Music
a depth and density that could fill
any room. Sometimes it felt like
thunder. It was never meek or mild.
There was no escaping the strength
and intensity of his voice and the
message he delivered through his
music. And much like his boyhood,
his songs embraced both the joy and
sorrows of life, delivering insights
with a stark simplicity that was the
essence of the man Johnny Cash.
Hemingway safari
mural on upper loft
of barn office
members remember is the piano
that belonged to their mother.
Like many people who knew hardship,
Johnny Cash found solace in music.
He picked up his first guitar at the
age of 12 and found that music
provided him with a foundation. As
an adult, he would share with his
audiences how growing up in Dyess
influenced and inspired many of his
songs such as “Five Feet High and
Rising.” Cash wrote in his 1997
autobiography: “Back in Arkansas,
a way of life produced a certain
kind of music.”
family, music and religion provided
a pillar of strength that lifted them
during times of adversity.
The Dyess Colony was built in 1934
as part of a federal agricultural
resettlement and Works Progress
Administration project. It was
designed to provide homes and jobs
to poor farm families during the
Great Depression. After the federal
government purchased 16,000 acres,
they built 500 farmsteads and
provided for a town center that
would provide medical care,
schooling and even a company
store. This would be the largest
resettlement community in Arkansas.
Indigent families were recruited
from all over the state and promised
20 acres, a home and outbuildings.
The only catch was that they were
expected to repay the government
for the farm after they cleared the
land for farming. To kick start the
process, the government would clear
the first two acres.
His kind of music was minimalist
in structure, yet it came with
the tonality power of a booming
baritone. Accompanied only by
guitar, his words reverberated with
While the Dyess Colony Museum and
the Cash home are completed and
ready for visitors, the overall master
plan is still a work in progress. (Still,
you should visit the museum as it
gives a rare insight into a period of
American history that is seldom told.)
The Arkansas State University will
be developing a heritage tourism site
that will include the reconstruction
of other buildings at the home site
and of a second colony home. This
will serve as a visitor center next
to the Cash home. Signage will be
improved and will mark locations
for the church, school, and other
facilities.
“I’d like to wear a rainbow every
day / and tell the world that
everything is ok. / But I’ll try to
carry off a little darkness on my
back. / Until things are brighter,
I’m the Man in Black.”
Johnny Cash
Favorite books of
Cash on his bed
The Cash family volunteered to be
resettled from Kingsland, Arkansas
and moved to Dyess in 1935,
whereupon, it is said that Carrie
Cash (Cash’s mother) broke down and
cried when she saw their new home.
Her humbling remark was that the
family had never had it this good.
The family lived in a five-room house
while farming 20 acres of cotton
and other seasonal crops. All seven
children, including Johnny, worked
alongside their parents to eke out an
existence that was still better than
what they had before. They would
continue to live in their Dyess