The Late Johnny Cash's home burns down.

[Justin24]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070410/ap_en_mu/johnny_cash_home_fire

Fire destroys Johnny Cash home By KRISTIN M. HALL, Associated Press Writer
29 minutes ago

HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. - A fire destroyed the lakeside home of the late country singer Johnny Cash on Tuesday.

The fire started around 1:40 p.m. CST in this suburb about 20 miles northeast of downtown Nashville. Fire trucks arrived within five minutes, but the house was already engulfed in flames, Hendersonville Fire Chief Jamie Steele said.

Just a few hours later, there was almost nothing left except brick chimneys and the steel frame.

The cause is unknown, but Steele said the flames spread quickly because construction workers had recently applied a flammable wood preservative to the exterior of the house. The preservative was also being applied inside the house.

No workers were injured, but one firefighter was slightly hurt while fighting the fire, Steele said.

Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash, lived at the home from the late 1960s until their deaths in 2003.

The property was purchased by Barry Gibb, a member of the Bee Gees, in January 2006. Gibb and his wife, Linda, had said they planned to restore the home on Old Hickory Lake and hoped to write songs there.

Gibb's spokesman, Paul Bloch, said the singer and his family are "both saddened and devastated by the news."

While the Cashes lived there, the 13,880-square-foot home was visited by everyone from U.S. presidents to ordinary fans.

"So many prominent things and prominent people in American history took place in that house — everyone from Billy Graham to Bob Dylan went into that house," said singer Marty Stuart, who lives next door and was married to Cash's daughter, Cindy, in the 1980s.

Stuart said the man who designed the house, Nashville builder Braxton Dixon, was "the closest thing this part of the country had to Frank Lloyd Wright."

When Cash moved there, the road was a quiet country lane that skirts Old Hickory Lake. Kris Kristofferson, then an aspiring songwriter, once landed a helicopter on Cash's lawn to pitch him a song.

In later years, Cash did a lot of recording in the home and in a studio on the property. The landmark video for his song "Hurt" was shot inside the house.

"It was a sanctuary and a fortress for him," Stuart said. "There was a lot of writing that took place there."

Richard Sterban of the Oak Ridge Boys lives on the same road as Cash. "Maybe it's the good Lord's way to make sure that it was only Johnny's house," Sterban said.

Cash's musical career began in the 1950s and spanned from rock 'n' roll to folk to country. His hits included "Ring of Fire," "Folsom Prison Blues" and "I Walk the Line."

The Bee Gees are best known for their disco hits of the late 1970s, such as "Night Fever" and "Jive Talkin'."

 

[Canadiens1131]

That's pretty pimp - the house was so cool it took itself with him

 

[BVS]

and the flames they went higher
and it burns, burns, burns
that ring of fire
that ring of fire...






Couldn't help myself. Actually that truly sucks that part of his preservation was lost.

Glad no one was truly hurt.

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

and the flames they went higher
and it burns, burns, burns
that ring of fire
that ring of fire...






Couldn't help myself. Actually that truly sucks that part of his preservation was lost.

Glad no one was truly hurt.

This was exactly what I was going to post

I wish I would've had the sense to appreciate Johnny Cash more while he was alive. It's not that I disliked him; I just didn't really pay much attention to him and his music until fairly recently.

 

[blueeyedgirl]

And noone's made the point that BARRY FREAKIN GIBB bought the house!!! I think the house was making a point.....

 

[impy13]

I used to live in Hendersonville and I've seen that house several times.

Shame. It was a nice place.

 

[DaveC]

I wish I would've had the sense to appreciate Johnny Cash more while he was alive. It's not that I disliked him; I just didn't really pay much attention to him and his music until fairly recently.

Me too

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

And noone's made the point that BARRY FREAKIN GIBB bought the house!!! I think the house was making a point.....

Jokes aside, this is some pretty sad news. I read his autobiography last year, and the love he and June had for that house really comes through in it.

 

[Carek1230]

This is very very sad.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Barry Gibb, the former Bee Gee who bought the house that Johnny Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash, lived in for decades before their deaths in 2003, said on Monday he plans to build a new home near where the house stood before burning down last week.

"Linda (Gibb's wife) and I have decided to build our own home on the higher ground surrounding the Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash home and the original foundations shall be kept in tact and preserved for the people of Hendersonville and the people of Nashville," Gibb said in a statement.

The lakeside home in Hendersonville, a suburb about 20 miles northeast of Nashville, was destroyed by fire last Tuesday. There was almost nothing left except stone chimneys.

The Cashes moved into the 13,880-square-foot home in the late 1960s. Johnny Cash wrote much of his famous music there, where the couple also entertained U.S. presidents, music royalty and visiting fans.

Gibb purchased the home in 2006 and had hoped to remodel it and eventually write songs there with his wife.

Gibb said the land where the Cash house once stood is "sacred" and "must be protected forever."

"To the Cash Carter families we owe the highest respect and the deepest regret that our dream could not be realized. Now there is a new dream for us and a new beginning," he said.

Fire investigators say they know the cause of the fire, but have not yet released it.

Investigators believe the flames spread quickly because construction workers had recently applied a flammable wood preservative to the exterior of the house. The preservative was also being applied inside the house.