Johnny Cash will now be saying “Hello Out There” to countless visitors to the U.S. Capitol after congressional leaders gathered to unveil a statue of the legendary musician.
The ceremony on Tuesday was attended by hundreds of people, with leaders of both the Republican and Democratic parties attending along with Cash's family.
The statue is the most recent to be unveiled in Congress and the first to be dedicated to a professional musician, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, noted in his opening remarks.
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A statue of Johnny Cash was unveiled on Tuesday. (Getty Images)
“Johnny Cash is worthy of being honored in this way. He embodied the American spirit in a way that very few people can. He was an ordinary man. He loved to fish and endured the pain of loss. He was the son of Southern farmers and the Great Depression,” Johnson said. “Americans feel a kinship with Johnny Cash.”
He acknowledged that some might wonder why Cash is being honored in the same category as other historical pioneers, presidents and dignitaries.
“The answer is simple: America is more than laws and politics,” Johnson said. “Johnny Cash gave voice to the struggles of the oppressed, the marginalized and the all too often forgotten.”
“When we forgot about the factory line worker, Johnny Cash was singing about the man who built cars, one by one. When we forgot about the military, Johnny Cash in black was remembering the 100,000 who died for that (flag). When we forgot about Native Americans, Johnny Cash was recalling the frozen but righteous tears of the Apache.”
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Speaker Mike Johnson holds up a photo of Cash in his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana. (Getty Images)
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) noted in his remarks that music has long been a part of American culture.
“From the very beginning, artistic creativity has been recognized in the DNA of this great nation as vital to our growth, our culture and our American experiment,” Jeffries said. “Throughout his life, he built up a catalog of work too powerful to be described by a single genre. At different times, he played country, blues, rock and roll and gospel.”
“Johnny Cash has always been a uniquely American man. He was a pioneer, a change agent and a trendsetter.”
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Cash's family members also attended the ceremony, with Admiral Cary Cash, a pastor and the musician's nephew, delivering the opening prayer.
The statue depicts Cash carrying a guitar and holding a Bible, and is one of three Bible-holding statues in the Capitol, the other being Billy Graham.
Top Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives spoke at the event. (Getty Images)
Each state will select two statues to be placed in the halls of the U.S. Capitol.
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The Arkansas Legislature voted in 2019 to replace statues of two lesser-known figures with statues of Cash and civil rights activist Daisy Bates, the latter of which debuted earlier this year.
The Cash statue was created by Little Rock artist Kevin Kresse.
It's a tribute to Cash's own roots, having grown up on a cotton farm in Dyess, Arkansas, before becoming one of the best-selling musicians in history.
