Tour Dates

MAY 20 Le Musique Room Saint Michael, MN
MAY 25 Legendary Waters Resort Bayfield, WI
JUN 1 St. Croix Valley River Boat Taylors Falls, MN
JUN 7 Milk & Honey Ciders Saint Joseph, MN
JUN 8 Empire Arts Center Grand Forks, ND
JUN 12 riverfront memorial park Anoka, MN
JUN 20 Arts of 5th Stephen, MN
JUN 21 Dakota Minneapolis, MN
JUN 22 Performing Arts Pavilion Mazomanie, WI
JUN 26 Haffeman Pavillion Shoreview, MN
Jun. 27 – 29, 2024 Vicki’s Camp N Country Jam – Redwood Falls, MN
JUN 27 The Draw Ramsey, MN
JUN 28 Minnesota Zoo Apple Valley, MN
JUL 6 Lucius Woods Performing Solon Springs, WI
JUL 9 Forest Lake Arts in the Park Forest Lake, MN
JUL 18 Wimbledon Palooza Wimbledon, ND
JUL 19 Zoo Bar Aberdeen, SD
JUL 20 Hastings Rivertown Days Hastings, MN
JUL 21 Bavarian Blast New Ulm, MN
JUL 24 The Ledge Amphitheater Waite Park, MN
JUL 27 Henning Fairgrounds Henning, MN
JUL 28 Salem Lutheran Church Longville, MN
AUG 8 Pierce County Fair Ellsworth, WI
AUG 10 Dakota Theater Yankton, SD
AUG 15 Murray Co Fair Slayton, MN
AUG 17 Margaret’s Pub Easton, MN
AUG 22 Minnesota State Fair Saint Paul, MN
AUG 23 Minnesota State Fair Saint Paul, MN

We ventured out of the Twin Cities, west on I-94 to a music venue inside the St. Michael Cinema megaplex to participate in Sunday services at the Church of Cash.

Le Musique Room is a dream project between Greg Armstrong and Tom Pickard who converted one of the theaters into a dedicated music venue and billed it as “The World’s Smallest Stadium.” It’s top-flight with one million dollars poured into the lights, the sound system, the stage and seating. Very comfortable seating!

“Sunday funday,” said Jay Ernest as the band took the stage and got right to it with “Jackson.” The Church of Cash is a review band with a simple mission: to honor the lasting legacy of Johnny Cash. Ernest was the emcee, the laidback minister, the conjurer of the late singer right down to the black outfit, bulwark-chest and whiskey barrel voice.

A traveling musician by trade, Ernest found himself in Oahu playing bass in a hybrid reggae/Motown band. On his days off he would grab his acoustic guitar and play background music in an Irish bar in the Chinatown neighborhood of Honolulu. And as he played, he noticed the patrons would stop conversing and drinking to listen when he sang a Johnny Cash song. From that eureka moment the Church of Cash was formed.

Being originally from New Ulm, Ernest said it was nice to be back at Le Musique Room, a venue that he and his band have played over the years. He said it was always fun to hear a fight scene rumbling from a movie playing next door.

For two hours Ernest and his band played selections from Cash’s fifty-year career with the required “Sunday Morning Coming Down”; the fan favorites “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Walk the Line”; the fastest and most family-unfriendly “Cocaine Blues”; the tongue-twistiest “I’ve Been Everywhere” and the train songs that started it all “Hey Porter” and “Get Rhythm.”

Ernest didn’t work from a setlist but a canon of 200 songs that the band could play well into the next day. A concerned citizen from one of the most comfortable seats asked how his voice would fare, and he told her not to worry for he had a voice built like a tank. And what a voice. If you were to close your eyes, you could easily be convinced that the Man in Black was alive and well and singing at a multiplex right off I-94.

If you are a fan of Johnny Cash, you can do no wrong spending an evening or Sunday afternoon at the Church of Cash. This summer they will be everywhere in Minnesota and surrounding states playing at resorts and casinos, boat cruises and breweries. They will also be at the Dakota jazz club on June 21st and the Minnesota Zoo amphitheater a week later. And don’t forget the Great Minnesota Get Together on August 22nd and 23rd.