On a glass table in an office at Belmont University, Mary Ellen Pethel holds a piece of loose leaf paper. She knows that it once belonged to Johnny Cash — but it also contains a musical mystery.
“These are some lyrics from the song ‘Fly Away,’ ” she says.
The thing is, Johnny Cash never released a song under this name.
“I’m gonna flip it around and show you that it’s got the end of the song. And he signed and dated it: Johnny Cash, Sept 4, 1967.”
This is just one of the archival items recently obtained by Belmont University in an $8.6 million purchase. Pethel is the new director of what will become the Johnny Cash Learning Center and Archives, and part of the work now is sifting through countless discoveries from hundreds of bankers boxes.
This sheet has a water stain on the side of the page and some words crossed out. It looks like it was crumpled up at some point. Who knew if Johnny Cash ever intended on recording it as a song?
Starting next year, that’s the kind of questions that Belmont students and researchers will be able to ask. They’ll be able to hold this piece of ephemera in their hands and wonder, “What would this song have sounded like?”
Justin Barney Unreleased song or poem “Fly Away” handwritten by Johnny Cash in 1967. Now a part of the Johnny Cash Learning Center Archive.
The back side of unreleased a Johnny Cash song/poem. Signed and dated by Cash himself
Trunk in the attic
Belmont purchased what Pethel described as a metaphorical trunk in the attic.
“There are a lot of letters,” she says — between Johnny Cash and his daughters, his first wife Vivian, June Carter Cash, family members and musicians.
There is a whole bankers box of handwritten lyrics, most of which have been published in some form. But holding them makes him human.
There are a lot of VHS tapes and DVDs, and other artifacts from Cash’s life, like a hermetically sealed bag of cotton given to him by his dad, from their childhood Arkansas farm.
It’s part of solidifying Johnny Cash’s legacy.
Cash’s children, were in talks with Belmont for over a year. The collection didn’t go to The Country Music Hall of Fame, the Johnny Cash Museum near Lower Broadway or a more public-facing destination. Pethel said that the family sought out an academic institution for the collection.
”It’s really intended for the continuation of research and scholarship about Johnny Cash, so not just the tourist aspect or, you know, the fandom, but for the legacy of a musical icon,” she said.
Research destination
And Belmont is investing in this collection. The university recently broke ground on Music Row for the Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business. That building will house a number of destinations, including a venue, and it will also be home to the Johnny Cash Learning Center, where the collection will live permanently.
While there will be a small permanent display for the public, most of the artifacts will remain closed off. The collection will be made accessible to students and researchers through an appointment process, in which participants will be able to hold the artifacts in their hands, dive into research, or just be inspired.
Pethel says there is already a Johnny Cash biographer waiting to look though the ins-and-outs of Cash’s record label contracts and a student musician who is hoping to understand where Johnny Cash was at her age.
For right now, the university is just beginning to understand what they purchased. Over the next year, Belmont will teach an honors class where students will learn preservation and how to archive sensitive materials Part of that process will be digitizing a large portion of the collection. The digital archive will be made available to everyone.
The university is hoping the collection will be available for the beginning of the next school year, in fall 2027.
Justin Barney A first look at some of Johnny Cash’s personal items acquired by Belmont University
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