Johnny Cash becomes first musician with statue at U.S. Capitol

Sept. 24 (UPI) -- A statue of Johnny Cash was unveiled Tuesday at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., as the late singer became the first musician to be honored with a bronze likeness in National Statuary Hall.

Lawmakers and family members spoke of Cash's legacy, as the United States Air Force band performed his hit "I Walk the Line," at Tuesday's hour-long ceremony inside Emancipation Hall.

Roseanne Cash, daughter of Johnny Cash, said her father and Arkansas native had "achieved the ultimate American dream" with his statue being placed alongside historical figures including civil rights leader Daisy Bates, who fought for desegregation in Arkansas.

"What a remarkable day. In my wildest dreams, I couldn't have imagined," Roseanne Cash said as she honored her father and Johnny Cash's sister Joanne, who attended Tuesday's unveiling.

"The last surviving member of the original Cash family from Diaz, Arkansas," Rosanne Cash said in reference to her aunt. "She has tragically lost her sight and asked if she could touch the statue to feel what it was. And she did."

"Words cannot come close to expressing our pride to see my dad accorded such a singular privilege: the first musician in history to be included in the Statuary Hall collection," Cash added.

The statue of Cash, which was sculpted by Kevin Kresse, carries a bible and wears a guitar strapped to his back. The placard on the statue says "singer, songwriter, artist and humanitarian."

"Thank you Kevin Kresse for capturing his very essence in bronze," said Rosanne Cash. "You see this statue and you know this is no one else but Johnny Cash."

Cash's nephew, Dr. Mike Garrett, pointed out that the statue of his "Uncle Johnny is holding a bible out front. I think if there were visiting hours in heaven, I believe JR would say Kevin Kresse, you got that right."

Cash's statue replaces Arkansas' 18th governor James P. Clarke, who had made remarks about preserving the "white standards" of Arkansas. Bates' statue replaced Confederacy sympathizer Uriah Rose.

Other speakers at Tuesday's hour-long unveiling ceremony included House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries and House Speaker Mike Johnson, who honored the musician by saying "America is about more than law and politics." Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and other Arkansas lawmakers also spoke.

"This man was a living redemption story. He encountered darkness and met it with love," Cash said. "Dad owned his perseverance to the hard upbringing of his youth and had instilled in him a work ethic for the rest of his life. He was a patriot in the true sense of the word."

"He was passionate in his work for the rights of prisoners, the rights of native Americans, for impoverished children and for all those who struggled and whose prospects were dim," she added.

"I am very careful not to put words in his mouth since his passing," Rosanne Cash said of her father, who she called a "Shakespeare of the South."

"But on this day, I can safely say that he would feel that of all the many honors and accolades he received in his lifetime, this is the ultimate."