House where Cash grew up to become museum

Johnny Cash's childhood home is being restored and turned into a museum.

The family home where the ‘Walk The Line’ singer grew up in Dyess, Arkansas has been bought by the State University and will be made into a museum dedicated to the star with money raised by The Johnny Cash Music Festival.

The inaugural festival, to be held at the university on August 4, will include performances by members of Cash’s family including his eldest daughter Rosanne, brother Tommy and son John Carter Cash with his wife Laura.

John Carter Cash said: “The rich gumbo dirt here made his spirit strong. His music came from here, as well as his faith and his family. He learned to work hard early in life.

“What a blessing this festival will be. I look forward to being a part of the show. I see the restoration at Dyess, as being a museum of the American spirit. People recognise the authenticity of Daddy's music, and it touched their hearts. He was genuine, and his life was an open book."

Cash’s family moved to a cotton picking farm in Dyess when he was three and left to join the air force in 1951. He passed away in 2003 at his home in Nashville from complications related to diabetes.

Locals have compared the museum to an Arkansas version of Elvis Presley’s home, Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee, which was converted into a museum dedicated to the singer after his death and remains a popular tourist attraction.

Roseanne added to the North Eastern Arkansas Town Crier newspaper: "Now everyone can go to Dyess and touch the house he grew up in. They can see how far he came to get to where he was.

“Daddy was authentic, and this Dyess hometown project is authentic. I visited his home place with him when I was 12 years old. Now this place will be here forever, and the memories with it."

Other performers set for the Johnny Cash Music Festival include George Jones and Kris Kristofferson, with more expected to be added over coming weeks.