Johnny Cash Boyhood Home
Farm No. 266—Johnny Cash Boyhood Home | |
35°35′51″N 90°14′42″W / 35.597393°N 90.244989°W / 35.597393; -90.244989 (Johnny Cash Boyhood Home) | |
Area | less than one acre |
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Built | 1934 |
NRHP reference No. | 100002000[1] |
Added to NRHP | May 2, 2018 |
Farm No. 266—Johnny Cash Boyhood Home was the home of singer-songwriter Johnny Cash from 1935 to 1950. Cash moved with his family to a rural community in Mississippi County, Arkansas.[2] The farm house was built in 1934 in a government project to help boost the economy. The Cash family joined the community in March 1935. Ray and Carrie Cash moved to Arkansas when they took an offer to farm government land for poor and impoverished farmers. The Cash family went through many hardships while living in the farm house by floods and losing one of their children, Jack Cash. Growing up picking cotton and working on the farm influenced some of Johnny Cash's songs in the future, one of them being "Pickin' Time." In 2018, the home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
History
In March 1935, when American musician Johnny Cash was three years old, the family settled in Dyess, Arkansas, a New Deal colony of the Franklin Roosevelt administration. Dyess Colony was founded in Mississippi county in 1934 to give poor families a chance to work land that they had a chance to own.[3] The colony was named after William Reynolds Dyess, a Mississippi native, and the first Arkansas WPA administrator. Dyess gave the idea of supplying farms to families in poverty to Harry Hopkins, and then named the first "Colonization Project No 1." 16,000 acres in Mississippi County were given to this project for 500 different families to come farm on. Families started arriving in October 1934. The Cash family settled in March 1935 on 20 acres. The house given to the Cash family is one of few left standing in the Dyess Colony.[4]
J.R., as Cash was known as a child, started working in his father's cotton fields at the age of five, singing along with his family while working. He lived there until he graduated from high school in 1950.[5] All families in Dyess colony depended on cotton. None were sharecroppers so the idea of one day purchasing their farms from the government was real. The government eventually stopped funding the scheme,[when?] but the Cash family continued farming at the property.[citation needed]
Arkansas State University acquired the home in 2011, and the university's Heritage Sites Office operates it as a small museum, "Historic Dyess Colony: Johnny Cash Boyhood Home", as of 2022.[6] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.[7][5][8]
J.R. Cash growing up
Johnny Cash[9] was born to Ray, and Carrie Cash on February 26, 1932. J.R was the fourth born of seven kids to the Cash family. J.R was three years old when the family packed up and moved to their new home, Farm No. 266. The Great Depression was a tragedy at this time, but along with the Great Depression came floods and natural disasters. In 1937 the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers flooded.[10] The flood was so bad on the Cash family, they had to evacuate. Everyone but Ray Cash left to go to Kingsland; until it was safe to return. Along with natural disasters and the Great Depression, the Cash family went through a tragedy. On May 20, 1944, Jack Cash died. Jack was J.R's older brother. Jack was 14 years old when he fell into a table saw at work. Jack died in hospital a week later.
Incorporating the farm house into his music
Johnny Cash used his experiences at the farm house growing up in many of his songs.[11] One important song that was inspired from the farm house is, "Pickin' Time".
I got cotton in the bottom land It's up and growin' and I got a good stand My good wife and them kids of mine Gonna get new shoes, come pickin' time
Get new shoes come pickin' time
Ev'ry night when I go to bed I thank the Lord that my kids are fed They live on beans eight days and nine But I get 'em fat come pickin' time Get 'em fat come come pickin' time
The family farm was flooded on at least two occasions, which inspired his song "Five Feet High and Rising".
Gallery
- The bedroom Johnny Cash shared with his three brothers
- Family piano in the living room
- Living room
See also
- House of Cash
- Carter Family Fold
References
- ^ "Weekly listings". National Park Service. May 4, 2018.
- ^ "Dyess | Arkansas.com". www.arkansas.com. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
- ^ Bowden, Bill (May 5, 2018). "National Register accepts Johnny Cash boyhood home in Arkansas". ArkansasOnline. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Archived from the original on May 5, 2018. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
- ^ "Encyclopedia of Arkansas". Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
- ^ a b Edward Salo; Elizabeth Johnson; Zach Elledge; Brian McIntruf; Callie Williams (February 8, 2018). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Farm No. 266, Johnny Cash Boyhood Home / Ray and Carrie Cash Home / MS0345" (PDF). Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Department of Arkansas Heritage. Fifty pages, with bibliography, and with 17 photos from 2017.
- ^ "Historic Dyess Colony: Johnny Cash Boyhood Home". Arkansas State University. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
- ^ Arkansas Historic Preservation Program (May 4, 2018). "Johnny Cash Boyhood Home Listed on National Register of Historic Places". Arkansas, Department of Arkansas Heritage. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
- ^ Kreps, Daniel (May 5, 2018). "Johnny Cash's Childhood Home Added to National Register of Historic Places". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
- ^ "Historic Dyess Colony". Historic Dyess Colony. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
- ^ "Part I: Surviving the Depression in Arkansas | Johnny Cash: Arkansas Icon". ualrexhibits.org. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
- ^ "Johnny Cash | Biography, Songs, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
Further reading
- Cash, Johnny; Carr, Patrick (1997). Cash: The Autobiography. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0061013579.
- Cash, Johnny; Schwoebel, Tara Cash (2014). Hawkins, Ruth (ed.). Recollections by J. R. Cash: Childhood Memories of Johnny Cash. Jonesboro: Arkansas State University. ISBN 978-0930677039.
External links
- Official website
- Boyhood Home in Dyess, 360o Tour, ArkansasOnline
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- At Folsom Prison
- At San Quentin
- The Johnny Cash Show
- På Österåker
- Strawberry Cake
- Koncert v Praze (In Prague – Live)
- VH1 Storytellers: Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson
- At Madison Square Garden
- A Concert Behind Prison Walls
- I Walk the Line
- Little Fauss and Big Halsy
- Johnny Cash Sings the Songs That Made Him Famous
- Greatest!
- Johnny Cash Sings Hank Williams
- Now Here's Johnny Cash
- All Aboard the Blue Train with Johnny Cash
- Original Sun Sound of Johnny Cash
- Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash
- Greatest Hits, Vol. 1
- Heart of Cash
- Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
- Sunday Morning Coming Down
- International Superstar
- Five Feet High and Rising
- Destination Victoria Station
- Greatest Hits, Vol. 3
- The Unissued Johnny Cash
- Johnny & June
- Tall Man
- Encore
- Biggest Hits
- The Man in Black 1954–1958
- The Man in Black 1959–1962
- Come Along and Ride This Train
- The Essential Johnny Cash (1992)
- Wanted Man
- The Man in Black 1963–1969
- The Man in Black – His Greatest Hits
- 16 Biggest Hits
- Love, God, Murder
- The Essential Johnny Cash (2002)
- Unearthed
- The Legend
- The Legend of Johnny Cash
- Patriot
- 16 Biggest Hits: Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash
- The Legend of Johnny Cash Vol. II
- The Complete Columbia Album Collection
- Johnny Cash and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
- "25 Minutes to Go"
- "Seasons of My Heart"
- "Any Old Wind That Blows"
- "A Wonderful Time Up There"
- "The Ballad of Boot Hill"
- "The Ballad of Ira Hayes"
- "Ballad of a Teenage Queen"
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- "A Boy Named Sue"
- "Busted"
- "Cat's in the Cradle"
- "Cocaine Blues"
- "Cry! Cry! Cry!"
- "Daddy Sang Bass"
- "Dark as a Dungeon"
- "Don't Take Your Guns to Town"
- "Engine 143"
- "Flesh and Blood"
- "The Folk Singer"
- "Folsom Prison Blues"
- "Forty Shades of Green"
- "Get Rhythm"
- "Give My Love to Rose"
- "Goodnight, Irene"
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- "Guess Things Happen That Way"
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- "I Couldn't Keep from Crying"
- "I Love You Because"
- "I Still Miss Someone"
- "I Walk the Line"
- "If I Had a Hammer"
- "If I Were a Carpenter"
- "In My Life"
- "In the Jailhouse Now"
- "It Ain't Me Babe"
- "Jackson"
- "Kate"
- "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream"
- "The Man Comes Around"
- "Man in Black"
- "The Matador"
- "Oh Lonesome Me"
- "One Piece at a Time"
- "Oney"
- "Orange Blossom Special"
- "The One on the Right Is on the Left"
- "Remember the Alamo"
- "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky"
- "Ring of Fire"
- "Rock Island Line"
- "So Doggone Lonesome"
- "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down"
- "Tennessee Flat Top Box"
- "There Ain't No Good Chain Gang"
- "A Thing Called Love"
- "Understand Your Man"
- "What Is Truth"
- "What'd I Say"
- "Without Love"
- "You Are My Sunshine"
- Man in Black: His Own Story in His Own Words
- Cash: The Autobiography
- Johnny Cash! The Man, His World, His Music
- My Father and the Man in Black
- Walk the Line
- Ring of Fire (musical)
- Ring of Fire (2013 film)
- The Sound Behind Johnny Cash
- Kindred Spirits: A Tribute to the Songs of Johnny Cash
- Dressed in Black: A Tribute to Johnny Cash
- Johnny's Blues: A Tribute to Johnny Cash
- Walk the Line: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
- Fade to Black: Memories of Johnny
- All Aboard: A Tribute to Johnny Cash
- Johnny Cash Remixed
- We Walk the Line: A Celebration of the Music of Johnny Cash
- Forever Words
- Dyess, Arkansas
- Johnny Cash Boyhood Home
- Johnny Cash Museum
- House of Cash
- Carter Family Fold