Johnny Cash Suit Returns Home to Rison

Suit Worn During 1976 Bicentennial Concert Now Displayed at Courthouse

  • FINISHING TOUCHES ON NEW DISPLAY CASE - One of the four crew members from Watson Chapel Picture Frame installing the new display case for the suit that Johnny Cash wore during his 1976 Bicentennial Concert at the Rison High School football stadium wipes up the inside of the dust-proof case before dropping it down. After being displayed for a year at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, and then the past few years at the Johnny Cash boyhood in Dyess, Ark., the suit is now home in its permanent.
    FINISHING TOUCHES ON NEW DISPLAY CASE - One of the four crew members from Watson Chapel Picture Frame installing the new display case for the suit that Johnny Cash wore during his 1976 Bicentennial Concert at the Rison High School football stadium wipes up the inside of the dust-proof case before dropping it down. After being displayed for a year at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, and then the past few years at the Johnny Cash boyhood in Dyess, Ark., the suit is now home in its permanent.
    RISON - After being exhibited at venues as far away as Ohio, the suit that American music icon and Cleveland County native Johnny Cash wore during his 1976 Bicentennial concert at the Rison High School football field is back home - and perhaps permanently.Last Thursday, a crew from Watson Chapel Picture Frame installed a new custom-made, dust-proof glass case inside the first floor foyer of the Cleveland County Courthouse that will serve as the permanent display for the black suit he wore during his concert on March 20, 1976.Wayne Cash, a representative of the Cleveland County Historical Society, said the Historical Society used some donations as well as its own funds to pay for the new case. In addition to being dust proof, he said there is a special glass used in the construction of the case to protect it against ultraviolet light.The black suit coat features a pair of what Wayne Cash described as “white tailed” American eagles on each side of the chest. Beneath the suit, he said Cash was wearing a shirt with similar design but only with two “red tailed” eagles on it instead. He said a red-tailed eagle shirt is on display at the Old Statehouse Archives in Little Rock.The collar of the suit as well as the side of the pant legs are adorned with blue stars, and a replica of the colonial American flag served as cuffs at the end of the coat sleeves. Wayne Cash said the suit was designed by Nudie Cohn, a famous Ukrainian-American designer who made suits for a number of celebreties ranging from Elvis Presley and John Lennon to Ronald Reagan and Glenn Campbell. After Johnny Cash performed his concert in the south end zone of what is now George Walker Field of Champions, Wayne Cash said he changed out of the suit at the home of Lois Moore across Main Street (Hwy. 35) from the football field. After his change of clothes, he said Johnny Cash gave the suit to Moore as a gift to the Cleveland County Historical Soci...

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