Fire destroys Cash's old home

A fire has destroyed the Tennessee lakeside home of the late country singer Johnny Cash, leaving little more than brick chimneys and the steel frame.

Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash, lived at the home from the late 1960s until their deaths in 2003.

One firefighter was slightly hurt tackling the blaze at the house in Hendersonville, which is now owned by former Bee Gees star Barry Gibb.

Neighbour and country singer Marty Stuart, who was married to Cash’s daughter Cindy in the 1980s, said: “So many prominent things and prominent people in American history took place in that house – everyone from Billy Graham to Bob Dylan went into that house. It was a sanctuary and a fortress for him.”

The property was purchased by Barry Gibb in January last year. Gibb and his wife, Linda, had said they planned to restore the home on Old Hickory Lake and hoped to write songs there.

They had not yet moved in to the home, which they bought for a reported $2.3m (€1.7m).

Gibb’s spokesman, Paul Bloch, said the singer and his family are “both saddened and devastated by the news.”