Johnny Cash's brother Tommy Cash and sister Joanne Cash Yates have drawn on their own memories to assist in the authentic restoration of the house where they grew up. Michael Hibblen hide caption
toggle caption
Michael Hibblen
Johnny Cash's brother Tommy Cash and sister Joanne Cash Yates have drawn on their own memories to assist in the authentic restoration of the house where they grew up.
Michael Hibblen
It's been almost a decade since Johnny Cash died, but fans still travel from around the world to see the place the music legend often described as key to his development: his boyhood home in the eastern Arkansas town of Dyess. The small house will soon serve as a museum — not only as a tribute to Johnny Cash, but also to tell the history of the town.
Cash's younger brother Tommy Cash and sister Joanne Cash Yates recently got to enter the small house for the first time since work to restore it got under way. Tommy says he hadn't seen it since Arkansas State University bought the house last year.
"I'm just thrilled that they could take what was basic here and make it into a beautiful home like it was in 1935," he says. "I'm just overwhelmed. I can't imagine this is really happening. And all the rooms, they looked huge when we were kids. Mama was a great housekeeper, and she made it very homey for us."
Johnny Cash was only 3 when his parents moved into the house on 20 acres of farmland. At a concert in 1969, he recounted, "You know, we come from the flat, black delta land in Arkansas; that's one of the places we come from. And after I got into the music field and started writing and recording and singing songs about the things I knew, I wrote a lot of songs about life as I knew it back when I was a little bitty boy."
Dyess, Ark., was a planned community, created during the Great Depression as part of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Dr. Ruth Hawkins is the director of the Arkansas Heritage Sites program at Arkansas State University; she's overseeing efforts to restore the Cash home, along with the town's administration building and an old movie theater.
"This was an agricultural resettlement colony," Hawkins says. "The Cash family was among the 500 colonists that were recruited to come here to get a new start in life."
The Sims family moved to Dyess in the 1960s, and Larry Sims grew up just down the street from the Cash house. Now the mayor of Dyess, he wants visitors to get the town's full history.
" 'Course we know Johnny Cash is gonna bring them here, but we want to tell them about the people that struggled, and how the government gave them a hand to get them back on their feet and give them some pride," Sims says. "A lot of these people had never owned any land before — they always sharecropped and just scraped by working for the other guy. This was a new start. ... They could come in and start fresh with everything they needed."
The Cash family sold the house in 1954. It passed from family to family for more than half a century, until the university bought it and began the restoration last February. The biggest problem was the foundation: It was built on sticky, heavy gumbo soil, which would constantly shift, causing the house to become unlevel. After lifting the entire structure up and building a new foundation, restorers peeled back layers of wall coverings and linoleum. Ruth Hawkins says they found the original wooden walls and tongue-and-groove flooring still intact.
"I couldn't be more excited, because we want so badly for this to be an authentic restoration," Hawkins says. "We've depended a lot on Tommy and Joanne to describe things for us, and we want to get it right."
The Cash family house today. Michael Hibblen hide caption
toggle caption
Michael Hibblen
The Cash family house today.
Michael Hibblen
Once the house reopens, Sims says he hopes it will attract even more visitors than those who already find their way to the town after visiting rock 'n' roll landmarks in Memphis, about 45 miles away.
"We get them from Germany and England, France and Vietnam — it's just amazing," Sims says. "We just got through with a busload from Ireland. Of course, nothing's open yet, but it was their fourth year to come back, and they're keeping up with the progress as it goes along. They're just amazed every time they show up."
One of those visitors was Matt Moler, who grew up in South Africa and today lives in Springfield, Mo.
"My dad had an old Johnny Cash cassette tape, and I listened to that all over Africa," Moler says. "He's been a part of my life since I [was] a kid ... so it's just been a great opportunity being here."
Joanne Cash Yates says that's just the reaction the Cash family is hoping for.
"About a week before Johnny passed away, he said to me, 'Baby, when I'm gone, I wonder if anybody will really care,' " she says. "So I think he'd be real proud."
The plans are to open the Cash house to the public as a museum by next September, in time to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Johnny Cash's death.
FAQs
Cash grew up in a government resettlement colony for struggling farmers in Dyess, Arkansas, working the cotton fields with his family and absorbing gospel music in church.
Did Roy Orbison know Johnny Cash? ›
Orbison and Cash would soon become lifelong friends and they were also next-door neighbors north of Nashville, until a 1968 fire that destroyed Orbison's home and killed two of his young sons from his first marriage.
Who owns Johnny Cash's Boyhood home? ›
Now owned by Arkansas State University, the house has been restored, along with several of the historic federal buildings. The Dyess Colony Visitors Center, located in the Colony Circle at the former site of the theatre and pop shop, is the first stop. It includes a gift shop, orientation video, and exhibits.
What is the name of the town where Johnny Cash was raised? ›
The Man in Black grew up in Dyess, Arkansas, in a community of poor farmers working government land. Photographer Joel Baldwin traveled with Johnny and June Carter Cash to Cash's hometown of Dyess, Arkansas, for a feature that was published in Look magazine as “The Restless Ballad of Johnny Cash,” April 29, 1969.
What town did Johnny Cash live in in Tennessee? ›
Johnny Cash residence
Cash and his wife lived nearby at 200 Caudill Drive in Hendersonville, overlooking Old Hickory Lake, from 1968 until Cash's death in 2003. The mansion covered 14,000 square feet. On this home property Cash built a log cabin in 1979, using it for rest and song writing.
Where did Johnny Cash live at the end of his life? ›
He later lived in Dyess, Arkansas, where he graduated high school. His boyhood home is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places as of 2018. From 1968 until his death in 2003, Cash and June Carter lived in a Hendersonville mansion overlooking Old Hickory Lake.
Did Elvis like Johnny Cash? ›
Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash sparked a tight friendship before they became obscenely famous. Back then, they were upstarts with a shared dream to make it big, and Memphis helped the pair to turn their ambition into reality. Cash, it would transpire, was even the inspiration behind one of Elvis' most beloved tracks.
What did Elvis think of Roy Orbison? ›
The pair's friendship blossomed through the 1960s, and during one of Presley's famous Las Vegas concerts, he described Orbison as having the “perfect voice”, calling him the “greatest singer in the world”.
Who did Roy Orbison lose in a house fire? ›
Roy and Claudette's two sons lost their lives in a house fire on Saturday, September 14, 1968. Roy was 11 and Tony was 6 years old. Their baby brother Wesley was only 3 at the time.
Where is Johnny Cash buried? ›
Located a few miles northeast of Nashville, it is the burial site of Johnny Cash as well as several members of the singing Carter Family and other stars from the country music world.
The Cinnamon Hill Great House has been the Jamaican home of the “The Man In Black “, legendary country music singer Johnny Cash and his wife June Carter Cash for 40 years. This Georgian inspired Great House was originally owned by the family of 19th Century poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
Did Johnny Cash ever live in California? ›
Though Cash's most famous marriage was to June Carter, the song was written for Vivian Liberto, whom he shared a California home with until their divorce in 1966. The Ventura County abode was reportedly built to Cash's specific specifications and was recently bought by a fan of the country singer.
What is Johnny Cash's nationality? ›
Johnny Cash (born February 26, 1932, Kingsland, Arkansas, U.S.—died September 12, 2003, Nashville, Tennessee) was an American singer and songwriter whose work broadened the scope of country and western music.
Who did Johnny Cash leave his money to when he died? ›
After a long and prolific music career, Cash left plenty of cash for his son but little for his daughters according to his will. He'd amassed a $60 million to $100 million fortune.
Who is Johnny Cash's son? ›
John Carter Cash has had success as a film actor and producer, as well, and as an author – including three childrens' books, a novel, a cookbook of family recipes, a biography of his mother, and a memoir of his relationship with his father. My father's legacy in music is: Be who you are.
Where was Johnny Cash's first house? ›
Early life. Cash's boyhood home in Dyess, Arkansas, where he lived from the age of three in 1935 until he finished high school in 1950. The property, pictured here in 2021, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The home was renovated in 2011 to look as it did when Cash lived there as a child.
Where is Johnny Cash birthplace? ›
Johnny Cash (born February 26, 1932, Kingsland, Arkansas, U.S.—died September 12, 2003, Nashville, Tennessee) was an American singer and songwriter whose work broadened the scope of country and western music.
How long did Johnny Cash live in Kingsland, Arkansas? ›
Cash lived in rural Kingsland, Arkansas for three years until his family moved, one of about 500 families selected to relocate to northeast Arkansas, to a New Deal agricultural resettlement named Dyess.
Where was Johnny Cash's ranch? ›
Located a short drive west of Nashville on I-40, this was the place Johnny Cash used to escape from public life. Now the Hideaway Farm Museum in Bon Aqua, TN is a must-stop for anyone interested in knowing more about the man behind the country music icon, as well as the region's rich history.
