First Baptist Church, Hendersonville — Johnny Cash's funeral

Johnny Cash's funeral was held at the First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee, on September 15, 2003, three days after his death at age 71 from complications of diabetes. June Carter Cash had died four months earlier, in May 2003. Cash had told interviewers in the months after June's death that he was keeping busy because stillness was too painful; he recorded prolifically in the final months of his life, producing material that was released posthumously as part of the American Recordings series. The last recordings included a cover of Nine Inch Nails' 'Hurt' that became one of the most widely viewed music videos of the early internet era.

The funeral brought together a gathering of American music's most significant figures. Kris Kristofferson, a longtime friend and fellow Highwayman, spoke. The service reflected Cash's deep and genuine Christian faith — a faith that coexisted throughout his life with addiction, darkness, and a catalogue of songs about murder, infidelity, and the consequences of sin, which he never considered a contradiction. He was buried alongside June in the adjacent cemetery at Hendersonville Memory Gardens, on the parkway that had been renamed in his honour.

The First Baptist Church of Hendersonville is an active congregation. The cemetery where Cash and June are buried, at Hendersonville Memory Gardens on Johnny Cash Parkway, is accessible to visitors and draws a steady stream of fans from around the world. Cash's parents and siblings are also buried in the area, making Hendersonville the centre of gravity for any serious engagement with the geography of his life.