A touring tribute to Johnny Cash is rolling into Carmel this week, bringing the Man in Black's biggest hits to the Payne & Mencias Palladium on Thursday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m. James Garner's Tribute to Johnny Cash will perform at the Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts, with tickets starting at $49.
The venue sits at 1 Carter Green in Carmel, Indiana, according to WISH-TV. The show's set list draws on Cash standards including “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Ring of Fire,” “I Walk the Line” and “A Boy Named Sue,” per details listed on the Palladium's event page.
James Garner and his band have spent close to two decades recreating Cash's sound and the stories behind it, with the Palladium listing describing the act's history as spanning the past 19 years. The event page markets the production as the most recorded and published Johnny Cash tribute show in the United States, though that claim comes from the venue's own promotional copy rather than independent verification.
A Deep Catalog, With Some Discrepancy on the Numbers
Just how many times Garner's band has taken the stage as a Cash tribute act depends on which source you check. The Palladium's event listing states the show has headlined more than 700 professional performances, while the group's own website, per cashtribute.net, puts the figure at more than 500 professional shows. Either way, it's a resume built over years of steady touring.
The band has also released three full-length albums, according to Visit Indy. One of the group's most notable stops came in 2008, when it performed inside Folsom State Prison to mark the 40th anniversary of Cash's famous live album recorded there, the station reports.
Sharing the Stage With Cash's Own Family
In 2018, the production headlined a 50th anniversary celebration alongside Tara Cash, Johnny Cash's daughter, and Gene Beley, an original journalist tied to the Cash story. Garner has framed the ongoing tour as more than a cover act. “It's about sharing the history behind the music — who Cash was, what he stood for, and how his songs still resonate today,” he said, according to the station's report.
Thursday's show marks another stop on a nationally touring production that has carried Cash's catalog, and the history behind it, to audiences across the country for nearly two decades.
