Willie Nelson - Willie Nelson And Dierks Bentley Helping To Restore Johnny Cash's Home

Musicians Willie Nelson and DIERKS BENTLEY are performing a benefit concert in Arkansas next month (Oct12) to help restore the boyhood home of Johnny Cash.

The I Walk the Line hitmaker grew up with his parents and six siblings in a small house on a cotton farm in Dyess, and now officials at the Arkansas State University have launched a campaign to preserve the residence and surrounding area and fund a scholarship in his honour.

Country singers Nelson and Bentley are hoping to raise funds for the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home Project by staging a show at the college on 5 October (12), which will also feature the icon's daughter, Roseanne Cash, and The Civil Wars.

The late star's former home is slated to open next year (13) to mark the 10th anniversary of his death, and his son, John Carter Cash, cannot wait to see the old place.

He says, "Dyess is an area that really needs help, and this project will help. We have a lot of good friends in Dyess, and the family is proud to see the project moving along. The best thing is that it is a continuing project, and we hope it will continue for many years to come."