
Reba McEntire
Three Country Music Hall of Famers will grace the stage at the Johnny Cash Music Festival this summer in Jonesboro.
Festival founder Bill Carter announced Monday that Reba McEntire, Bobby Bare and Loretta Lynn would perform at the festival, while singer and comedian Mark Lowry would serve as host. This year’s event, the fourth annual, is scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 15 at the Arkansas State University’s Convocation Center in Jonesboro.
“If we had any one of these four individuals on the bill, we would have an extremely successful event, but having all four at once is a real coup for the Johnny Cash Music Festival,” Carter said in the release. “The reputation of the event and generosity of the people at Arkansas State and in Jonesboro continue to grow each year. This is going to be a great show.”
McEntire said there was no hesitation on her part when she was asked to perform at the festival.
“I have always had a great deal of respect for Johnny Cash, and not just because he was one of the finest entertainers, performers and recording artists this industry has ever known,” she said in the release. “It is also because of his compassion and generosity.”
In her career, McEntire has sold more than 56 million albums and garnered 15 American Music Awards, 13 ACM Awards, 7 CMA Awards and 2 GRAMMY Awards, while enjoying 35 No. 1 hits.
McEntire will be joined by fellow Hall of Fame members Loretta Lynn, whose career has spanned 50 years, 52 Top 10 songs and 16 No. 1 hits, and Bobby Bare, who has wrote and recorded popular songs for more than half a century.
Lowry, the event’s host, is known for his work in gospel music. Lowry started making music at 11, and he continues more than four decades later.
“Johnny Cash is a legend and this concert pays homage to that and all of the great things he stood for,” Lowry said in the release. “I am especially pleased to be hosting an event that stars not one, not two but three Country Music Hall of Fame members.”
Tickets to the festival go on sale Friday, and can be purchased at the Arkansas State Central Box Office or online at www.tickets.astate.edu, or www.johnnycashmusicfest.com. Tickets can also be purchased toll-free at 1 (888) 278-3267.
Tickets to the event range from $40 for reserved seating, up to $200 for VIPs. Premium tickets cost $70 a piece, while premium floor seats are $100.
Proceeds from the festival fund the restoration of the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home in Dyess and support a scholarship fund established in Cash’s name.
According to internal numbers, the restoration of the Cash Boyhood Home is estimated at $940,750. To date, festival proceeds, various benefits and private funds have hauled in $413,469.86.
In the festival’s first year, proceeds were more than $220,000. That number has fallen the past two years, with more than $86,000 in 2012, and more than $45,000 last year.
In the festival’s three years, $35,000 has been provided to the Johnny Cash Memorial Scholarship.