Rosanne Cash to headline at the virtual Johnny Cash Heritage Festival

Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Rosanne Cash will perform the first-ever concert from her father’s boyhood home in Dyess. This concert will headline the 2021 virtual Johnny Cash Heritage Festival slated for Oct. 15-16.

“I am thrilled and delighted to return to Dyess to perform the first public concert from the living room of my father’s boyhood home,” Cash said. “This exciting benefit event raises funds to continue our mission of bringing attention to the rich history of my father in the Arkansas Delta and the New Deal-era colony where he was raised. This year, I am honored to share our family home in a special way.”

After successful music events in Arkansas State University’s First National Bank Arena beginning in 2011, the benefit event was expanded to a three-day heritage festival in 2017 and moved to Dyess. This year’s festival will be the first to be held virtually.

“We hope everyone will join us for the entire festival, which will include an international line-up of presenters and performers,” Cash said. “I have also invited several of my friends to join us for special performances. I’ll be announcing these performances in upcoming weeks.”

The theme for this year’s academic symposium is “Social Justice in the Life and Music of Johnny Cash.” Presentations will highlight Johnny Cash’s work with prison reform and his advocacy of Native American rights in his album Bitter Tears. Another highlight will be a behind-the-scenes look at the installation of statues of Johnny Cash and civil rights leader Daisy Gatson Bates in National Statuary Hall.

“This year, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of our music festival,” Cash said. “I look forward to virtually welcoming visitors from all across the world to experience the little patch of ‘gumbo soil’ in Dyess, Arkansas, in a new and unique way.’”

To learn more about the festival, visit JohnnyCashHeritageFestival.com. The festival is coordinated through Arkansas State University Heritage Sites and licensed through the John R. Cash Revocable Trust.