Roseanne Cash said upon hearing the news, “Well, maybe nobody else was meant to live there.”
A shame to lose such a piece of history.
It’s unfortunate, but for heritage, I’d rather have his music. Cash’s house was never part of his history, unlike Graceland.
His house went down in a burnin’ ring of fire
it went down, down, down, and the flames went higher
and it burns, burns, burns, the ring of fire,
the ring of fire.
Apparently the house had recently been purchased by Barry Gibb and was being refurbished. It had just been coated with a (flammable) wood preservative, so it went up really, really fast. All that’s left are the stone chimneys. 
This was “front page” (well, prominent on the website) news in today’s Sydney Morning Herald. As an inveterate Cash fan, I’d take issue with the idea that the house was “never part of his history”. The bloke lived there for donkey’s years, composed in it, jammed in it, recorded in it, shot the video for the song “Hurt” about his recently deceased wife in it… The link has expired from the website now, but I recall it saying that many, many famous musicians went there, jammed there, etc. Dylan hung out there, a young Kristofferson landed a chopper on the front lawn because he wanted to “pitch a song to Cash”.
It was lower key than Graceland, but in many ways no less important. Don’t get me wrong, I’m an Elvis fan, but Cash was The Man.
In response to this news, Johnny was reportedly quoted as saying “”.
Roy Orbison lived next door to Cash, and it was because of Cash that so many country artists settled in the area. A number of them lived on the same street as Johnny. He also remained a “regular guy” despite of all his fame and was well thought of in town, not merely because he was a star, but because he was a gentleman.
The story behind the house and how he got it is pretty good too. He talks about it in “Man In Black”
Hmmm as a Cash fan you should know that he did not record Hurt about June. The song was released before she died.
The video was shot there because Johnny’s health issues made it unwise to shoot in LA. Still, it turned out to be a great video.
There was a fire at the Orbison home in 68 in which two of his young sons died.
Barry Gibb talked about buying the house during his most recent fan chats. (Yes, I’m a fan. Sue me.) He was quite excited, almost giddy about moving into it in July. He’s currently working on a country album and thought the setting would be a perfect place to write. He was doing his best to restore the house to its glory days and respect its past.
And now all the plans are up in smoke.
Cash’s daughter, Roseanne, commented that maybe the house didn’t want anybody else living in it.
It’s still an absolutely beautiful setting with Old Hickory Lake and the beautiful trees. Not worth $2.3m without the house, but that’s what insurance is for, I guess.
Actually, it is worth that much without the house. My dad lives not too far from there and people are buying up lakefront property with dinky little houses, flattening them and putting up McMansions and people are paying that much for houseswithout lake front property in the same area. Barry Gibb got a deal.