Pavilion honoring Arkansas music legends set to open
Sculptor Kevin Kresse watches as his statue of Johnny Cash was being positioned Tuesday in North Little Rock. Photo: Michael Hibblen
Before dawn Tuesday, a crane lifted an 8-foot-tall bronze statue of Johnny Cash — an exact replica of the one representing Arkansas in the U.S. Capitol — onto a pedestal at a newly constructed pavilion in North Little Rock.
After working with a crew to adjust its position, sculptor Kevin Kresse got on his knees to help bolt the statue in place. Among those assisting were several people who have spent years working to make the project a reality.
As the sun began to rise, the group applauded the completion of a key part of the project ahead of Friday’s grand opening of the atg Pavilion at the plaza being renamed the Argenta Music Complex.
The Cash statue will serve as an anchor on the west side of the pavilion, facing Main Street. Eventually, the pavilion will house 21 sculptures honoring 20 musicians and music industry executive Al Bell. Their work helped shape American music across genres including classical, blues, gospel, country, soul and rock.
Standing behind the statue, which features a guitar slung across Cash’s back, Kresse was asked how the setting compared with the U.S. Capitol, where the original was unveiled in September 2024.
“It’s outside, it’s in my hometown. In the Capitol, he’s up against a column, so this is actually one of my favorite views, from behind — such an iconic Johnny Cash view here. And then I love that the moon’s up above with the sunrise,” Kresse said, looking toward the sky. “This is special. Incredibly special.”
Workers then brought out six wrapped bronze busts Kresse created of Glen Campbell, Al Green, Levon Helm, Louis Jordan, Florence Price and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, which were placed atop their pedestals. Etched on the back of each bust are the musician’s name, birth and death years, and an outline of Arkansas with a star marking the person’s hometown.
Plaques identifying the honorees are also being installed, providing visitors with information about the musicians, including those whose sculptures are not part of the first group being unveiled.
Eventually, likenesses of Big Bill Broonzy, Albert King, Jimmy Driftwood, Lefty Frizzell, Ronnie Hawkins, Scott Joplin, Charlie Rich, Granny Almeda Riddle, Pharoah Sanders, William Grant Still, Conway Twitty, Sonny Boy Williamson and Howlin’ Wolf will be added.
John Gaudin, the project’s campaign chair, said the pavilion will be an important addition to the neighborhood where he has lived and worked for years.
“I see it as a real gem in the crown in the arts district,” Gaudin said. “From an economic and tourism development perspective, that was a big deal for me to get involved in it.”
His friendship with Kresse and admiration for his work also played a role.
“I think he’s one of the top sculptors in the country, and to be able to have the ability to showcase some of his work, it was just hard to kind of pass up for me to not get involved,” Gaudin said.
At one point Tuesday, Kresse’s wife, Bridget, noted that it was Gaudin’s birthday, prompting the group to sing “Happy Birthday” to him.
Kresse traces the origins of the project to 2018, when he unveiled a bust of Helm in Marvell. That experience led him to consider how many other influential Arkansas musicians had received relatively little recognition in their home communities.
Working with musician Greg Spradlin and radio host Stephen Koch, Kresse began developing a broader effort to honor the state’s musical heritage.
An important component of the project is a plan to create duplicate bronze busts for installation in the musicians’ hometowns or communities closely associated with them.
Cash grew up in Dyess, Helm was from Marvell, Campbell was born in Billstown near Delight, and Tharpe was born in Cotton Plant. Other communities with connections to the honorees include Brinkley, Pine Bluff, Forrest City, Helena, El Dorado, Mountain View and Texarkana.
Gaudin said the first communities expected to receive sculptures are Pine Bluff and Brinkley, potentially next spring.
Spradlin said he was pleased to see this phase of the project nearing completion after years of discussions.
“It’s amazing. It’s finally happening, you know, something that Kevin’s been talking about for a long time, and we’ve been talking about for a long time,” Spradlin said. “I don’t think it could be more perfect than it is where it is right now, and that it’s finally happening. It’s a dream come true.”
Spradlin said working with Kresse on the Helm memorial inspired them to find ways to honor additional legendary Arkansas musicians.
“I’ve been crawling around graveyards since I was 16 years old, following the music and the musicians, and think that Arkansas has never really acknowledged the icons that we’ve produced for the world,” Spradlin said. “The fact that they’re getting a home here, it’s tremendous.”
The approximately $3 million project broke ground May 11 and was developed through a partnership involving North Little Rock Tourism, the nonprofit Argenta Arts Foundation and private supporters.
Scott and Ruth Landers, owners of Applied Technology Group, are among the principal backers, and the pavilion is named for their company. North Little Rock Tourism funded construction of the pavilion, while private donations are paying for the sculptures.
Construction has progressed rapidly in recent months, with workers assembling an elaborate steel structure that required welding during the hottest part of the summer, when temperatures were hovering around 100 degrees.
Kresse said his original vision for the pavilion was considerably different from the structure now standing. He initially suggested something resembling a barn to reflect the humble beginnings of many of the musicians being honored.
As the design evolved, the pavilion took on what he described as the appearance of a church or temple, with the sculptures elevated above ground level.
“To me, it’s almost a perfect metaphor for their lives, starting off very simply, humbly, in so many of these small towns in Arkansas, and [they] went out and influenced the world,” Kresse said. “And then you see their influence in so many of the musicians coming behind them.”
The structure, he said, is a fitting tribute to artists whose accomplishments have not always received the recognition they deserve in their home state.
“To put these artists on a pedestal, metaphorically, and know that they really deserve this type of honor,” Kresse said.
One mistake was discovered on the pedestal where the Cash statue was placed Tuesday. The pedestal is identical to the one in the U.S. Capitol, featuring lyrics from the song “Man in Black” on one side and a quotation on the other, but Cash’s birth year was incorrectly listed as 1935. He was born in 1932.
It’s unclear how the mistake occurred, but Kresse was unfazed, saying such errors happen.
“It will get fixed, so I’m not worried about it. Those are small potatoes in the big scheme of things,” Kresse said. “That’s fixable and, you know, it’s not like the bronze and he’s missing a hand or anything like that.”
Organizers said the error likely will not be corrected in time for Friday’s ceremony.
Kresse said initial plans called for unveiling subsequent busts in groups once a year, but they now may be installed in pairs as he completes them.
“We’ll keep adding to the menu, and then word of mouth can spread about this really cool thing that’s happening in Argenta,” Kresse said.
Duplicate castings of the initial busts have already been made for hometown installations, he said, although a second Florence Price bust is not being produced during the first round.
Sculptures of Big Bill Broonzy and Albert King are at the foundry Kresse uses to cast his work, he said, while he is about halfway through creating the clay model of Howlin’ Wolf.
Kresse hopes the hometown installations will encourage communities to develop additional attractions celebrating their musical connections.
“Hopefully that’s not gonna be, you know, the end-all, be-all,” he said. “It’ll hopefully just be a catalyst for more things to happen in the towns.”
He said the arrival of tourists could encourage communities to expand beyond the sculptures.
“It’s like anything, you gotta take a first step, and then I think if they see tourists coming, they’ll want to do more to accommodate that and build up.”
Organizers also envision expanding the educational aspects of the North Little Rock pavilion, potentially including programs for children and a museum devoted to Arkansas music.
“I’m just dreaming again, you know, but have a museum for Arkansas music,” Kresse said. “Really expand upon this cultural gold mine that we’ve been sitting with.”
Gaudin said fundraising continues for the pavilion, the hometown installations and the broader Arkansas Music Trail.
For Kresse, the project has grown far beyond what he initially imagined.
“It’s just so much bigger than what I was originally dreaming of,” he said. “That’s what really can catch me off guard and kind of take my breath away sometimes.”
The grand opening will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. Friday and will also mark the reopening of the Argenta Music Complex. North Little Rock Tourism says the celebration will include live music, food trucks, family-friendly activities and interactive exhibits.
This story was written for Talk Business & Politics and other newspapers owned by Newsroom Ventures.
