Four Arkansas Road Trips for Music Lovers! | McLarty Daniel CDJR of Bentonville

From the blues to bluegrass, rockabilly to good ol’ country, Arkansas is a state with deep ties to music of all types. Luckily for the folks that live here, a lot of the places that have ties to the great music and musicians of the past and present can be visited by regular folks. If you’re a music lover who is just itchin for a tuneful roadtrip, hit the road for any of the following destinations with a musical bent. And if you need a new car, truck, van or SUV to get you there in comfort and style, come see us today at McLarty Daniel Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Bentonville! With a huge selection of new and used vehicles, plus our friendly hometown deals, we’re sure to have the vehicle you need to get you there, windows down and radio up! Come see us today, or shop our big selection online. And for now, read on for four music-themed road trips in Arkansas!

Johnny Cash Boyhood Home
Dyess, Arkansas
In the history of rockabilly, rock and roll, and country music, few figures loom larger than the Man In Black himself, Johnny Cash. Born into dire poverty in the tiny town of Kingsland in 1932, Cash and his family moved to the Mississippi County town of Dyess in 1935 in search of a better life in the government-sponsored model community that sprung up there during the Great Depression. Part of the move included taking possession of the first new home the family had ever owned, and the first home they’d ever had with indoor plumbing: a small, four-room house at the edge of a field, which was one of dozens of identical homes built by the Works Progress Administration as part of the project. Though many of the Dyess homes fell into disrepair and were demolished over the years, the Cash house miraculously survived. The leaning and dilapidated husk of the home where a young Johnny Cash learned to sing with his family was purchased in 2011 and fully restored with the assistance of Arkansas State University. Now, visitors to Dyess can visit the house where the early years of one of the giants of American music played out.

Jimmy Doyle’s Country Club
11800 Maybelline Road,
North Little Rock
There was a time when the American South, along with the rest of the country, was full of old-time dancehalls, taverns, dives and honky tonks. For the most part, they’re all gone now, fallen victim to a lot of forces but mostly just all the things fighting for our attention. Near North Little Rock, however, there’s one place where boot scooters and honky tonkers still kick up their heels just like they did in the days when “Urban Cowboy” was number one at the box office: Jimmy Doyle’s Country Club. The last of the true honky tonks, the cavernous brick club along I-30 near Prothro Junction was started in the heyday of old-school country music by Jimmy Doyle Brewer, a singer and songwriter who played with or opened for long list of the greats, including Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Though Jimmy Doyle’s isn’t as popular as it was back in the good ol’ days, it still manages to draw a friendly crowd on weekends with a giant hardwood dance floor, a central bar where Jimmy Doyle himself still does the pouring from time to time, and live country music most weekends from the Arkansas River Bottom Band.

The Delta Cultural Center
141 Cherry Street
Helena, Arkansas
If you’re a fan of the blues, the Arkansas Delta counties that abut the Mississippi River are rich with music history and heritage, with musicians from Arkansas and Mississippi routinely working both sides of the Big Muddy during the 1930s and 40s heyday of old-school blues. Few towns in Arkansas have the blues claim to fame of Helena, Arkansas. A former cotton shipping hub that was only rivaled by Memphis in its day, the town and its clubs have long been a magnet for fans and practitioners of the blues, from headquarters for the King Biscuit Flour Hour radio show that helped spread a love of the artform across the country, to the home of the King Biscuit Blues Festival held there every year, which draws thousands of visitors from all over the world. There’s plenty to see and hear in Helena for music fans, even when the King Biscuit Festival isn’t lighting up the levee with some of the greatest blues performers of all time. The Delta Cultural Center, at 141 Cherry Street, is home to an outstanding collection of Blues memorabilia and history, as well as the home of the studios for the still-running King Biscuit Flour Hour, and the town is still home to several great blues clubs, including Levee Commissary and Southbound Tavern.   

Dreamland Ballroom at Taborian Hall
800 W. 9th Street
Little Rock
Though many of the music venues where black artists were able to play during the days of the segregated South haven’t survived to the present day, Little Rock is still home to one of the greatest venues in the history of the golden age of Arkansas music: Dreamland Ballroom, on the third floor of Taborian Hall near downtown. Completed in 1918 as the home to an African-American fraternal organization that sold insurance, Taborian Hall was once one of the anchoring structures along 9th Street, which was a major hub for black commerce in the city until much of the row was demolished in the 1970s. Dreamland Ballroom, once one of the most opulent music and dancing venues in the city, played host to all the most outstanding black musicians of the 1950s and 60s, including Ray Charles, Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong, B.B. King, Cab Calloway, Count Basie and his orchestra, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Sammy Davis, Jr. and dozens of other well-known names. After falling into disrepair and on the verge of being demolished, the building was purchased and restored, and is now home to Arkansas Flag and Banner, a company that sells flags of all kinds.

Arkansas is full of incredible things to see, eat and do, so get out there and see it! If you need a reliable ride to get you there in comfort and style, come see us at McLarty Daniel CDJR of Bentonville. With an unbeatable selection and friendly deals worth a handshake, we’re one-stop shopping for anyone in need of a great new or used car. Browse our big selection online, and then stop in for a test drive today!


McLarty Daniel CDJR of Bentonville is a new and used car dealership that’s proud to serve the citizens and communities of Northwest Arkansas, including Tontitown, Lowell, Farmington, Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale, West Fork, Fayetteville, Bella Vista, Siloam Springs and all points in between.

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