this year to contribute to the festival’s success.
John Davis, of Starkville, has worked closely with the Chesteen family, who has owned the University Motel and Grumpy’s since 1982. He said he recalls hearing the story of Cash’s visit.
“June Carter came down for breakfast and needed to bail him out, but she didn’t know where the jail was, so Mr. Chesteen carried her up there to bail Johnny Cash out,” he said.
Davis said the room Cash stayed in was renovated in honor of the late Mr. Chesteen and Cash for last year’s festival and to honor the memory of both men.
“The Chesteen family figured the best way we could honor both families was to give back to the city,” he said.
Singer-songwriter John Francis will perform at this year’s festival for the first time. Francis recently recorded an album, The Better Angel, at the Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, Tenn., where Johnny and June Cash had a home.
Francis said he looks forward to performing at the festival and sharing a weekend with people who share the same admiration for Johnny and June Cash as he does.
“He spoke for people who didn’t have a voice. He was an advocate for people who were marginalized, prisoners, Vietnam veterans and outsiders,” he said. “He made being an outsider more tolerable; he had this way of kind of including everybody – his voice and music are just so vast.”