Festival May Pardon Johnny Cash

More than 40 years after the fact, Johnny Cash may get a symbolic pardon from the Mississippi town that inspired the San Quentin Prison favorite "Starkville City Jail" following a night in the slammer for public drunkenness or, another version says, picking flowers.

A research writer at Mississippi State University has organized the Johnny Cash Flower Pickin’ Festival, scheduled November 2-4, to include a ceremony at the site Cash was arrested, a sermon on redemption, a downtown concert honoring Cash’s music, a screening of the Cash-inspired film "Walk the Line," a jam session and audience sing-along to "Starkville City Jail," and, hopefully, a symbolic pardon issued from city officials to Cash’s family.

A Starkville Municipal Court Judge is currently reviewing the posthumous pardon, in which he promises to be fair and impartial.