John Carter Cash, son of Johnny Cash, to perform at weekend festival in Folsom

John Carter Cash sauntered a portion of the Johnny Cash trail in Folsom for his first time Friday morning.

Carter Cash, son of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, is visiting the city this weekend to perform at Folsom Americana Fest, an event hosted by the Wildwood Performing Arts Foundation. According to city officials, half of the proceeds of the event will go to Wildwood while the other half will go toward the city’s Johnny Cash art experience project.

“I am eager and ready to perform and also very eager to look more into the history and be a part of the celebration,” Carter Cash said. “(I am eager to) continue the initial foundation of some wonderful artwork. The attention that it has is a blessing for my family and my father’s legacy.”

The trail is a 2.5 mile Class I bike and pedestrian trail that connects the Folsom Historic District to the Folsom Lake Crossing Trail, according to its website.

“I hike. I don’t ride a bicycle. So, I had to remind myself to stand on the left,” Carter Cash said.

The Johnny Cash art experience project includes “Cash’s Pick,” a 7 feet tall bronze guitar pick featuring Johnny Cash’s signature on one side and trail map and information on the other. The pick will be positioned at the northernmost end of the trail, according to the project’s lead public artist, Adan Romo.

Romo said the pick will sit on a ¼-ton vinyl record, inspired by the original Sun Record label that will have ripples that symbolize not only a record’s grooves but the “rippling effects” Johnny Cash’s legacy has on Folsom.

Tom Hellmann is the city of Folsom’s recreation and community services manager. He said there are eight designated spots in which there will be art along the trail, all associated with Johnny Cash. These projects are grant funded or receive money through fundraisers and partnerships. Money raised from the Wildwood event on Saturday will go toward Cash’s Pick’s construction, which will see installation sometime in 2023, according to Hellmann.

“John Carter Cash was able to kind of see that today for the first time, walk the trail (and) kind of envision what some of these art pieces will look like as they’re completed here in the future and then just (helped) us with invigorating the project,” Hellmann said.

Hellmann said Johnny Cash was a lover of nature, and the trail embodies that. He said Carter Cash first pointed out the tranquility of the path.

“The first things out of his mouth were just, ‘The beauty of the day. The nature. The serenity and a little bit of a peacefulness,’” Hellmann said.

As Folsom honors Cash’s legacy through monuments to his records and love of nature, Carter Cash tries to honor different aspects of his father’s life.

“I try to garner the best from the lessons that he taught and to carry that into my life, and then I fall short,” Carter Cash said. “What’s most important (is) how to be remembered as a good father. He said that himself live on Larry King, and I have the same desire. I truly do.”

Carter Cash and the city of Folsom have discussed the possibility of Carter Cash performing live at the Folsom State Prison like his father did in 1968. Both parties said there is interest there, but nothing is official yet.

For more information and tickets to Folsom Americana Fest, visit folsomfest.org.

This story was originally published October 21, 2022 at 3:13 PM.