Welcome Home, Johnny

By Paul Greensburg, The Commercial Press

At 8:45 yesterday morning, the traffic outside Rison, Ark., was backed up a quarter of a mile as uniformed officers gave directions. Down the road at Kingsland, a sign with paint so new it looked as though it would smear if touched read:

Welcome to Kingsland The Birthplace of Johnny Cash

Cars full of people streamed into the little town. Overhead, a squadron of four helicopters buzzed by. I've been down 79 South past Rison many a time, but it was never like this. A sign pointed the way to the Johnny Cash Special, where a crowd was gathering to admire the train, applaud the speeches and welcome the native son.

By 9:10, the Baptist minister was invoking. "Father, we thank you that you have withheld the rain till this hour..." The master of ceremonies told of the past glories of Kingsland, how it had once had three Hotels and people came from 40 miles around by wagon to trade, but "as the little farmer goes down, so does the little city . . .

THE WAITING seven-car special was a thing of beauty inside and out. That must have pleased the guest of honor, who has a thing for trains (Hey Porter.... That Orange Blossom Special... Casey Jones... I hear the train a-comin', it's rollin' roun' the bend .... ") The politicians were all on hand, the governor and the congressman and lieutenant governor and state senators and representatives and the chief justice and Frank Henslee who's running for secretary of state. They all seemed to be in Car 4. You could almost feel the pressure of egos inside when you opened the heavy railroad car door. David Pryor, being introduced to a year-old as "the governor of our state," smiled wanly in the midst of the crush and said he was afraid he was.

The arrival: Rison was unrecognizable, hidden behind all the people waving at the train, crowding Main Street. Empty store fronts had been boarded up, fire plugs painted red, white and blue. Almost obscured was a little sign in a grocery down by the tracks: "Business for Sale." There were more introductions and speeches. "Ol' Johnny made a pretty good talk," I heard a policeman describing it later. "once they let him talk."

IT WAS JOHNNY CASH the star, griming at his family, waving around the key to the city, who seemed more real than the introducers and announcers and press types and politicians, all playing supporting roles in the mob scene. Maybe that's why he's a star. He seemed intent on making this hi' dad's day, really. "And thank the Lord for holdin' off the rain," he added toward the end. And the parade began.

It ended at the football field, where the bandstand and banks of amplifiers had been set up on about the 10-yard line. It was a homecoming performance with the names of aunts and cousins interlaced with the introductions to songs. Johnny Cash had left here as a three-year-old; the home he really remembered was at Dyess, one of the Resettlement Administration's farm communities in the Thirties. But lots of Cashes stayed here - he seemed related to half the county. The homecoming was a celebration of common experience, like harvest times and the Flood of '37. ("Come pickin' time. . . How high's the water, Momma?. . .")The older, the more familiar the songs, the greater warmth they seemed to arouse.

IT WAS A celebration of the old days, of the Arkansas and South of the Thirties, the hard times, the Depression. It was a celebration of the strength that had endured ("These hands... hard-workin' hands...") and of the spirit that had prevailed. ("Were you there when they crucified my Lord ? . . . Were you there when the stone was rolled away?")

The crowd had come from all around to celebrate with him, but their reaction seemed muted, more respecting than sharing. Perhaps only because the people were scattered, some on the field, others in the bleachers, wandering in and out. Or maybe it was the clothes - the bright prints, fashionable go-togethers, leather jackets without a crinkle, Sahara Shrine tuxedoes, jeans unworn or Preworn. Old lined faces were infrequent; age was attired in leisure suits. The people had come in search of their roots, but they weren't dressed for digging. Like the sound coming from the stage, the emotion was amplified but a little artificial. It's hard to be personal with thousands of milling individuals. It was as though the old cohesiveness' had gone with the old, harder times.

JOHNNY CASH thanked the Lord for holding back the rain and the concert was over. It was time to head back down Main Street. There was one classic sight by the side of the street -a group of men playing dominoes. They were playing in the midst of sleek campers on a handsome card table with: dominos made of fine bone, or maybe plastic.

The hard times that shaped Johnny Cash, that give the man and his songs a palpable integrity - he wouldn't play "Welfare Cadillac" at the White House, remember? -were elsewhere yesterday, somewhere outside the admission gates. As Johnny Cash would recognize. If he's not a great singer, he is a great feeler. The overblown prose in his promotions doesn't do him simple justice.

WALKING BACK down toward the railroad tracks after the concert, one could look down the now empty rails, out past the England Feed & Equipment Co., and not see a soul. The crowds and the show had moved on. But down those tracks were still plenty of hard times, and different people testing themselves and their faith, and one day, in their own way, they too would sing of hardship and victory, and the circle will remain unbroken.

****

Johnny Cash Rides The Cotton Belt

by Nelle Phelan

Johnny Cash, springtime, and a one of-a-kind Southern Pacific/Cotton Belt train, "The Johnny Cash Bi-Centennial Special," arrived in Cleveland Co., Ark. all in one day - along with some 12,000 enthusiastic visitors.

The towns of Rison (pop. 1214) and Kingsland (pop. approx. 300) concluded their Pioneer Crafts festival March 20 with ceremonies and a parade to honor Cash, who was born at nearby Crossroads, Arkansas.

Neither town boasts a depot - ceromonies were held at rail crossings. When Gov. David Pryor, on hand to proclaim "Johnny Cash Day," dubbed the singer the state's "favorite native son," Cash smiled broadly and said, "Thank you very much, but maybe you'd better not let Glen Campbell hear you say that."

At Kingsland, Cash and his immediate family boarded "The Sunset," the private/business rail - car of Southern Pacific president, Benjamin Biaggini. Other relatives, state and local off~officials, and the press filled the remaining six cars for the nine mile trip to Rison. The red, white, and blue Spirit of '76 Engine #3197 glided the load of deadheads (non-paying passengers) over tracks welded smooth for the occasion, along the Saline River bottoms, through woodlands flecked with dogwood blooms.

"Everything's smaller than you remember it from childhood," commented Cash during the ride. Despite recent his-and-her bone breaking incidents during their Jamaican vacation, both John and June Cash appeared tanned and radiant. Even Cash's usual somber black attire looked festival with vivid red, white and blue embroidered eagles adorning the jacket.

With the Rison crossing signal still flashing red, Johnny along with his parents, June, and John Carter Cash, climbed into a handsome horse drawn buggy to lead the parade. An hour later the last float reached the football field at the end of Rison's six block main street, where the Cash troupe presented an outdoor concert.

Johnny sang his hits, assisted from time to time by June, whose father was once a mail clerk with the Southern Pacific. Son, John Carter exchanged a few quips with his father and then joined in on the spirituals with Helen and Anita Carter and Johnny's daughter Rosie.

There were no standing ovations- since most of the audience were obliged to stand throughout the show- but a brand new Johnny Cash song, "Ridin' The Cotton Belt Line," brought a tremendous reaction from the crowd.

After the reunion here the Cash family left for another clan gathering, this one in Dyess, Arkansas where the Cash family moved when Johnny was three years old - a town which also claims the singer as their own.