Roots Music Festival at Cash Boyhood Home to conclude Delta Symposium XXIX
The Arkansas Roots Music Festival is coming to the Historic Dyess Colony: Johnny Cash Boyhood Home in Dyess, starting at noon Saturday, April 6, presented by KASU radio and Arkansas State University Heritage Sites.
The noon-5 p.m. festival, an outreach of KASU’s Arkansas Roots radio show, will feature a lineup of live music performed by Arkansas artists.
“I’m fortunate to share a wide variety of Arkansas music on KASU’s Arkansas Roots radio show, but I’m even more excited to welcome to Dyess four outstanding musical acts with connections to our state for wonderful live performances,” said Marty Scarbrough, festival emcee and KASU program director.
The festival will feature musicians performing in a wide variety of styles, including rock, country, blues and Americana.
Four acts will perform: Nightwing, Posey Hill, The Marty Ray Project, and Rockin' Jason D.
Williams. Marty Ray happens to be a Mississippi County native.
“Our state has an immense musical heritage, as evidenced by the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home, and we have a fantastic current generation of musicians who’ll be playing a wide variety of music at the festival,” Scarbrough added.
He compared the festival to a live version of the radio show, which features all kinds of Arkansas music from the past and present in many different styles and genres. The show is broadcast from noon to 1 p.m. weekdays and noon to 3 p.m. Saturdays at 91.9 FM.
The festival sponsors are the Judd Hill Foundation, Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas, Mississippi County Hospital System, and the Osceola/South Mississippi County Chamber of Commerce.
As the culminating event of the 29th Delta Symposium, the festival is a co-presentation of AState Heritage Sites, KASU, and the Department of English,
Philosophy and World Languages. It follows two days of symposium presentations at the A-State campus, April 4-5.
Food trucks will be available, and festival goers will be able to tour the Boyhood Home (tour included in ticket price). Donated adult beverages provided by Lost Forty Brewing will be available to those 21 and over.
Tickets for the festival at Dyess are available at DyessCash.AState.edu/Eclipse. Admission to the festival is $35 for those age 18 up; $10 for ages 1317; and free for 12 and under. The university’s clear bag policy will be followed.
For those interested in cycling, the Roots Ride will precede the festival earlier in the day, Saturday, April 6. Participants will travel a 35-mile loop between the Cash Boyhood Home and the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum at Tyronza. Registration is $60, and tickets are available at the same online site as the festival tickets.