The Real Deal from the New Deal:Johnnycash'sboyhood Home

The real deal from the New Deal:JohnnyCash'sboyhood home Thelegendarysinger'shumblefirst house,a productofan FDR the parents of country music leg 'nTrl TheCash fam· program.openstothe publicMay i, end J.R. "Johnny" Cash. Johnny was ily (WithoutJ.R. 3 when he and his family - which because he took By MEI.ANlERADZICKIMcMANUS Inside, the pleasant included siblings Roy, Margaret the photo)at Special to the StarTribune smell of new con Louise, Jack and Reba - moved III!I DyessHome. struction hangs in into their new home.The five-room . I Haze washes a drab, gray film the air, an intoxi house was compact for a family of e ' I Photo courtesy of over the Arkansas Delta. Now and ca ting melange seven, but to the Cashes, it was a . I I JOANNECASHYATES then a puffofwind scoops up some of freshly cut tim- cash godsend. grit from dusty fields and flings ber, lin oleum re sin A stroke of luck had brought it into the air, addin g to the sultry and paint that 's not quite dry. It's the m to northeastern Arkansas. day's discomfort. the scen t of prom ise and hope, of Th e Cashes had been struggling But in the distance, a tiny, snow new beginnings and endless pos to eke out a living when they were white house wink s cheerfully. sibilities. No wond er Carrie Cash selected as one of 500 families to Handsomely decorated with ever keeled over and wept when she first form an exp erimental planned green accents, its crisp, clean lines stepped inside in 1935. community, Dyess (pronounced emanate coolness and sere nity. She and her husband, Ray, were SeeCASHonGS. B HOl 'z z traav ',wa NDS ' 3:N DIIIll l li VlS • 'I g AV Il ~ ' 9 9 The real deal from the NewDeal:JohnnyCash's boyhood home .CASHfrom GI Dice) Colony. Part of Presi dent Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, the Depression-era agri i ---l cultural resettlement program gave participan ts 40 acres of lan d and a mule, plus a new home. The colony also offered I residents a communal cannery and cotton gin. Starting May I, visitors can learn about the program and the Cashes when H istor ic Dyess Colony: Boyhood Home of Johnny Cash opens to the Johnny Cash's family was one of 500 selected toform an experimen public . Created through a part tal planne d community, Dyess,as part of the New Deal nership between Arkansas State Un iversity (ASU) and ber him saying, 'I don 't want to IF YOU GO the City of Dyess, the $3.6mil go back, because tha t's not how The HistoricDyess Colonyan d lion heritage tourism site will I remember that house:" Boyhood Home ofJohnny Cash include exhibits on Dyess Col Dye ss Ma yo r Larry Sim s is in the Arkan sas Delta, about ony and the Cashes. plus tours also was distressed about the 50miles northof Memphis . of the home. flood of visitors regularly gap Tours begin May 1 and cost S10. ing at th e ramshackle home. The grand openin gis scheduled Johnny's realhome "Seeing it was givin g people for Aug.16,following the fourth For years, Johnny Cash fans the wrong impression - that ann ual Johnny CashMusic Fes from acro ss the globe flocked Johnny grewup in an old, dilap tival.Formore information, go to Dyess - often after visit idated house," he says. "When to dyesscash.astate.edu or call ing Elvis Pre sley's Graceland Johnny Cash lived the re, it was 1·870-972·2803. hom e in Memphis, about an a brand new hou se: ' hour south - for the chance Whenthe city and university program and project over Photo courtesy ofJOAN NECASHYATES to peer at his childhood home began restoring the house in seer, says Cash has an enor The Cashfamily circa 1949.That's Johnny in the backrow an the far right. from the ro ad. The numb ers 2011, people - including Cash mous int ernational following increased after the popular fans - were excited. Many because he pl ayed so many it s impact on Cash and his through old Sears and Mont environs. He also would be Cash flick "Walk the Line" was scratched notes of th anks or concertsoverseas,whichmight music . "Pi cki n' Time," for gom ery Ward catalogs to iden honored. released in 2005. But while encouragement onto enve be why famed UK newspaper example, was inspired by the tify items. Then the appropri "I was in his bedroom with the home was one of the few lopes, napkins and tiny scraps the Guardian recently named long hours Johnny and his fam ate pieces were purchased or him, holding his hands, a few colony structures remaining, of paper, gently tucking them Dyess one of the top 40 places ily spent in the cotton fields, donated. The one item authen days before he passed away," it had devolved into a leaning, into the chain-link fence sur to visit in 2014,along with such while "Five Feet High and Ris tic to the home is the piano. she says. "And he said, 'Baby, we athered shack. This didn't rounding the property. "Trav exotic locales as Iceland and ing" references the city's dev "Mama would play and we'd I wonder, when 1 leave this sit well with Joanne Cash Yates. eled all the way from England Cub a. astating 1937 flood sing gospe l music every night wo rld, if anybody will ever Yates and her younger to see the famous Johnny Cash Next, a shuttle will carry vis after dinner," says Yate s. "To care?''' brother, Tommy Cash, are house," penned one M. Pat TheCashexperlence itors to Cash's home. Thanks see Mama's piano again - 1 They will, Johnny. They've Cash's youngest two siblings, terson. "Devasted [sic] it was Mo st visitors will spend to effort s by the two youngest can't even describe the feel car ed since the minute you born after the family moved closed, but glad it is be ing ab out 90 minutes in Dyess. Cas h siblings, it looks nearly ing:' began singing. to Dyess. "Johnny Cash qu it re stored, will have to come Tours will start in the colo identical to its 1935self. The Yates says if Johnny were going over [to see the house] back next year:' ny's renovat ed Gree k Revival two assis ted in the pro ject by alive today, he would be MelanieRadzickiMcManusisa fre& because it was so abo ut to fall Ruth Hawkins, director of administration build ing,which sketching or describing each thrilled w ith the transforma lancewriterInSunPrairie. Viis. down," recalls Yates."I remem- ASU's Arkansas Heritage Sites ho uses exhibits on Dyess an d room's furnishings, and paging tion of the ir old home and its .

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