Dusty Relics of Arkansas History
December 9-15, 2019
By Dave Ramsey
bgdenman@ualr.edu
Rock ’N’ Roll Highway 67
Last May, my son and I went to St. Louis to take in a couple of Cardinal games. We drove up Highway 67, a route I had not been on in years. Just outside of Swifton, I saw a state highway sign that simply said Rock ’N’ Roll Highway 67 so naturally I had to investigate.
What I found was historic, colorful, and plain and simple rock ’n’ roll heritage.
In the early 50s the pioneers of rockabilly music, which became rock ’n’ roll piled into their cars – just like in the scene from the movie “Walk the Line” – and worked up and down Highway 67 from Batesville to Newport to Swifton to Walnut Ridge playing a powerful brand of new music and dreaming dreams of stardom. The played in local roadhouses and dives of questionable character in front of farmers in overalls swigging beer and local kids just looking to see something beyond the rural farms they lived on. The river stadium in Batesville, King of Clubs in Swifton, Porky’s Rooftop Lounge, Mikes 67 Club and the Silver Moon in Newport, and the Skylark Drive In in Pocahontas were the more popular spots along Route 67. So was the Cotton Club in Trumann where Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison played legendary sets that the local old timers still talk about.
They were joined by the likes of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Fats Domino, Conway Twitty, Levon Helm, Charlie Rich, Carl Perkins and Ronnie Hawkins who played gigs ups and down this famous stretch of Arkansas highway. And you might recall from an earlier Dusty Relic that even the Beatles touched down in Walnut Ridge.
Many, like Elvis, added high school gymnasiums and local armories to their list of stops. I found a couple of classic photographs of Elvis in the old Swifton High School gymnasium playing an afternoon show. All along the way they stopped to drop off records and do interviews at local radio stations from Batesville to Pocahontas. KNBY in Newport was an easy stop, just across the street from Porky’s.
Music experts say rock ’n’ roll was born out of poverty in the south. This stretch of NE AR two lane black top helped give it credibility and for a brief period of time was the center of the American music universe.
Not much is left of any of the old joints. The King of Clubs still stands just north of Swifton, but most are nothing but old concrete slabs that echo their historic past. Credit for the idea goes to Gary Gazaway, a Pocahontas musician who recorded with Stevie Ray Vaughn, Steve Winwood, and Joe Cocker. A lifelong resident of the area, he long recognized the significance of the highway as a major early music artery. Governor Beebe signed legislation in 2009 giving the 100 mile stretch its official designation.
Rock ’N’ Roll Highway 67, a Dusty Relic of Arkansas and American music history!
PHOTO CAPTION:
In October 2011, signs were dedicated marking a portion of Highway 67 through Texarkana as part of the Rock ’N’ Roll Highway. Early rock and roll performers sometimes played at Arkansas Municipal Auditorium when they traveled through Texarkana on Highway 67. (Photo courtesy of Encyclopedia of Arkansas)
