Rock & Roll Highway 67

[US71]

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/257209/

A style of rock 'n' roll mixed with rowdy country music that had its heyday along U.S. 67 in northeastern Arkansas 50 years ago is making an encore performance.

Gov. Mike Beebe signed legislation March 20 designating U.S. 67 from Newport to Pocahontas as "Rock 'N' Roll Highway 67." Now, Sonny Burgess, Billy Lee Riley and other musicians who made their fame there plan to play their rockabilly tunes at festivals to promote it.

The term "rockabilly" is defined as the convergence of country music, rock and blues. The music was the result of white performers trying to recreate the lively, swinging sound of black musicians of the time, historians say.

"Memphis capitalized on the blues; Nashville capitalized on country and western," said Rep. J.R. Rogers, D-Walnut Ridge, who sponsored the bill that gave the highway its designation. "We have a heritage here."

Last year, Tennessee legislators renamed a 55-mile stretch of U.S. 45 from the Mississippi line to Interstate 40 the "Tennessee Rockabilly Highway." Arkansas followed, proclaiming the stretch of road that runs through Jackson, Lawrence and Randolph counties the "Rock 'N' Roll Highway 67."

In the mid-1950s, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Burgess and Riley played the Silver Moon Club in Newport, Bob King's in Swifton and other establishments that once dotted the road.

Orbison and Burgess, with his group, The Pacers, even once played atop the Skylark Drive-In concession stand in Pocahontas.

"That stretch of U.S. 67 was a laboratory for Cash, Sonny Burgess, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty," said Michael Luster, the state's historical archivist and director of the Arkansas State University folklore program. "They developed 'rockabilly' there."

Rogers, a longtime musician himself, also played at clubs along U.S. 67, he said.

"There's no question. There's history there," he said of the road.

Now, Rogers wants to bring that history back to life.

He envisions signs along the road, highlighting the various venues that once stood there. All but Bob King's in Swifton are gone.

Rogers - along with Riley and Burgess, who live in Jonesboro and Newport, respectively - also wants to play at festivals this summer. And Rogers has entered into an agreement with Sun Records in Memphis to sell rockabilly memorabilia in his downtown Walnut Ridge music store on U.S. 67.

"This is something we can capitalize on," he said.

[yanksfan6129]

So now we have the Rock N' Roll Highway, eh?

Sounds pretty cool. Better then naming it after some stuffy politician.

[BigMattFromTexas]

I like U.S 67

[cjk374]

I wish highways that had history such as this would get more attention.  It could help alot of these small towns bypassed by interstates bring in more tourism.  I like rockabilly.  I had no idea where it got its start.  With promotions such as naming highways, people may actually  learn something.  What a concept!!!

[mightyace]

Well, in Kentucky, they have brochures for US 31E and 31W as a scenic and historic alternative to I-65.

If they can do that, the folks along US 67 should be able to do even better!

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

If it's the Rock n'Roll Highway, then they should be able to sell CD compelations tied into the road.

[US71]

If it's the Rock n'Roll Highway, then they should be able to sell CD compelations tied into the road.

Go for it 

[Grzrd]

I decided to dust off this "golden oldie" thread because this February 18, 2016 article reports that a new book, Stars of the Rock 'n' Roll Highway, has been published:

All great entertainers start somewhere, and for many of rock and country's music legends, that start was along U.S. 67, now known as Rock 'n' Roll Highway 67 ....
That rich history is what draws rock 'n' roll fans from near and far to see the historic memorabilia that can be found at the Rock 'n' Roll Highway 67 Museum in downtown Newport. It was the same rich history that caught the attention of Vicki Pasmore, who recently published her first book, Stars of the Rock 'n' Roll Highway.
The book details the musicians who played the smaller venues in the early stages of their careers. Artists such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis were just a few of the entertainers who appeared at local high school gyms and honky-tonks in small rural communities along U.S. 67, not to mention local musicians such as Sonny Burgess and Bobby Brown, both of Jackson County, and Bobby Lee Trammell of Jonesboro, among others. The book centers around musicians who were native to the state ....
The Rock 'n' Roll Highway 67 Museum, at Second and Hazel streets in Newport, chronicles not only the music greats, but also digs deeper into the local aspects of the popular music progression that took place during the birth of what we now call rock 'n' roll.
According to www.depotdays.org, the music history along the U.S. 67 corridor was significant enough to deserve official name recognition and signage ordered by the governor of Arkansas in 2009. Scores of later rock legends, including The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen and many more, have given the musicians heard on Rock 'n' Roll Highway 67 credit for having inspired their careers, the website states.

Should be a great read for anyone who loves music in addition to roads. 

[capt.ron]

I would like to see the old alignment signed as "Historic 67" instead of AR 367 from Jacksonville to Newport (and then to Walnut Ridge once the new freeway alignment opens up). Like US 66, US 67 has a lot of interesting history along it as well. When I drove through Beebe, I did see a "Rock n' roll highway" sign posted. More of those signs, please!

[The Ghostbuster]

Which rock & roll song would you think is most appropriate for Rock & Roll Highway 67?

[US71]

Which rock & roll song would you think is most appropriate for Rock & Roll Highway 67?

Life is a Highway?

[Road Hog]

The sign is kind of lame. I'd much rather see something stylized with musical notes and a 67 shield.

[Henry]

I think that any highway that has Rock & Roll in its name should go through either Memphis (home of Graceland) or Cleveland (for more obvious reasons), and US 67 doesn't go anywhere near those cities!