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Evansville
Thursday, July 10, 2025

Hi, I’m Johnny Cash

Bill Miller was a lucky boy. Because of his luck, we — legions of Johnny Cash fans — can be immersed in six decades of “original rock and roll” at the Johnny Cash Museum in Nashville, open just 14 months (and already on Forbes and National Geographic “must see” lists).

Miller was just 12 years old at a 1971 Johnny Cash concert in Denver, when Cash looked straight in the eye at the boy with the Brownie Instamatic camera (who had traveled 500 miles from New Mexico with his father to see the concert) and tossed him a harmonica. That moment was the first of thousands Miller shared with Cash; Miller became a Cash preservationist, the steward of a collection of Cash treasures now on display in the Johnny Cash Museum that Miller founded and owns with his wife, Shannon.

The museum is located just a few steps off Broadway in downtown Nashville; I visited with my sisters. It brought back memories, as Cash, Glenn Campbell, and the Statler Brothers were always on the record player in our home. (A video in the museum theater highlighted a 1971 Cash concert where he performed with the Statler Brothers, who sang “Flowers on the Wall,” which I’ve been humming ever since.)

We spent two hours in the museum; I would go again tomorrow and the next day if I could, there is so much to marvel at.

Though Cash’s death (Sept. 12, 2003, in Nashville) is absent from the museum, included is a poem he wrote for his beloved June on the day she was buried. Visitors see many guitars and costumes; silver, gold, and platinum records; school photos; personal notes; military records; Cash’s artwork – a complete range of Cash memorabilia, authentically telling the life story of the Man in Black.

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Kristen K. Tucker
Kristen K. Tucker
Kristen K. Tucker formed Tucker Publishing Group, Inc., along with her husband, Todd, in September 1999 and published the first issue of Evansville Living in March 2000. Kristen, publisher and editor of Evansville Living, holds a bachelor’s degree in public relations and English from Western Kentucky University and a master’s degree in liberal studies from the University of Southern Indiana. Kristen has recently served on the board of directors of The Catholic Foundation of Evansville, the Board of Advisors for the IU Medical School Evansville, and Indiana Landmarks. In 2007, she helped found the Women’s Fund of Vanderburgh County. She also is a member of the 125-year-old Social Literary Club. Kristen is the 2003 Athena Award recipient and the 2006 recipient of the Indiana Commission for Women’s Torchbearer Award. Tucker Publishing Group, Inc., magazines have won dozens of awards through the years from the City & Regional Magazine Association, the Advertising Federation of Evansville, the Evansville Design Group, and the Indiana Society of Professional Journalists. A native of Des Moines, Iowa, Kristen moved with her family to Evansville, her father’s hometown, in 1971. She attended Caze Elementary School, and Castle Jr. and Castle Sr. High Schools in Newburgh, Indiana. Kristen and Todd have two adult sons, Maxwell and Jackson. Kristen enjoys walking, travel, Pilates, and reading.

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