Johnny Cash statue to be unveiled in Cooper-Young: Man in Black is Man in Bronze

The Man in Black will be immortalized in bronze when a statue of Johnny Cash is unveiled Wednesday near the site of the singer's first public performance.

Sculpted by Memphis artist Mike McCarthy, the life-sized statue — convincingly lanky and Lincoln-esque, and detailed down to the wedding band on its powerful-looking left hand — was erected Tuesday outside 999 S. Cooper, a new apartment complex adjacent to Galloway United Methodist Church.

Galloway is the church where Cash and the "Tennessee Two" — guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant — played for pay for the first time, in a Christmas season fundraiser organized by a women's Bible study group.

Coated in an appropriately black patina, the statue — based on a 1962 portrait of Cash by photographer Leigh Wiener — retained its impassive dignity Tuesday morning even as it was swathed in bubble wrap and hoisted by a strap attached to a crane provided by West Memorials, a company that generally places gravestones.

Steel rods in its base were sunk into holes in the ground as the statue was lowered into place among a mosaic of bricks inscribed with the names of donors to the project. Afterward, it was shrouded in black cloth, prior to Wednesday's unveiling. The total cost was about $65,000, according to Chip Armstrong of Legacy Memphis, the nonprofit group that helped to materialize the statue from a notion inside McCarthy's head to a 400-pound reality just south of the bustling intersection that gives the Cooper-Young neighborhood its name.

Tamara Cook, executive director of the Cooper-Young Business Association, said the likeness of the never-uncool Cash is "totally going to be a tourist attraction" — a beacon for patrons of the neighborhood's hip Goner Records store as well as for Graceland-bound retirees cruising Memphis in a Winnebago.

"At night, there's going to be a ring of fire around Johnny Cash," she added, referring to the circle of light bulbs inserted into the pavement around the feet of the statue.

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Set for 5 p.m. Wednesday, the unveiling is expected to attract dignitaries and numerous fans of the rockabilly-country singer who first found fame in Memphis, where he cut his teeth as a recording artist on such classics as "Folsom Prison Blues" and "I Walk the Line," made at Sam Phillips' Union Avenue studio in the interim between Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Johnny Cash's nephew, Roy Cash, a former fighter pilot and retired Navy captain, said he will perform a couple of songs at the unveiling, including "I Still Miss Someone," a song he wrote that Johnny Cash recorded for Columbia Records in 1958.

"I guess I'm one of the last surviving people who was at that event," said Roy Cash, 79, referring to the historic church performance. "I was there that December with my dad," Roy Cash Sr. "That's where my dad and I went to see J.R. — we called him J.R. — sing in public for the first time." 

The Cash statue has been in the works for almost five years, or about two years longer than Cash's tenure at Sun, which ended when he signed with Columbia, where he released such hits as "Ring of Fire" and "A Boy Named Sue."

The project delays were not unexpected, considering that McCarthy hadn't really sculpted since the 1980s, when he took some classes with Memphis sculpting guru John McIntire at the Memphis College of Art (then known as the Art Academy).

McCarthy, 56, is best known as an independent filmmaker, but he's also a musician, artist, preservationist and visionary activist historian whose successful memorial projects have included the "Sivads of March," a three-day tribute to the late Watson Davis, aka Sivad, the "horror host" who screened scary movies on the late-night "Fantastic Features" television program in the 1960s and '70s, and organizing the placement of an Elvis statue in Tupelo, Mississippi, at the site of the fairgrounds where Presley performed his famous "homecoming" concert in 1956.

"It's my most open, public piece of art," said McCarthy, whose comic books and films — "Teenage Tupelo," "Damelvis, Daughter of Helvis" — are more cultish than mainstream. "Everything else I've done has been underground."

Originally McCarthy and Legacy Memphis had sought an experienced sculptor for the project, but the cost proved so high that McCarthy — a Legacy co-founder — convinced the group he could do it himself.

"The more I thought about it, the more I said, 'I can do this,' " McCarthy said.

Working in collaboration with the Lugar Art Foundry and Gallery in Eads, Tennessee, McCarthy sculpted Cash in oil-based clay over foam and a stainless steel armature created by Lugar. 

For many months, the sculpture resided in McCarthy's living room, where it likely was the least demanding member of the family. "We hung Christmas lights on it one year," McCarthy said.

Eventually, the money was raised and the clay sculpture was transported to the foundry, to be cast in bronze.

"There may be something cosmic going on, I don't know, but all projects reach their maturation at precisely the point when they should," said Larry Lugar, who runs the foundry with his wife, Andrea, and son, Geordan. 

The family has extensive experience in statue-making. Andrea Lugar is a sculptor herself: Her creations include the Elvis on Beale Street, the Bobby "Blue" Bland that stands on MLGW property on South Main, and the Little Milton that sits outside the Blues Foundation on South Main. (Other Memphis music statues include W.C. Handy in Handy Park on Beale and Elvis and B.B. King inside the Tennessee Welcome Center on Riverside Drive.)

The statue will provide a dramatic complement to a Shelby County historic marker commemorating the Cash performance that was erected outside Galloway United Methodis in 2016. When plans for the statue to be on the church property became complicated, Focal Point Investments, the developers of the 25-unit complex at 999 S. Cooper, stepped up, providing the space and paying for the installation of lighting and other aspects of the project. 

"Listen, we want to make a positive influence," said Marion Threatt of Focal Point. "This right here is going to be great for Cooper-Young."

Legacy Memphis hopes to erect other statues in the future, based on the theme "Every Neighborhood Has a Hero." The statues would celebrate positive achievement, in contrast to the racism associated with the recently removed statues of Confederate officials. Asked McCarthy: "How many people in Orange Mound, in Central Gardens, in every neighborhood might be worthy of being remembered?"