October 7 - Hendersonville, Tennessee - CASH/CARTER grave site ... I sang a gospel tune "I Saw A Man" at the black bench at the head of Mr&Mrs.(Johnny&June) CASH's resting place ... I also visited with the Carter Family sites ... Mother Maybelle, Ezra, Anita, Helen   his parents Ray&Carrie (Rivers) Cash and also the legendary Luther Perkins ... may they all rest peacefully

 

October 7 - Tootsie's World Famous Orchid Lounge, Broadway Avenue - perform with Larry Nutter, lead guitarist for the Kitty Wells Show and Richard 'Sticks' Stickley on drums ... later that evening perform in the lounge/bar at the Hotel Preston.   Luke "Swamp Rat" Wilson joined me.

 

October 8 - Ballroom of the Hotel Preston perform at CASHBASH 2004 - everyone did Johnny Cash covers, and after the formal session was over Luke Wilson, Lisa Horngren, Tony GerogesIII from New York City and a few others sat in a circle in front of the stage and we picked and sang until 2:30AM   ... and I met two other fine young bluegrass artists from Alabama ... Matt & Bo.   Bo has written a gospel song that Porter Wagoner has recorded.   They were his guests on Saturday night at the Grand Ole Opry as Porter was performing that new song.   Matt invited me to be their guest to attend the Opry with them ...

 

October 9 - Private bus tour with Joanne (Cash) Yates, Johnny's youngest sister, and her husband pastor Harry, our driver - to Twitty City; tour Conway's home and the grounds now owned and operated by Trinity Productions; to the grave site; to The House of Cash business offices, which have been closed for some time now; on to the home of Johnny & June at 200 Caudill Drive.   After our tour I went to GIBSON Guitar at the Opry Mills Mall.   I played some awesome guitars, banjos and mandolins ... some worth as much as $10,000.   I met Matt and Bo there and we tried out a new Doyle Lawson Signature series mandolin ... wow, was it sweet!   Jeremiah Herrera interviewed many of us fans ... in the evening at Hotel Preston we did our formal music night honouring Mr. Cash.   We had 'special guests' that night ... Paul Richey, who wrote The Baron, which Johnny Cash recorded and made a video in 1981.   Mrs. Margaret (Luther Perkins) Beaver and their daughter Kathy (Searles) and her new husband Steve attended.   As they were leaving I joined them out in the hall and was able to get a photo taken with Margie& Kathy.  When I went back on stage, Paul Richey came up and even asked me to stay up with him and do some pickin' for him ... I was honoured to do that! and what a thrill as he told us stories of him and Mr.Cash ... actually, he pitched the Baron to Kenny Rogers at first, who wanted to rename the tune ... Paul said "dumb, ya' missed the whole idea of the song" so then he pitched it to Mr. Cash.   Larry Baird provided the sound for both of our evenings ... Thnx Larry

 

Ballroom of Hotel Preston - again, after the formal party concluded and the special guests had left, the same bunch of us sat in a circle, this time 'til 4:30AM   Mike Horan joined us too    Jeremiah Herrera hung around with us 'til about 3:00AM   Suzi Ryder hung in with us too      what a night to remember!     what a thrill!

 

October 10 - Breakfast with Kathy (Cash) Tittle Hotel Preston Ballroom - Kathy (Cash) Tittle, Johnny's daughter, and her husband Jimmy attended our breakfast meeting.   We all enjoyed chatting with her ... she was so gracious.   Later on that day we went to Hendersonville to have "B-B-Q" at Mr. Cash's favourite place for such feasts ... Center Point B-B-Q    I attended with Suzi Ryder and Mike Horan who organized it.

 

October 15, 4:50 PM - Jeremiah Herrera just called from Texas with some good news ... He and Paul Richey are producing a "Tribute to Johnny Cash" in Nashville on September 12, 2005 with Tommy Cash, who tours now doing tribute shows to his brother and I have been asked and booked as the "OPENING   ACT" for this production.   Jeremiah said he and Paul want it that way!   I am deeply humbled, thrilled and honoured to do this

 

Also, I have two of    LUTHER  PERKINS   guitars available to serious interested parties ... contact me for details ... these guitars have been authenticated by Gruhn Guitars of Nashville and can also be supported with affidavits from W.S. "Fluke" Holland, Johnny Cash's drummer and also drummer for Carl Perkins (no relation to Luther) before joining the Tennessee Three