Pardon Johnny Cash – Flower Pickin' Festival

Check out The Dispatch for a wrap up of some of the events. We will post some more photos shortly, but here are a few shots of how things wrapped up on Saturday night.

Thanks to everyone who came out and enjoyed all of the amazing performances throughout the weekend!

Mississippi Edition reporter Ron Brown discusses Johnny Cash’s history with Starkville with festival directory Robbie Ward and this year’s headliner, Cash’s step-daughter, Carlene Cater. Take a listen or read the transcript at mpbonline.org.

Oktibbeha County Sheriff Dolph Bryan and Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman stand in front of the “drunk tank” where Johnny Cash spent time in 1965. Cash wrote a song, titled “Starkville City Jail,” about the experience. Cash broke one of his big toes kicking the steel door. While the local authorities claimed Cash was arrested for “public drunkenness,” he said he was arrested for “pickin’ flowers.” This weekend, the city will celebrate the third annual Johnny Cash Flower Pickin’ Festival.

The Johnny Cash Flower Pickin’ Festival Announces Its Inaugural Singer-Songwriter Showcase with Fan Favorite Jimmy Tittle and Cash Protégé John Francis

The first Singer-Songwriter panel will occur at 1 p.m. Saturday [October 17] upstairs in Lucky’s Lounge at Rick’s Café Americain. Award –winning singer-songwriters Jimmy Tittle (a Flower Pickin’ favorite) and John Francis (a protégé of John Carter Cash) will talk about the art of songwriting and demonstrate the same. Time allowing, they will also take questions from attendees. Learn how to structure a bridge, what makes for a successful refrain, and whether or not your lyrics should rhyme. This panel is open to all ticket-holders, but we especially encourage aspiring performers and songwriters to attend.

About Jimmy Tittle:

Jimmy Tittle

A part of the music industry for much of his life, at 18-years-old Tittle was a member of Merle Haggard’s touring band, The Strangers. He toured and performed with Merle for five years, playing bass guitar, which earned him six Super Picker awards, along with The Academy of Country Music’s Touring Band of the Year award four consecutive years.. Then he was selected to play bass in The Great Eighty Eights/The Johnny Cash Show Band, his future father-in-law’s backing band. He toured with this band between 1982-6 and then again from 1987-1989. He produced his first solo album Fade to Black for the Dixie Frog label in 1989.

Bug Music in Nashville signed Jimmy in 1989 to an exclusive songwriter’s agreement and soon had his songs recorded by artists such as Jann Browne, Johnny Cash, Evangeline, Rodney Crowell and Rosanne Cash. “On the Surface” was co-written by Jimmy and Rosanne which she recorded on her critically acclaimed album, “Interiors”. Jimmy has also co-written songs with Marty Stuart, John Hiatt, John Stewart, LeRoy Preston, Dave Alvin, Cindy Bullens and Rodney Crowell.

Dixiefrog Records in Paris, France contacted Jimmy and he signed a recording contract which introduced him to the European market with his albums “Jimmy Tittle” (1990) and “Fade to Black” (1991). Sony Music France released his third CD titled “Real Life” as well as a compilation of all previous works titled “Room Full of Money, Heart Full of Pain”. Tittle’s current album All the Pretty Rubble is available on iTunes.

About John Francis:

John Francis

John Francis was raised in a Pennsylvania farming town. From a young age he showed musical gifts for gospel and folk both at church and at home around the family piano. Loving both his father’s Elvis 45s and his mother’s Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and Johnny Cash records, this son of ministers and musicians began his career in that little country church performing with his parents. By 12 he was writing and recording his own material. In October 2005, he recorded and independently released the critically acclaimed “Strong Wine & Spirits” which led to features on ABC News and an appearance on “World Café Live.” In 2006, he was honored by ASCAP as the Sammy Cahn Lyricist of the Year. (previous winners have included John Mayer, Josh Ritter and Lori Mckenna).

In 2007, John Francis chose to record his second album with 5-time Grammy winning producer John Carter Cash at the Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, TN, the same locale where John and June recorded many of their masterpieces. John Carter Cash has also produced for the likes of Loretta Lynn, Kris Kristofferson, George Jones, Emmy Lou Harris, Willie Nelson, and Roseanne Cash. He was also associate producer to Rick Rubin on his father’s American Recordings series.

The album Cash produced, The Better Angels, spans the landscape of the human heart and the hear of America. Borrowing his title from Lincoln’s inaugural address, John Francis plumbs American soil to tell tales of lovers and the lovesick, rebels and wanderers, saints and drunkards, and the beautiful and the broken.