Special Arkansas State student ticket price set for Johnny Cash Music Festival
JONESBORO — With the second annual Johnny Cash Music Festival just over a month away, event promoters are offering Arkansas State student tickets at a discounted price. ASU students will be allowed to purchase up to four tickets for $10 each for the Oct. 5 event in the Convocation Center. The festival features Willie Nelson, Dierks Bentley and The Civil Wars. Concert time is 7 p.m.
Bill Carter, event promoter and ASU alum, wanted ASU students to have the opportunity to be part of this special event. All proceeds from ticket sales go to the Johnny Cash Boyhood Restoration Project in Dyess, Ark.
“When we had the first Johnny Cash Music Festival at ASU a year ago, it was in early August and students weren’t on campus yet,” said Carter. “Since the event is happening in the middle of the semester, we believe students deserve a reasonably priced ticket to come see and hear some great talent and to be included in an event that has made an impression on the world. We think the students will really relate to Dierks Bentley and The Civil Wars whose music is featured in the hit movie, “The Hunger Games.” And, of course, Willie Nelson is a legend.”
In addition to Rosanne Cash (Johnny Cash’s daughter), the 2012 concert lineup includes the living legend Willie Nelson, country music star Dierks Bentley, and Grammy Award-winning duo the Civil Wars.
Dierks Bentley, a native of Phoenix, Ariz., has recorded nine albums since 2003. In 2004, he was named Top New Artist by the Academy of Country Music, received the Horizon Award from the Country Music Association and won the CMT Award for Breakthrough Video of the Year. Bentley has had eight No. 1 singles all of which he wrote himself. He has performed in venues as diverse as Lollapalooza, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Bonnaroo, and the Country Music Academy’s Music Festival.
His instantly recognizable voice, his acoustic/electric hybrid sound, and his sheer musical diversity (spanning mainstream country, bluegrass, and roots music) have earned him a deep connection with fans, membership in the Grand Ole Opry, and an opportunity to perform for President Barack Obama at the White House. Recently, The Washington Post said this about Dierks Bentley, “Like an actor playing a great role, great country singers inhabit their songs and make them sound like they’re living it right before your ears…Dierks Bentley is a great country singer.”
The Civil Wars, a duo comprised of California-to-Nashville transplant Joy Williams and her Alabaman partner John Paul White have received much recognition; they were presented the 2011 Vanguard Award by ASCAP—the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. In 2012, their first studio album, “Barton Hollow,” received the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album and they were also presented the Grammy for Best Duo/Group Performance on “Barton Hollow.” The duo’s single, “Poison and Wine,” has received some 400,000 hits to date on YouTube, after being performed on an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” on ABC.
A longtime friend of and fellow Highwaymen member with Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson’s career has spanned six decades. The singer-songwriter has also worked as an actor, author, activist, and poet. He has 200 albums to his credit, and he has earned every conceivable award and honor a singer-songwriter can win, including membership in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Nelson formed The Highwaymen in the mid-eighties with Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash. Nelson also sang for charity (“We are the World”) and for President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter at the White House, where they performed a duet of “Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother.”
Rosanne Cash is not only a talented singer-songwriter, but also a prolific writer and has authored several books. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, The Oxford American, New York Magazine, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Martha Stewart Living, and various other publications. Her most recent album, “The List,” won the 2010 Americana Music Award for Best Album of the Year. With a dozen albums to her credit, and 10 No. 1 hits between 1978 and 2009, working in genres as diverse as country, folk, rock, and blues, Rosanne Cash is one of America’s most skilled songwriters.
The inaugural Johnny Cash Music Festival last summer sold out with over 7,000 in attendance and featured talent including Rosanne Cash, John Carter Cash, George Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Dailey and Vincent, Gary Morris, Rodney Crowell, Chelsea Crowell, Tommy Cash, Joanne Cash, and others. Net proceeds of nearly $300,000 went toward the restoration of the Johnny Cash boyhood home.
ASU students can purchase tickets by presenting a valid student identification at the Arkansas State Box Office located inside the lower red entrance of the Convocation Center. The Box Office accepts Express Dollars as one form of payment.
