The Perfect Pick to Honor the Man in Black

The first sculpture designed for Folsom’s Johnny Cash Trail—a massive guitar pick—is ready for its day in the sun. Get set to start your hike on a high note.

Adan Romo’s long-awaited sculpture, Cash’s Pick, is about to take center stage. Back in 2014, the Sacramento artist won a national competition to design seven public art works planned for Folsom’s Johnny Cash Trail, named for the country music icon who recorded his landmark live album At Folsom Prison at the site of the penitentiary in 1968. Nearly a decade later, organizers have announced that Romo’s first piece is expected to take its place at the head of the 2.5-mile-long path, near historic downtown Folsom, in early 2024.

Once in place, the sculpture—a 7-foot-tall bronze likeness of a guitar pick—will stand above a base that resembles a vinyl record. Looking further down the road, $425,000 in state funding has now been secured to help cover the cost of the production of a second pick that will eventually be placed at the eastern terminus of the trail near Folsom Lake.

Romo’s idea to mark the start of the trail with a guitar pick comes from the way Cash would always tune up his guitar with a pick before his trademark introduction: “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.” And the sculptor has always envisioned the trail as a metaphorical song. “The landscape has a rhythm,” he says. “The hills rise up and down, and the land takes you away, much like a song does. The picks would always start the experience of music for [Cash’s] concerts. In this case, they’ll start the experience of the trail.”

And while he admits to a bit of stage fright regarding the unveiling, Romo says he’s excited to see this first of his sculptures finally come to fruition: “For me, it feels like the song is about to begin.”