A small town in south central Kentucky is preparing to celebrate one of country music’s greatest love stories. Franklin will commemorate the 1968 wedding of Johnny and June Carter Cash with the unveiling of a historical marker outside the First United Methodist Church where the country music stars became man and wife in a surprise, low-key ceremony.
They may have gotten married in a fever, but it wasn’t in Jackson as the couple’s 1967 hit suggested. It was in Franklin, Kentucky, the first town north of the Tennessee line on I-65.
“Franklin and Simpson County had a bit of a reputation from the 1930s through the 1970s as a place for couples from northern middle Tennessee to come to get married because they could do it all in one day," explained Dan Ware, Simpson County's tourism director. "In their home state of Tennessee, there was a mandatory three-day waiting period, by law, that was in place at the time.”
Now 67, Ware was a junior in high school on March 1, 1968 when Cash and Carter came to town unannounced and left that afternoon as husband and wife. Mark Stielper is a country music historian and a personal friend of Johnny Cash.
“They kind of had to do things quickly because they were always on the road. When you’re on the road, things have to work around the next date, the night, and the next show," stated Stielper. "In this case, love had to wait for a window.”
That window came the day after Johnny and June won a Grammy award for Best Country Duet for their song Jackson.
“As John received the award that night, he went up on the stage, and said, ‘This is a fine wedding present.’ That kind of announced it to the world that it was going to be happening very soon," recalled Stielper. "No one knew precisely when at that time.”
Johnny Cash once said that friend and historian Mark Stielper knew more about him than Cash did himself. Stielper was a researcher for the 2005 movie Walk the Line. He says June wasn’t quite the hesitant bride portrayed in the movie.
“Hollywood makes its own history," Stielper commented. "June was very enthusiastic about getting married all long.”
Once Johnny and June made the short commute to Franklin from his lakehouse in Hendersonville, Tennessee, Stielper says it wasn’t long before the impending nuptials became the town’s worst kept secret.
“They brought with them their blood for their blood test and that wasn’t acceptable in Kentucky. You had to have the blood drawn there, so the delay allowed the word to get out," he explained.
Simpson County Tourism Director Dan Ware suspects the county clerk’s office also had a hand in spreading the word to locals.
“Their first stop was the county clerk’s office," said Ware. "There were about four clerks working in the office, and I think after Johnny and June left with the marriage license, probably all the clerks got on the rotary phones at every desk and started dialing people they knew, and those folks called folks.”
For a couple that could have married on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry before a crowd of hundreds, the celebrity wedding was low-key and intimate, minus the locals allowed to watch from the church balcony.
“The wedding ceremony was very short, less than five minutes long. It did not feature guitars or country music singing," Stielper explained. "It was quiet, very emotional. Both John and June cried during the ceremony.”
Johnny and June Carter Cash were married for 35 years until they died just months apart in 2003.
On Friday, the town of Franklin will celebrate what would have been the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary with the dedication of a historical marker outside the First United Methodist Church on the square. The marker will be unveiled by Carlene Carter, June’s daughter by her first husband, Grand Ole Opry star Carl Smith. Twelve-year-old Carlene was at her mother’s side during her wedding to Johnny Cash in Franklin a half-century ago.
Historian Mark Stielper will also speak, followed by a weekend of performances by legends in their own right, including Lee Ann Womack, the Charlie Daniels Band, and the Kentucky Headhunters. It’s a golden anniversary celebration for two country crooners who walked the aisle in Franklin, Kentucky.
More information about the Love in Bloom Festival can be found here.
