The J. Houston Gordon Museum, located in the University of Tennessee at Martin Paul Meek Library, will host the opening reception for its new Johnny Cash exhibit titled “1968: A Folsom Redemption” at 7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 9, in the Special Collections Reading Room. The exhibit opens Sept. 1, and both the exhibit and the Sept. 9 reception, which will feature a performance by the university’s House Band, are open to the public.
The exhibit includes photos and firsthand accounts highlighting the singer’s golden era from January 1968, when Cash released his acclaimed album “At Folsom Prison,” to a March 1, 1969, concert in Anaheim, California, before the launch of his network television show. The artifacts were compiled by photographer Dan Poush and writer Gene Beley, who attended the concerts and met Cash and his family before the concerts began.
Beley will give a public lecture about his accounts of the concerts and the work that went into developing the exhibit at 7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 30, in the library’s Special Collections Reading Room.
The museum is open to the public from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, with no admission fee. Visitors are required to wear cloth face coverings inside the library.
Parking for the reception will be in the Paul Meek Library parking lot on Wayne Fisher Drive off Mt. Pelia Road. Parking permits are available online at www.utm.edu/departments/publicsafety by selecting the “Online Visitor Parking Permit” link.
The exhibit is scheduled to run through Oct. 15. For more information, contact Sam Richardson, head of special collections and archives, at 731-881-7094.
