Bill Monroe - Blue Moon Of Kentucky

Gene Autry is probably best remembered for as being the “singing cowboy”. His movie credits include Riders in the Sky, The Big Sombrero, and Ridin’ on a Rainbow. Autry won an Oscar in 1942 for Best Music, Original Song for the song “Be Honest With Me” from the movie Ridin’ on a Rainbow“. As any true cowboy, Autry was born in Tioga, Texas in 1907. By 1929 he had earned the nickname “the Yodeling Cowboy” and was starring in his first film in 1934. He quickly rose to fame in the musical western. In a poll taken in 1940, Autry ranked 4th in box office draw after Mickey Rooney, Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy. Later in life he moved to the small screen. He made the transition effectively, producing and starring in 91 episodes of The Gene Autry Show. Autry is the only movie star to have 5 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: Radio, Recording, Motion Pictures, Television, and Live Theatre/ performance. Autry died in his home in 1998 of lymphoma.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Stanley Brothers were a legendary American bluegrass duo made up of brothers Carter and Ralph Stanley. Origin - Dickenson County, Virginia, USA Genres - Bluegrass Years active - 1946-1966 Labels - Rich-R-Tone, Columbia, Mercury, King, Starday, Wango, Rimrock Former members - Carter Stanley, Ralph Stanley Biography Carter and Ralph Stanley hailed originally from Dickenson County, Virginia. The family soon moved to McClure, Virginia where their parents worked a small farm in the Clinch Mountains. Music was a part of their lives from early on, as they were able to listen to the likes of the Monroe Brothers, J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers and the Grand Ole Opry on local radio. The brothers soon formed a band, the Lazy Ramblers, and performed as a duo on WJHL radio in Johnson City, Tennessee. World War II interrupted any thoughts of a musical career, and it was not until both brothers returned from the service that they were able to make their own mark in music. They formed their band, the Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys, in 1946 as the first band to copy the Monroe sound. Carter played guitar and sang lead while Ralph played banjo and sang with a strong, high tenor voice. Additional members of this early band were Darrell "Pee Wee" Lambert on mandolin and Bobby Sumner on fiddle. Sumner was soon to be replaced by Leslie Keith. On December 26, 1946, the band began performing at radio station WCYB in Bristol, Tennessee as stalwarts of the famed "Farm and Fun Time" radio show. They made their recording debut in September 1947 for Rich-R-Tone Records which had been founded the year before. Their records sold well "outselling even Eddy Arnold" regionally. Up to now, Ralph had been playing the banjo with two fingers only on recordings and in concerts but switched in 1948 to the three-finger style popularised by Earl Scruggs.In March 1949, the Stanley Brothers began recording for Columbia Records.[ During this time, Bill Monroe was not particularly fond of groups like the Stanley Brothers and Flatt & Scruggs whom he believed "stole" his music by copying it and they were therefore seen as "economic threats." Financially hard times in the early 1950s, forced the brothers to take a short break in their musical career and they began working for the Ford Motor Company in Detroit. Eventually, Monroe and the Stanley Brothers became friends and Carter performed for several months with Bill Monroe in the summer of 1951. In August 1951, Ralph was involved in a serious automobile accident that almost ended his career. Following his recovery, Carter & Ralph reunited to front their Clinch Mountain Boys. As bluegrass music grew less popular in the late 1950s, the Stanley Brothers moved to Live Oak, Florida to headline the weekly Suwannee River Jamboree radio show on WNER from 1958 to 1962. The three-hour show was also syndicated across the Southeast. In 1966, the brothers toured Europe and upon returning home they continued to perform together until Carter's death in December 1966. The brothers wrote many of their own songs and Carter had a particular knack for writing deceptively simple lyrics that portrayed strong emotion. The Stanley's style can best be described as a traditional "mountain soul" sound that remained close to the Primitive Baptist vocal stylings they learned from their parents and others near their southwestern Virginia home. Ralph has often used the expression "...old-time, mountain style, what they call 'bluegrass' music", to differentiate the Stanley's sound from mainstream bluegrass. They later added an innovative touch to their traditional sound with the guitar solos of George Shuffler, an early proponent of the crosspicking guitar style. Later, Ralph revived the Clinch Mountain Boys and is still performing as of 2010. Among the musicians who have played in the revived Clinch Mountain Boys are Ricky Skaggs, Keith Whitley, Larry Sparks, Curly Ray Cline, Jack Cooke, Roy Lee Centers, Charlie Sizemore, Ray Goins, and Ralph Stanley II. Ralph's career received a big boost with his prominent role on the phenomenally successful soundtrack recording of the 2000 film, O Brother, Where Art Thou?. The Stanley Brothers were inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1992. In 2005, The Barter State Theatre of Virginia premiered an original stage production entitled, "Man of Constant Sorrow: The Story of the Stanley Brothers," written by Dr. Douglas Pote.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006), better known as Buck Owens, was an American singer and guitarist who had 21 number one hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band, the Buckaroos. They pioneered what came to be called the Bakersfield sound—a reference to Bakersfield, California, the city Owens called home and from which he drew inspiration for what he preferred to call American music. While Owens originally used fiddle and retained pedal steel guitar into the 1970s, his sound on records and onstage was always more stripped-down and elemental, incorporating elements of rock and roll. His signature style was based on simple storylines, infectious choruses, a twangy electric guitar, an insistent rhythm supplied by a drum track placed forward in the mix, and high two-part harmonies featuring Owens and his guitarist Don Rich. Beginning in 1969, Owens co-hosted the TV series Hee Haw with Roy Clark. He left the cast in 1986, convinced that the show's exposure had obscured his musical legacy.[citation needed] In 1974, the accidental death of Rich, his best friend, devastated him for years and abruptly halted his career until he performed with Dwight Yoakam in 1988. Owens died on March 25, 2006 shortly after performing at his Crystal Palace restaurant, club and museum in Bakersfield. Owens is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Biography Owens was born on a farm in Sherman, Texas to Alvis Edgar Owens, Sr. and his wife Maicie Azel Ellington. Midway Mall, at 4800 Texoma Parkway, now sits where his farm once was. (U.S. Highway 82 through Sherman was named Buck Owens Freeway in his honor). "'Buck' was a donkey on the Owens farm," Rich Kienzle wrote in the biography About Buck. "When Alvis, Jr., was three or four years old, he walked into the house and announced that his name was also Buck. That was fine with the family; the boy was Buck from then on." He attended public school for grades 1–3 in Garland, Texas. In 1937, his family moved to Mesa, Arizona, during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. [Early career In 1945, Owens co-hosted a radio show called Buck and Britt. In the late 1940s, he became a truck driver and drove through the San Joaquin Valley of California. He was impressed by Bakersfield, where he and his wife settled in 1950.[citation needed] Soon, Owens was frequently traveling to Hollywood for session recording jobs at Capitol Records, playing backup for Tennessee Ernie Ford, Sonny James, Wanda Jackson, Del Reeves, Tommy Sands, Tommy Collins, Faron Young and Gene Vincent, and many others. Owens recorded a rockabilly record called "Hot Dog" for the Pep label, using the pseudonym Corky Jones because he did not want the fact he recorded a rock n' roll tune to hurt his country music careerSometime in the 1950's, he lived with his second wife and children in Fife Washington, where he sang with the non- famous Dusty Rhodes band. Owens' career took off in 1959, when his song "Second Fiddle" hit No. 24 on the Billboard country chart. A few months later, "Under Your Spell Again" hit No. 4, and then "Above and Beyond" hit No. 3. On April 2, 1960 he performed the song on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee. In the early 1960s, the countrypolitan sound was popular, with smooth, string-laden, pop-influenced styles used by Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves, and Patsy Cline, among others. Owens went against the trend, utilizing honky tonk hillbilly feel, mixed idiosyncratically with the Mexican polkas he had heard on border radio stations while growing up. Owens was named the Most Promising Country and Western Singer of 1960 by Billboard In 1961, his top 10-charting duets with Rose Maddox earned them awards as vocal team of the year. At the top 1963's "Act Naturally" became Owens and the Buckaroos' first No. 1 hit. The Beatles later recorded a cover of it in 1965. Ringo Starr later re-recorded the song as a duet with Owens in 1988. Owens met his longtime guitarist Don Rich in the Seattle area. The 1966 album Carnegie Hall Concert was a smash hit and further cemented Buck Owens and the Buckaroos as more than just another honky tonk country band. They achieved crossover success on to the pop charts.[citation needed] During that year, R&B singer Ray Charles released cover versions of two of Owens' songs that became pop hits: "Crying Time" and "Together Again". In 1967, Owens and the Buckaroos toured Japan, a then-rare occurrence for a country musician.[citation needed] The subsequent live album, appropriately named Buck Owens and His Buckaroos in Japan, is the first country music album recorded outside the United States. In 1968 Owens and the Buckaroos performed for President Lyndon Baines Johnson at the White House, which was later released as a live album. Between 1968–1969, steel pedal guitar player Tom Brumley and drummer Willie Cantu left the band. Drummer Jerry Wiggins and steel pedal guitar player Jay Dee Maness were added to the band. Owens and the Buckaroos had two songs reach No. 1 on the country music charts in 1969, "Tall Dark Stranger" and "Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass". In 1969, they recorded a live album, Live in London, where they premiered their rock song "A Happening In London Town" and their version of Chuck Berry's song "Johnny B. Goode". During this time Hee Haw, starring Owens and the Buckaroos, was at its height of popularity. The series, originally envisioned as country music's answer to Laugh-In, outlived that show and ran for 24 seasons. In the early 1970s, Owens and the Buckaroos enjoyed a string of hit duets with his protege Susan Raye, who subsequently became a popular solo artist with recordings produced by Owens. In 1971, the Buckaroos' bass guitarist Doyle Holly left the band to pursue a solo career. Holly was known for his solo ballads with his trademark booming deep voice on Buck Owens and the Buckaroos albums. His departure was a setback to the band, as Doyle had received the Bass Player of the Year award from the Academy of Country Music the year before in 1970 and served as co-lead vocalist (along with Don Rich) of the Buckaroos.[citation needed] Holly went on to record two solo records in the early 1970s, both were top 20 hits. Holly has subsequently been honored in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and with a block in the Walkway of Stars at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Owens and Rich were the only original members left of Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, and in the 1970s they struggled to top the country music charts. However, the popularity of Hee Haw was allowing them to enjoy large crowds at indoor arenas. In 1972, Owens and the Buckaroos finally had another No. 1 hit, "Made in Japan", after three years of not having a number one song. In April, he added pedal steel guitarist, Jerry Brightman. The band had been without pedal steel since late in 1969 when Maness departed, and Owens returned to his grass roots sound of fiddle, steel, and electric guitars releasing a string of singles including "Arms Full of Empty", "Ain't it Amazing Gracie" and "Ain't Gonna Have Ole Buck (to Kick Around no More)". Owens' original release of "Streets of Bakersfield" was released in 1972. On July 17, 1974, Owens' best friend and Buckaroos guitarist Don Rich was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle and struck a guard rail on Highway 99 north of Bakersfield. Rich had been on his way to join his family for vacation on the coast at Morro Bay. Owens was devastated. "He was like a brother, a son and a best friend," he said in the late 1990s. "Something I never said before, maybe I couldn't, but I think my music life ended when he did. Oh yeah, I carried on and I existed, but the real joy and love, the real lightning and thunder is gone forever." KUZZ Radio logo featuring a depiction of Owens' trademark guitar Before the 1960s were done, Owens—with the help of manager Jack McFadden—began to concentrate on his financial future. He bought several radio stations, including KNIX-AM and KNIX-FM in Phoenix and KUZZ in Bakersfield. In 1999, Owens sold the KNIX stations to Clear Channel Communications, but he maintained ownership of KUZZ until his death. Owens established Buck Owens Enterprises and produced records by several artists. He recorded for Warner Bros. Records, but Owens and his longtime fans were less than happy with the results; the recordings, made in Nashville, reflected the very type of bland country music he had always assailed. His spirit broken by the depression of Rich's death, he simply allowed himself to be led. He was no longer recording by the 1980s, devoting his time to overseeing his business empire from Bakersfield. Slowly, during that time, he recovered his equilibrium. Time allowed him to realize that despite the excellent pay and friendships he'd developed on Hee Haw, the show effectively ruined his musical career by redefining him as a comedian, to the point that many who tuned in knew nothing of his country music career or his classic hit recordings. He left the show in 1986. Death Buck Owens died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack on March 25, 2006, only hours after performing at his Crystal Palace restaurant, club and museum in Bakersfield. He had successfully recovered from oral cancer in the early 1990s, but had additional health problems near the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century, including pneumonia and a minor stroke suffered in 2004. These health problems had forced him to curtail his regular weekly performances with the Buckaroos at his Crystal Palace. The Los Angeles Times interviewed longtime Owens spokesman (and Buckaroos keyboard player) Jim Shaw, who said Owens "had come to the club early and had a chicken-fried steak dinner and bragged that it's his favorite meal." Afterward, Owens told band members that he wasn't feeling well and was going to skip that night's performance. Shaw said a group of fans introduced themselves while Owens was preparing to drive home; when they told him that they had traveled from Oregon to hear him perform, Owens changed his mind and took the stage anyway. Shaw recalled Owens telling the audience, "If somebody's come all that way, I'm gonna do the show and give it my best shot. I might groan and squeak, but I'll see what I can do." Shaw added, "So, he had his favorite meal, played a show and died in his sleep. We thought, that's not too bad." The front of the mausoleum where Owens is buried is inscribed "The Buck Owens Family" with the word's "Buck's Place" beneath.

Lester Raymond Flatt Born: Duncan’s Chapel, Tennessee, June 19, 1914 Died: May 11, 1979 Earl Eugene Scruggs Born: Flint Hill, North Carolina, January 6, 1924 Flatt and Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys did much to popularize bluegrass music. Their sound became widely recognized in the 1960s through their recording of “The Ballad of Jed Clampett,” the theme for the network television show The Beverly Hillbillies. Both Flatt and Scruggs grew up in rural farm homes immersed in rich musical traditions. Both worked in textile mills before becoming full-time musicians. Flatt, who left school at the age of twelve and married at the age of seventeen, began his radio career in 1939 and worked in several bands, including that of Charlie Monroe and his Kentucky Partners, with whom, in 1943, he sang tenor and played guitar and mandolin. In 1945, Flatt was hired as guitarist and lead singer in Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys. Scruggs, who remained close to home through the war years to help his widowed mother, was recognized from an early age as a banjo prodigy. By the time he was a teen, he had developed his own distinctive, banjo style that enabled him to play a broad variety of music with speed and clarity. The two met in 1945 when Scruggs joined Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, and both became part of what proved to be Monroe’s most influential line-up. Along with fiddler Chubby Wise and bassist Cedric Rainwater (real name: Howard Watts), Flatt and Scruggs played a crucial role in the development of the sound that later came to be known as “bluegrass”—a name taken from the band’s name. In addition to Monroe’s high tenor vocals and fiery mandolin playing, this sound featured Flatt’s warm lead singing and solid rhythm guitar. Perfecting a “roll” executed with the thumb and two fingers of his right hand, Scruggs used the banjo as a lead instrument like a fiddle or a guitar, particularly on faster pieces and instrumentals. This novel sound attracted considerable attention to their Grand Ole Opry performances, road shows, and Columbia recordings. Early in 1948, Flatt and Scruggs left Monroe. Later that spring they formed their own band, the Foggy Mountain Boys. Early band members included guitarist/vocalists Jim Eanes and Mac Wiseman, along with fiddler Jim Shumate and bassist Rainwater. By the end of the year, they were playing at WCYB in Bristol, Tennessee, and recording for Mercury. Subsequently they worked at a number of other radio stations in the Southeast. In 1950 they signed with Columbia, the label they would be with for the rest of their career together. In 1949 mandolinist/tenor singer Curley Seckler joined the band. He remained for most years until 1962, although for several periods he was replaced by others, most notably Everett Lilly. A number of outstanding fiddlers played with the band in its early years; in 1954 master fiddler Paul Warren joined and remained with the band for the rest of its history. A number of bassists worked with the band before 1953, when E. P. “Cousin Jake” Tullock joined. He too remained until the end. The Flatt & Scruggs sound took its definitive form in 1955 with the addition of the Dobro resonator guitar of Buck “Uncle Josh” Graves. With this instrument, they departed significantly from Bill Monroe’s sound, although, like him, they maintained a purely acoustic sound. In 1953 Martha White Flour began sponsoring Flatt & Scruggs daily early morning radio shows over WSM-Nashville and continued to support them for the rest of their career. In 1955 they became members of the Grand Ole Opry. During the late fifties and early sixties their syndicated television shows were seen by millions of viewers in the Southeast. Their recordings, including gospel songs like “Cabin on the Hill,” began hitting the country charts. Meanwhile, their banjo-sparked acoustic sound found favor with young listeners in the folk music revival. Appearances at the Newport Folk Festival and on national TV brought them national acclaim (New York Times music critic Robert Shelton compared Scruggs to master violinist Niccolo´ Paganini) paving the way for a series of folk-oriented albums. An appearance at the Hollywood folk club The Ash Grove caught the ear of the producer of The Beverly Hillbillies and led to “The Ballad of Jed Clampett,” their only single to reach #1 on the country charts. The early sixties was a time of great popularity for the group. And while later in the decade there were health problems for both men, particularly Flatt, they continued to tour and broadcast widely. Highlights from these years included their sensational appearance in Japan, an appearance at San Francisco’s Avalon Ballroom during the peak of its hippie light show years, and another sound track success when their 1949 recording of “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” was used in the 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde. Musical and business differences brought the act to an end early in 1969. Both men continued to perform, Scruggs with his sons in the Earl Scruggs Revue, and Flatt with his Nashville Grass. In 1985 Flatt & Scruggs were elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame. - Neil V. Rosenberg - Adapted from the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum’s Encyclopedia of Country Music, published by Oxford University Press.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Martin David Robinson (September 26, 1925–December 8, 1982), known professionally as Marty Robbins, was an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. One of the most popular and successful country and Western singers of his era, for most of his nearly four-decade career, Robbins was rarely far from the country music charts, and several of his songs also became pop hits. Biography Robbins was born in Glendale, a suburb of Phoenix, in Maricopa County, Arizona. He was reared in a difficult family situation. His father took odd jobs to support the family of ten children. His father's drinking led to divorce in 1937. Among his warmer memories of his childhood, Robbins recalled having listened to stories of the American West told by his maternal grandfather, Texas Bob Heckle. Robbins left the troubled home at the age of 17 to serve in the United States Navy as an LCT coxswain during World War II. He was stationed in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific. To pass the time during the war, he learned to play the guitar, started writing songs, and came to love Hawaiian music. After his discharge from the military in 1945, he began to play at local venues in Phoenix, then moved on to host his own show on KTYL. He thereafter had his own television show on KPHO-TV in Phoenix. After Little Jimmy Dickens made a guest appearance on Robbins' TV show, Dickens got Robbins a record deal with Columbia Records. Robbins became known for his appearances at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. In addition to his recordings and performances, Robbins was an avid race car driver, competing in 35 career NASCAR races with six top 10 finishes, including the 1973 Daytona 500. In 1967, Robbins played himself in the car racing film Hell on Wheels. Robbins was partial to Dodges, and owned and raced Chargers and then a 1978 Dodge Magnum. His last race was in a Junior Johnson built 1982 Buick Regal in the Atlanta Journal 500 on November 7, 1982, the month before he died. In 1983, NASCAR honored Robbins by naming the annual race at Nashville the Marty Robbins 420. He was also driver of the 60th Indianapolis 500 Buick Century pace car in 1976. He was awarded an honorary degree by Northern Arizona University. In 1948, Robbins married the former Marizona Baldwin (September 11, 1930–July 10, 2001) to whom he dedicated his song "My Woman, My Woman, My Wife". They had two children, a son Ronny (born 1949) and daughter Janet (born 1959), who also followed a singing career in Los Angeles, California. Robbins later portrayed a musician in the 1982 Clint Eastwood film Honkytonk Man. Robbins died a few weeks before the film's release in December 1982 of complications following cardiac surgery. At the time of his death, Robbins lived in Brentwood in Williamson County, outside Nashville. He was interred in Woodlawn Memorial Park in Nashville. The city of El Paso, Texas later honored Robbins by naming a park and a recreational center after him. Music and honors Robbins's 1957 recording of "A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. His musical accomplishments include the Grammy Award for his 1959 hit and signature song "El Paso," taken from his album Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs. "El Paso" was the first song to hit #1 on the pop chart in the 1960s. It was followed up, successfully, by "Don't Worry", which reached #3 on the pop chart in 1961, becoming his third, and last, Top 10 hit. "El Paso" was followed by two sequels: "Faleena" and "El Paso City", both of which continued the story featured in the original song. Also in 1961, Robbins wrote the words and music and recorded "I Told the Brook," a ballad later also recorded by Billy Thorpe. He won the Grammy Award for the Best Country & Western Recording 1961, for his follow-up album More Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, and was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1970, for "My Woman, My Woman, My Wife". Robbins was named Artist of the Decade (1960–69) by the Academy of Country Music, was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1982, and was given a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998 for his song "El Paso". Robbins was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1975. For his contribution to the recording industry, Robbins has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6666 Hollywood Blvd. Robbins has been honored by many bands, including the Grateful Dead who covered "El Paso". The Who's 2006 album Endless Wire includes the song "God Speaks Of Marty Robbins". The song's composer, Pete Townshend, explained that the song is about God deciding to create the universe just so he can hear some music, "and most of all, one of his best creations, Marty Robbins." The Beasts of Bourbon released a song called "The Day Marty Robbins Died" on their 1984 debut album The Axeman's Jazz. Johnny Cash recorded a version of "Big Iron" as part of his American Recordings series, which is included in the Cash Unearthed box set. Both Frankie Laine and Elvis Presley, among others, recorded versions of Robbins's song "You Gave Me a Mountain", with Laine's recording reaching the pop and adult contemporary charts in 1969. Robbins performed and recorded several songs by longtime songwriter Coleman Harwell, most notably "Thanks but No Thanks" in 1964; Robbins and his producers employed the top sessions musicians and singers including the Jordanaires to record Harwell's songs. Harwell is the nephew of former Nashville Tennessean newspaper editor Coleman Harwell. When Robbins was recording his 1961 hit "Don't Worry", session guitarist Grady Martin accidentally created a fuzz effect during the session. The song reached #1 on the country chart, and #3 on the pop chart.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Roy Claxton Acuff (September 15, 1903 – November 23, 1992) was an American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the King of Country Music, Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and "hoedown" format to the star singer-based format that helped make it internationally successful. Acuff began his music career in the 1930s, and gained regional fame as the singer and fiddler for his group, the Smoky Mountain Boys. He joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1938, and although his popularity as a musician waned in the late 1940s, he remained one of the Opry's key figures and promoters for nearly four decades. In 1942, Acuff co-founded the first major Nashville-based country music publishing company—Acuff-Rose Music—which signed acts such as Hank Williams, Roy Orbison, and The Everly Brothers. In 1962, Acuff became the first living person inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Early life Roy Acuff was born in Maynardville, Tennessee to Ida Carr and Simon E. Neill Acuff, the third of five children. The Acuffs were a fairly prominent Union County family. Roy's paternal grandfather, Coram Acuff, had been a Tennessee state senator, and Roy's maternal grandfather was a local physician. Roy's father was an accomplished fiddler and a Baptist preacher, his mother was proficient on the piano, and during Roy's early years the Acuff house was a popular place for local gatherings. At such gatherings, Roy would often amuse people by balancing farm tools on his chin. He also learned to play harmonica and Jew's harp at a young age. The Acuff family relocated to Fountain City, a suburb of North Knoxville, in 1919. Roy attended Central High School, where he sang in the school chapel's choir and performed in "every play they had." Roy's primary passion, however, was athletics. He was a three-sport standout at Central, and after graduating in 1925, he was offered a scholarship to Carson-Newman, but turned it down. He played with several small baseball clubs around Knoxville, worked at odd jobs, and occasionally boxed. In 1929, he tried out for the Knoxville Smokies, at that time a minor league baseball team for the New York Giants (now the San Francisco Giants). A series of collapses in spring training following a sunstroke, however, ended his baseball career prematurely. The effects left him ill for several years, and he even suffered a nervous breakdown in 1930. "I couldn't stand any sunshine at all," he later recalled. While recovering, Acuff began to hone his fiddle skills, often playing on the family's front porch in late afternoons after the sun went down. His father gave him several records of regionally-renowned fiddlers, such as Fiddlin' John Carson and Gid Tanner, which were important influences on his early style Early music career In 1932, Dr. Hauer's medicine show—which toured the Southern Appalachian region—hired Acuff as one of its entertainers. The purpose of the entertainers was to draw a large crowd to whom Hauer could sell medicines (of suspect quality) for various ailments. While on the medicine show circuit, Acuff met legendary Appalachian banjoist Clarence Ashley, from whom he learned "The House of the Rising Sun" and "Greenback Dollar", both of which Acuff later recorded. As the medicine show lacked microphones, Acuff learned to sing loud enough to be heard above the din, a skill that would later help him stand out on early radio broadcasts. In 1934, Acuff left the medicine show circuit and began playing at local shows with various musicians in the Knoxville area. That year, guitarist Jess Easterday and Hawaiian guitarist Clell Summey joined Acuff to form the Tennessee Crackerjacks, which performed regularly on Knoxville radio stations WROL and WNOX (the band moved back and forth between stations as Acuff bickered with their managers over pay). Within a year, the group had added bassist Red Jones and had changed its name to the Crazy Tennesseans after being introduced as such by WROL announcer Alan Stout. Fans often remarked to Acuff how "clear" his voice was coming through over the radio, important in an era when singers were often drowned out by string band cacophony. The popularity of Acuff's rendering of the song "The Great Speckled Bird" helped the group land a contract with the American Record Corporation, for whom they recorded several dozen tracks (including the band's best-known track, "Wabash Cannonball") in 1936 and 1937 before leaving over a contract dispute. The Grand Ole Opry In 1938, the Crazy Tennesseans moved to Nashville to audition for the Grand Ole Opry. Although their first audition went poorly, the band's second audition impressed Opry founder George D. Hay and producer Harry Stone, and they offered the group a contract later that year. On Hay and Stone's suggestion, Acuff changed the group's name to the Smoky Mountain Boys, referring to the mountains near where Acuff and his bandmates grew up. Shortly after the band joined the Opry, Clell Summey left the group, and was replaced by dobro player Beecher Kirby—best known by his stage name Bashful Brother Oswald—whom Acuff had met in a Knoxville bakery earlier that year. Acuff's powerful lead vocals and Kirby's dobro playing and high-pitched backing vocals gave the band its distinctive sound. By 1940, Jess Easterday had switched to bass to replace Red Jones, and Acuff had added guitarist Lonnie "Pap" Wilson and banjoist Rachel Veach to fill out the band's line-up. Within a year, Roy Acuff and the Smoky Mountain Boys rivaled long-time Opry banjoist Uncle Dave Macon as the troupe's most popular act. In spring 1940, Acuff and his band traveled to Hollywood, where they appeared with Hay and Macon in the motion picture, Grand Ole Opry. Acuff appeared in several subsequent B-movies, including O, My Darling Clementine (1943) in which Acuff plays a singing sheriff and Night Train to Memphis (1946), the title of which comes from a song Acuff recorded in 1940. Acuff and his band also joined Macon and other Opry acts at various tent shows held throughout the southeast in the early 1940s. The crowds at these shows were so large that roads leading into the venues were jammed with traffic for miles. Starting in 1939, Acuff hosted the Opry's Prince Albert segment, but left the show in 1946 after a dispute with management. In 1942, Acuff and songwriter Fred Rose (1897-1954) formed Acuff-Rose Music. Acuff originally sought the company in order to publish his own music, but soon realized there was a high demand from other country artists, many of whom had been exploited by larger publishing firms.Due in large part to Rose's ASCAP connections and gifted ability as a talent scout, Acuff-Rose quickly became the most important publishing company in country music. In 1946, the label signed Hank Williams, and in 1950 published their first major hit, Patti Page's rendition of "Tennessee Waltz". Politics In 1943, Acuff invited Tennessee Governor Prentice Cooper to be the guest of honor at a gala held to mark the nationwide premier of the Opry's Prince Albert show. Cooper rejected the offer, however, and lambasted Acuff and his "disgraceful" music for making Tennessee the "hillbilly capital of the United States." A Nashville journalist reported the governor's comments to Acuff, and suggested Acuff run for governor himself. While Acuff initially did not take the suggestion seriously, he did accept the Republican Party nomination for governor in 1948. Acuff's nomination caused great concern for E.H. Crump, the head of a Memphis Democratic Party political machine that had dominated Tennessee state politics for nearly a quarter-century. Crump was not worried so much about losing the governor's office—in spite of Acuff's name recognition—but did worry that Acuff would draw large crowds to Republican rallies and bolster other statewide candidates. While Acuff did relatively well and helped reinvigorate Tennessee's Republicans, his opponent, Gordon Browning, still won with 67 percent of the vote. Later career After leaving the Opry, Acuff spent several years touring the Western United States, although demand for his appearances dwindled with the lack of national exposure and the rise of musicians such as Ernest Tubb and Eddy Arnold, who were more popular with younger audiences. He eventually returned to the Opry, although by the 1960s, his sales had dropped off considerably. After nearly losing his life in an automobile accident outside of Sparta, Tennessee in 1965, Acuff pondered retiring, making only token appearances on the Opry stage and similar shows, and occasionally performing duos with long-time bandmate Bashful Brother Oswald. In 1972, Acuff's career received a brief resurgence in the folk revival movement after he appeared on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album, Will the Circle Be Unbroken. The appearance paved the way for one of the defining moments of Acuff's career, which came on the night of March 16, 1974, when the Opry officially moved from the Ryman Auditorium to the Grand Ole Opry House at Opryland. The first show at the new venue opened with a huge projection of a late-1930s image of Roy Acuff and the Smoky Mountain Boys onto a large screen above the stage. A recording from one of the band's 1939 appearances was played over the sound system, with the iconic voice of George Hay introducing the band, followed by the band's performance of "Wabash Cannonball". That same night, Acuff showed President Richard Nixon (who was in attendance) how to yo-yo, and convinced the president to play several songs on the piano. In the 1980s, after the death of his wife, Mildred, Acuff moved into a house on the Opryland grounds, and continued performing. In 1991, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts, and given a lifetime achievement award by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He died in Nashville on November 23, 1992 of congestive heart failure. Repertoire and legacy Many of Acuff's songs show a strong religious influence, most notably "Great Speckled Bird", "The Prodigal Son" and "Lord Build Me a Cabin". Such songs were typically set to a traditional Anglo-Celtic melody, which is most apparent on "Great Speckled Bird" and the 1940 recording "The Precious Jewel". Acuff also liked to perform popular songs of the day, including Pee Wee King's Tennessee Waltz and Dorsey Dixon's "I Didn't Hear Nobody Pray", the latter of which he appropriated and renamed "Wreck on the Highway". He even recorded a version of Cajun fiddler Harry Choates' "Jole Blon". Traditional recordings included "Greenback Dollar", which he probably learned from Clarence Ashley while on the medicine show circuit, and "Lonesome Old River Blues", which he recorded with the Smoky Mountain Boys in the 1940s. Acuff and the Crazy Tennesseans recorded "Wabash Cannonball"— another traditional song— in 1936, although Acuff did not provide the vocals on this early recording. The better-known version of the song with Acuff providing the vocals was recorded in 1947. In 1979, Opryland opened the Roy Acuff Theatre, which was dedicated in Acuff's honor. Dunbar Cave State Park was established in 1973 largely around a recreational area the state had purchased from Acuff.[14] Two museums have been named in Acuff's honor—the Roy Acuff Museum at Opryland and the Roy Acuff Union Museum and Library in his hometown of Maynardville. Acuff has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 1541 Vine Street.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Conway Twitty (September 1, 1933–June 5, 1993), born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, was one of the United States' most successful country music artists of the 20th century. He also enjoyed success in early rock and roll, R&B, and pop music. He held the record for the most number one singles of any act with 55 No. 1 Billboard country hits until George Strait broke the record in 2006. From 1971–76, Twitty received a string of Country Music Association awards for duets with Loretta Lynn. A former member of the Grand Ole Opry, he was inducted into both the Country Music and the Rockabilly Halls of Fame. Early life Conway Twitty was born Harold Jenkins on September 1, 1933 in Friars Point, Mississippi. He was named by his great uncle after his favorite silent movie actor, Harold Lloyd. The Jenkins family moved to Helena, Arkansas when Jenkins was 10 years of age, and it was in Helena that he put together his first singing group, the Phillips County Ramblers. Two years later, he had his own local radio show every Saturday morning. Jenkins also practiced his second passion, baseball. He received an offer to play with the Philadelphia Phillies after high school, but he was drafted into the US Army. He served in the Far East and organized a group called The Cimmerons to entertain fellow GIs. After his military discharge, Jenkins again pursued a music career. After hearing Elvis Presley's song, "Mystery Train", he began writing rock and roll material. He headed for the Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee and worked with Sam Phillips, owner and founder of Sun Studios, to get the "right" sound Stage name origin Accounts of how Jenkins acquired his stage name vary. As one account would have it, Jenkins felt that his real name wasn't marketable, and he changed his show business name in 1957. Looking at a road map, he spotted Conway, Arkansas and Twitty, Texas. Thus, he went with the professional name of Conway Twitty. Alternatively, Jenkins met a Richmond, Virginia, man named W. Conway Twitty Jr. through Jenkins' manager in a New York City restaurant. The manager served in the US Army with the real Conway Twitty. Later, the manager suggested to Jenkins that he take the name as his stage name because it had a ring to it. W. Conway Twitty subsequently recorded the song, "What's in A Name But Trouble" in the mid-1960s, lamenting the loss of his name to Jenkins. There were also rumors he had lovers in Conway, Arkansas, as well as Twitty, Texas and his stage name was a constant reminder of their love. Whatever the truth of the matter, Harold Jenkins retained his legal name. Pop and rock and roll success Twitty's fortunes changed in 1958, while he was with MGM Records, under the name Conrad. An Ohio radio station did not play "I'll Try", an MGM single that went nowhere in terms of sales, radio play, and jukebox play; instead playing the B side, "It's Only Make Believe", a song written between sets by Twitty and drummer Jack Nance when they were in Hamilton, Ontario playing at the Flamingo Lounge. The record took nearly one year to reach and stay at the top spot on the Billboard pop music charts in the U.S., as well as No. 1 in 21 other countries. It became the first of nine Top 40 hits for Twitty. That same year, country singer Tabby West of ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee heard Twitty and he was booked to appear on the show. For a brief period, some believed he was Elvis Presley recording under a different name. This was largely the case with "It's Only Make Believe". Twitty would go on to enjoy rock and roll success with songs including "Danny Boy" (pop No. 10) and "Lonely Blue Boy" (pop No. 6). "Lonely Blue Boy", originally titled "Danny", was recorded by Presley for the film King Creole but was not used in the soundtrack. In 1960, he appeared in two feature films, College Confidential and Platinum High School. Country music career Twitty always wanted to record country music and—beginning in 1965—he did just that. His first few country albums were met with some country DJs refusing to play them because he was known as a rock-n-roll singer. However, he finally broke free with his first top five country hit, "The Image Of Me", in July 1968, ensued by his first number one country song, "Next In Line", in November 1968. Few of his singles beginning in 1968 ranked below the top 5. In 1970, Twitty recorded and released his biggest hit ever, "Hello Darlin'" (which spent four weeks at the top of the country chart). In 1971 he released his first hit duet with Loretta Lynn, "After the Fire Is Gone". It was a success, and many more followed, including "Lead Me On" (1971), "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man " (1973), "As Soon As I Hang Up the Phone" (1974), "Feelins'" (1975), "I Still Believe In Waltzes", "I Can't Love You Enough" and many others. Together, Twitty and Loretta (as they were known in their act), won four consecutive Country Music Association awards for vocal duo (1972-75) and a host of other duo and duet awards from other organizations throughout the 1970s. In 1973, Twitty released "You've Never Been This Far Before", which was not only No. 1 in country for three weeks that September but also reached No. 22 on the pop charts. Some disc jockeys refused to play the song because of its suggestive lyrics. In 1978 he issued the single "The Grandest Lady Of Them All" honoring the Grand Ole Opry, but for the first time since 1967, a single of his failed to reach top-10 status as some radio stations refused to play a song honoring the property of a competitor (broadcast by WSM-AM). Nevertheless, the single reached the top 20 but it peaked well below expectations, and this set in motion the changes that were to take place in his career, including a new hairstyle, changing from the slick-back pompadour style to the curlier style he would keep the rest of his life. In 1985, going by all weekly music trade charts, the song "Don't Call Him a Cowboy" became the 50th single of his career to achieve a No. 1 ranking. He would have five more through 1990, giving him a total of 55 number 1 hits. George Strait eclipsed the feat of 50 number 1 hits in 2002 with his single "She'll Leave You With a Smile" and then reached No. 1 for the 56th time in 2007 with the single "Wrapped". Throughout much of his country music career his home was Decca Records, later re-named MCA. He signed with the label in late 1965 but left in 1981 when it appeared Decca was marketing and promoting newer acts, plus management at the label had changed and other factors brought on the decision. He joined Elektra/Asylum in 1982. That label merged with its parent company, Warner Bros. Records in 1983. He stayed on with Warner Bros. Records through early 1987 but then went back to MCA to finish out his career. In 1993, shortly before he died, he recorded a new album, Final Touches. Twitty City Twitty lived for many years in Hendersonville, Tennessee, just north of Nashville, where he built a country music entertainment complex called Twitty City. The address was 1 Country Music Blvd. Its lavish displays of Christmas lights were a famous local sight. Conway Twitty and Twitty City were once featured on the TV series Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. A popular tourist stop throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s, it was shut down in 1994 following a year-long tribute show called Final Touches, when fans and peers in the music business dropped by. The complex was auctioned off and bought by the Trinity Broadcasting Network for its religious programs. Death Twitty became ill while performing in Branson, Missouri, and was in pain while he was on the tour bus. He died in Springfield, Missouri, at Cox South Hospital from an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Since his death, his son Michael and grandson Tre have been carrying on the legacy of Twitty's music. His most recent chart appearance on the country charts was a duet with Anita Cochran, "I Want to Hear A Cheating Song" (2004). Twitty's voice was electronically recreated based on one of his hits from the 1980s. Taxes Twitty's success in country music was a key factor in his winning a 1983 case, Harold L. Jenkins (a/k/a Howard Twitty) v. Commissioner in United States Tax Court. The Internal Revenue Service denied Twitty's attempt to deduct from his taxes, as an "ordinary and necessary" business expense payments he had made in order to repay investors in a defunct fast-food chain called Twitty Burger. The chain went under in 1971. The general rule is that the payment of someone else's debts is not deductible. Twitty alleged that his primary motive was "protecting his personal business reputation." The court opinion contained testimony from Twitty about his bond with country music fans. Estate Twitty married three times. After his death, his widow, Dee Henry Jenkins, and his four grown children from the previous marriages, Michael, Joni, Kathy and Jimmy Jenkins engaged in a public dispute over the estate. His will had not been updated to account for the third marriage, but Tennessee law reserves one third of any estate to the widow. After years of probate, their father's final wishes finally saw the light in the courtroom when the four children received the rights to his music, name and image. The rest of the estate went to a public auction and much of the property and memorabilia was held because the widow refused to accept the appraised value so therefore she demanded that everything be sold so she could get a higher amount. In 2008, controversy again erupted in his family when the four remaining children sued Sony/ATV Music Publishing over an agreement that Twitty and his family signed in 1990. The suit alleges that the terms of the agreement were not fully understood by the children, although they were all adults at the time. It seeks to recover copyrights and royalty revenue that the document assigned to the company.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Virginia Wynette Pugh, known professionally as Tammy Wynette (May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998), was an American country music singer-songwriter and one of country music's best-known artists and biggest-selling female vocalists. She was known as the First Lady of Country Music, and one of her best-known songs, "Stand by Your Man," was one of the biggest selling hit singles by a woman in the history of the country music genre. Many of Tammy Wynette's hits dealt with classic themes of loneliness, divorce and the difficulties of male-female relationships. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, she dominated the country charts, scoring 17 number one hits. Along with Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton, she defined the role of female country vocalists in the 1970s. Her 1969 marriage to country singer George Jones (which would end in divorce in 1975) created country music's "first couple." The pair recorded a series of duet albums and singles, which charted throughout the 1970s, concurrent to their respective solo hits. Early years Childhood & teen years Tammy Wynette was born Virginia Wynette Pugh near Tremont, Mississippi, the only child of William Hollice Pugh (died February 13, 1943) and Mildred Faye Russell (1922 – 1991). She was always called Wynette (pronounced Win-net), or Nettie, instead of Virginia. Her father was a farmer and local musician. He died of a brain tumor when Wynette was nine months of age. Her mother worked in an office, as a substitute school teacher, as well as on the family farm. After the death of Hollice Pugh, she left Wynette in the care of her grandparents, Thomas Chester and Flora A. Russell, and moved to Memphis to work in a World War II defense plant. In 1946, she married Foy Lee, a farmer from Mississippi. Wynette was born and raised on the Itawamba County, Mississippi farm of her maternal grandparents. The property was located on the border with Alabama. Wynette claimed that the state line ran right through their property, joking "my top half came from Alabama and my bottom half came from Mississippi". As a youngster, she worked in the fields picking cotton alongside the hired crews to get in the crop. She grew up with her aunt, Carolyn Russell, who was only five years older than she was. As a child, Wynette taught herself to play a variety of instruments left behind by her father.[1] Wynette also sang Gospel music with her grandmother, a genre Wynette grew to liking, idolizing certain Gospel vocalists like '40s Gospel/Country star, Molly O' Day. As a child and teenager, she found in country music an escape from her hard life. Wynette grew up idolizing Hank Williams, Skeeter Davis, Patsy Cline, and George Jones, and would play their records over and over on the children's record player she owned, dreaming of one day being a star herself. Rise to fame She attended Tremont High School, where she was an all-star basketball player[citation needed]. A month before graduation, she married her first husband, Euple Byrd. He was a construction worker, but had trouble holding down a job, and they moved several times. One of their homes had no running water. She worked as a waitress, receptionist, and a barmaid, and also worked in a shoe factory. In 1963, she attended beauty school in Tupelo, Mississippi, and became a hairdresser; she would renew her cosmetology license every year for the rest of her life, just in case she should have to go back to a daily job. She left her first husband before the birth of their third daughter. He did not support her ambition to become a country singer, and, according to Wynette, told her "Dream on, Baby." Her baby developed spinal meningitis and Wynette tried to make extra money by performing at night. In 1965, Wynette sang on the Country Boy Eddie Show on WBRC-TV in Birmingham, Alabama, which led to appearances with Porter Wagoner. In 1966, she moved with her three girls from Birmingham to Nashville, Tennessee, where she attempted to get a recording contract. After being turned down repeatedly by every other record company she'd met with, she auditioned for producer Billy Sherrill. Sherrill, who was originally reluctant to sign her, decided to do so after finding himself in need of a singer to cover "Apartment No. 9". When Sherrill heard Wynette sing it, he was impressed and decided to sign her to Epic Records in 1966. Music career 1966 – 1979: Breakthrough Once she was signed to Epic, Sherrill suggested she change her name to make more of an impression. According to her 1979 memoir, Stand by Your Man, during their meeting, Wynette was wearing her long, blonde hair in a ponytail, and Sherill noted that she reminded him of Debbie Reynolds in the film Tammy and the Bachelor, and suggested "Tammy" as a possible name; thus she became Tammy Wynette. Her first single, "Apartment No. 9" (written by Bobby Austin and Johnny Paycheck), was released in December 1966, and just missed the Top 40 on the Country charts, peaking at No. 44. It was followed by "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad," which became a big hit, peaking at number three. The song launched a string of Top Ten hits that ran through the end of the '70s, interrupted only by three singles that didn't crack the Top Ten. After "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad" was a success, "My Elusive Dreams", a duet with David Houston, became her first number one in the summer of 1967, followed by "I Don't Wanna Play House" later that year. "I Don't Wanna Play House" won Wynette a Grammy award in 1967 for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, one of two wins for Wynette in that category. During 1968 and 1969, Wynette had five number one hits — "Take Me to Your World," "D-I-V-O-R-C-E," "Stand by Your Man" (all 1968), "Singing My Song," and "The Ways to Love a Man" (both 1969).[1] "Stand by Your Man" was reportedly written in the Epic studio in just 15 minutes by Billy Sherrill and Wynette, and was released at a time when the women's rights movement was beginning to stir in the U.S. The message in the song stated that a woman should stay with her man, despite his faults and shortcomings. It stirred up controversy and was criticized initially, and it became a lightning rod for feminists. However, the song became very successful, reaching the top spot on the Country charts, and was also a Top 20 pop hit, peaking at No. 19 on the Billboard pop charts in 1968, Wynette's only Top 40 hit as a solo artist on the pop charts. In 1969, Wynette won the Grammy award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Stand by Your Man", and has now been according to critics, considered a "classic" or Country music "standard". Wynette earned a Gold record (awarded for albums selling in excess of 500,000 copies) for Tammy's Greatest Hits which was certified in 1970 by the RIAA. The album would later be awarded Platinum record status (awarded for albums selling in excess of 1,000,000 copies) in June 1989. In 1970, director Bob Rafelson used a number of her songs in the soundtrack of his 1970 film Five Easy Pieces. During the early 1970s, Wynette, along with singer Loretta Lynn, ruled the country charts and was one of the most successful female vocalists of the genre. During the early 1970s, number one singles included "He Loves Me All the Way" "Run Woman, Run" and "The Wonders You Perform" (all from 1970), "Good Lovin' (Makes it Right)", "Bedtime Story" (both 1971) "My Man (Understands)", "'Til I Get it Right" (1972), and "Kids Say the Darndest Things" (1973). One of them, "The Wonders You Perform", was a hit in Italy in 1971, thanks to Ornella Vanoni,who recorded the song in an Italian version, "Domani è un altro giorno" ("Tomorrow is another day"). Concurrent to her solo success, a number of her duets with Jones reached the top ten on the U.S. country singles charts during this time, including "The Ceremony" (1972), "We're Gonna Hold On" (1973), and "Golden Ring (1975). In 1968, Wynette became the second female vocalist to win the Country Music Association Awards' "Female Vocalist of the Year" award, later winning an additional two other times (1969 and 1970). For nearly two decades, Wynette held the record for most consecutive wins, until 1987 when Reba McEntire won the award for the fourth consecutive time. Wynette was married to George Jones from 1969 - 75 (she had divorced her second husband in 1968). Even after their 1975 divorce (due largely to Jones' alcoholism), their professional collaboration continued with regularity through 1980; years later in 1995, they made a reunion album entitled One . It was well received, although it didn't achieve their earlier chart success. Jones and Wynette had one daughter together, Tamala Georgette, born in 1970. In 1976, after having her public divorce from Jones the previous year, Wynette recorded, "'Til I Can Make It on My Own". Often said by music critics to be about her break-up from Jones and moving on with her life, the song reached No. 1 on the U.S. country singles charts, and No. 84 on the pop singles charts, becoming her first single in eight years to enter the pop charts. Often considered to be one of her signature songs, it more or less helped Wynette's career after her divorce, showing she could remain popular. It was recorded two years later as a duet by Kenny Rogers and Dottie West, whose version reached No. 3 on the country singles charts in 1979. In 1976, Wynette had another No. 1 as a solo artist, "You and Me", which became her final No. 1 as a solo artist. Her last No. 1 came as a duet with George Jones in early 1977 titled, "Near You". Following 1976, Wynette's popularity slightly slowed, however, she continued to reach the Top 10 until the end of the decade, with such hits as "Let's Get Together (One Last Time), "One of a Kind" (both 1977), "Womanhood" (1978) "No One Else in this World" and "They Call It Makin' Love" (both 1979). She had a total of 21 number one hits on the U.S. country singles charts (17 solo, three with Jones, and one with Houston). Along with Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Dottie West, and Lynn Anderson, she helped redefine the role and place of female country singers. Death After years of medical problems,[citation needed] numerous hospitalizations, approximately twenty-six major surgeries and an addiction to large doses of pain medication, Tammy Wynette died, while sleeping on her couch, on April 6, 1998. Tammy's doctor from Pennsylvania claimed she died of a blood clot in her lung. There was no autopsy until 1999. She was 55. Despite her persistent illnesses, she continued to perform until shortly before her death and had other performances scheduled. Wynette's funeral was held on April 9, 1998 and, at the same time, a public memorial service was under way at Nashville's original Grand Ole Opry building (Ryman Auditorium), with a crypt interment at Nashville's Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery. Her death solicited commentary such as songwriter Bill Mack's commentary, quoted in the Dallas Morning News, that she was a "class act," and "irreplaceable," and that, "She never knew a flat note." Lee Ann Womack was quoted also; she said of Wynette, whose songs often evoked strength and controlled passion, "You knew she knew what she was singing about. You can put her records on and listen and learn so much." Wynette was survived by her husband George Richey, four daughters and eight grandchildren. In April 1999, the body of Tammy Wynette has been exhumed from her crypt in an attempt to settle a dispute over how the country music legend died. A new autopsy was conducted on her a week after three of her daughters filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her doctor and her husband and manager, George Richey, claiming they were responsible for her death 12 months earlier. In the end, the coroner later declared that she died of a cardiac arrhythmia, one year after her death upon examining her in an autopsy. In May 1999, the wrongful death lawsuit dropped George Richey. Wynette was reinterred in the Woodlawn Cross Mausoleum, at Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Nashville, Tenn. She rests in the same Nashville cemetery as other Country Music luminaries as Webb Pierce, Jerry Reed, Marty Robbins, Bobby Russell, Porter Wagoner, Red Foley, and Eddie Arnold, among many others. In January 2001, in a small ceremony at a small church in small College Grove, Tenn., Tammy Wynette's widower George Richey, 66, married his girlfriend, Sheila Slaughter, 34, a TV producer/former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia William Smith Monroe (September 13, 1911–September 9, 1996) was an American musician who helped develop the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader. He is often referred to as The Father of Bluegrass. Early life Monroe was born on his family's farm near Rosine, Kentucky, the youngest of eight children of James Buchanan "Buck" Monroe and Malissa Vandiver Monroe. Malissa and her brother, Pendleton "Pen" Vandiver, were both musically inclined, and Monroe and his siblings grew up playing and singing music in the home. Because his older brothers Birch and Charlie had already laid claim to the fiddle and guitar, respectively, young Bill was left with the smaller and less desirable mandolin during family picking sessions. Monroe later recalled that his brothers insisted that he remove four of the eight strings from the instrument so that he would not play too loudly. Monroe's mother died when he was ten years old, followed by his father six years later. Because his siblings had moved away from Rosine, Monroe lived for about two years with his uncle Pen Vandiver, often accompanying him when Vandiver played the fiddle at local dances. This experience later inspired one of Monroe's most famous compositions, "Uncle Pen," recorded in 1950; on a 1972 album, Bill Monroe's Uncle Pen, Monroe recorded a number of traditional fiddle tunes often performed by Vandiver. Uncle Pen Vandiver has been credited with giving Monroe "a repertoire of tunes that sank into Bill's aurally trained memory and a sense of rhythm that seeped into his bones." Another influence in Monroe's musical life was a black musician named Arnold Shultz who introduced Monroe to the blues. The "Original Bluegrass Band" and Monroe's heyday as a star A key development occurred in Monroe's music with the addition of North Carolina banjo prodigy Earl Scruggs to the Blue Grass Boys in December 1945. Scruggs played the instrument with a distinctive three-finger picking style that immediately caused a sensation among Opry audiences. Scruggs joined a highly accomplished group that included singer/guitarist Lester Flatt, fiddler Chubby Wise, and bassist Howard Watts, who often performed under the name "Cedric Rainwater." In retrospect, this lineup of the Blue Grass Boys has been dubbed the "Original Bluegrass Band," as Monroe's music finally included all the elements that characterize the genre, including breakneck tempos, sophisticated vocal harmony arrangements, and impressive instrumental proficiency demonstrated in solos or "breaks" on the mandolin, banjo, and fiddle. By this point, Monroe had acquired the 1923 Gibson F5 model "Lloyd Loar" mandolin which became his trademark instrument for the remainder of his career. The 28 songs recorded by this version of the Blue Grass Boys for Columbia Records in 1946 and 1947 soon became classics of the genre, including "Toy Heart," "Blue Grass Breakdown," "Molly and Tenbrooks," "Wicked Path of Sin," "My Rose of Old Kentucky," "Little Cabin Home on the Hill," and Monroe's most famous song, "Blue Moon of Kentucky." The last-named was recorded by Elvis Presley in 1954, appearing as the B-side of his first single for Sun Records. Monroe gave his blessing to Presley's rock-and-roll cover of the song, originally a slow ballad in waltz time, and in fact re-recorded it himself with a faster arrangement after Presley's version became a hit. Several gospel-themed numbers are credited to the "Blue Grass Quartet," which featured four-part vocal arrangements accompanied solely by mandolin and guitar — Monroe's usual practice when performing "sacred" songs. Both Flatt and Scruggs left Monroe's band in early 1948, soon forming their own group, the Foggy Mountain Boys, which met with notable commercial success in the 1950s and 1960s with such hits as "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," "Cabin on the Hill," and "The Ballad of Jed Clampett." In 1949, after signing with Decca Records, Monroe quickly regrouped, entering the "golden age" of his career[6] with what many consider the classic "high lonesome" version of the Blue Grass Boys, featuring the lead vocals and rhythm guitar of Jimmy Martin, the banjo of Rudy Lyle (replacing Earl Scruggs), and fiddlers such as Merle "Red" Taylor, Charlie Cline, Bobby Hicks and Vassar Clements. This band recorded a number of bluegrass classics, including "My Little Georgia Rose," "On and On," "Memories of Mother and Dad," and "Uncle Pen," as well as instrumentals such as "Roanoke", "Big Mon", "Stoney Lonesone", "Get Up John" and the mandolin feature "Raw Hide." Carter Stanley joined the Blue Grass Boys as guitarist for a short time in 1951 during a period when the Stanley Brothers had temporarily disbanded. On January 16, 1953 Monroe was critically injured in a two-car wreck. He and "Bluegrass Boys" bass player, Bessie Lee Mauldin, were returning home from a fox hunt north of Nashville. On highway 31-W, near White House, their car was struck by a drunken driver. Monroe, who had suffered injuries to his back, left arm and nose, was rushed to General Hospital in Nashville. It took him almost four months to recover and resume touring. In the meantime Charlie Cline and Jimmy Martin kept the band together. By the late 1950s, however, Monroe's commercial fortunes had begun to slip. The rise of rock-and-roll and the development of the "Nashville sound" in mainstream country music both represented threats to the viability of bluegrass. While still a mainstay on the Grand Ole Opry, Monroe found diminishing success on the singles charts, and struggled to keep his band together in the face of declining demand for live performances. The folk revival Monroe's fortunes began to improve during the "folk revival" of the early 1960s. Many college students and other young people were beginning to discover Monroe, associating his style more with traditional folk music than with the country-and-western genre with which it had previously been identified. The word "bluegrass" first appeared around this time to describe the sound of Monroe and similar artists such as Flatt and Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, Reno and Smiley, Jim and Jesse, and the Osborne Brothers. While Flatt and Scruggs immediately recognized the potential for a lucrative new audience in cities and on college campuses in the North, Monroe was slower to respond. Under the influence of Ralph Rinzler, a young musician and folklorist from New Jersey who briefly became Monroe's manager in 1963, Monroe gradually expanded his geographic reach beyond the traditional southern country music circuit. Rinzler was also responsible for a lengthy profile and interview in the influential folk music magazine Sing Out! that first publicly referred to Monroe as the "father" of bluegrass. Accordingly, at the first bluegrass festival organized by Carlton Haney at Roanoke, Virginia in 1965, Bill Monroe was the central figure. The growing national popularity of Monroe's music during the 1960s was also apparent in the increasingly diverse background of musicians recruited into his band. Non-southerners who served as Blue Grass Boys during this period included banjo player Bill Keith and singer/guitarist Peter Rowan from Massachusetts, fiddler Gene Lowinger from New York, banjo player Lamar Grier from Maryland, banjo player Steve Arkin from New York, and singer/guitarist Roland White and fiddler Richard Greene from California. Later years Even after the folk revival faded in the mid-1960s, it left a loyal audience for bluegrass music. Bluegrass festivals became common, with fans often traveling long distances to see a number of different acts over several days of performances. In 1967 Monroe himself founded an annual bluegrass festival at Bean Blossom in southern Indiana, a park he had purchased in 1951, which routinely attracted a crowd of thousands; a double LP from the festival featuring Monroe, Jimmy Martin, Lester Flatt, and Jim and Jesse was released in 1973. The annual Bill Monroe Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival is now the world's oldest continuously running annual bluegrass festival. Monroe's compositions during his later period were largely instrumentals, including "Jerusalem Ridge", "Old Dangerfield", and "My Last Days on Earth"; he settled into a new role as a musical patriarch who continued to influence younger generations of musicians. Monroe recorded two albums of duets in the 1980s; the first featured collaborations with country stars such as Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, and the Oak Ridge Boys, while the second paired him with other prominent bluegrass musicians. A 1989 live album celebrated his 50th year on the Grand Ole Opry. Monroe also kept a hectic touring schedule. On April 7, 1990, Monroe performed for Farm Aid IV in Indianapolis, Indiana along with Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young and with many other artists. Death Monroe suffered a stroke in April 1996, effectively ending his touring and playing career. He died on September 9, 1996, only four days before his 85th birthday. Emmylou Harris said of Monroe after his death: "We all knew that if he [(Monroe)] ever got to the point that he couldn't perform that he wasn't going to make it. Music was his life!"

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Waylon Arnold Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American country music singer and musician. A self-taught guitar player, he rose to prominence as a bass player for Buddy Holly following the break-up of The Crickets. Jennings escaped death in the February 3, 1959 plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson when he gave up his seat to Richardson who had been sick with the flu. Urban legend and Hollywood folklore have it that Jennings and The Big Bopper flipped a coin for the last seat on the plane, with Jennings losing. It was, in fact, Tommy Allsup who flipped the coin for the fated plane trip, losing his seat to Ritchie Valens. By the 1970s, Waylon Jennings had become associated with so-called "outlaws," an informal group of musicians who worked outside of the Nashville corporate scene. A series of duet albums with Willie Nelson in the late 1970s culminated in the 1978 crossover hit, "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys". In 1979, he recorded the theme song for the hit television show The Dukes of Hazzard, and also served as the narrator ("The Balladeer") for all seven seasons of the show. He continued to be active in the recording industry, forming the group The Highwaymen with Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson. Jennings released his last solo studio album in 1998. In 2001, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Early life and career Jennings was born in Littlefield, Texas, the son of Lorene Beatrice (née Shipley) and William Alvin Jennings. When Waylon was eight, his father taught him how to play guitar and Waylon formed his first band two years later. During his time working as a DJ, he befriended Buddy Holly. The two were inspired by the music of the Mayfield Brothers of West Texas, Smokey Mayfield, Herbert Mayfield, and Edd Mayfield. When he was twenty-one, Jennings was tapped by Holly to play bass in Holly's new band on a tour through the Midwest in early 1959. Holly also hired guitarist Tommy Allsup and drummer Carl "Goose" Bunch for the "Winter Dance Party" tour. During the early morning hours of February 3, 1959, the charter airplane that carried Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson (aka "The Big Bopper") crashed outside Clear Lake, Iowa and killed all on board. In his 1996 autobiography, Jennings admitted that, in the years afterward, he felt severe guilt and responsibility for the crash. After Jennings gave up his seat, Holly had jokingly told Jennings, "I hope your ol' bus freezes up!" Jennings shot back facetiously, "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes!" Phoenix After several years of inactivity, during which time he moved from Texas to Arizona and continued working in radio, Jennings began performing and recording again, this time in Phoenix, Arizona. He performed at a newly opened nightspot called JD's. He signed a contract with Herb Alpert's newly-formed A&M Records, and he had a few hit singles on local radio in Phoenix, including "Four Strong Winds" ( written by Ian Tyson) and "Just To Satisfy You" (co-written with Don Bowman). He also recorded an album on the BAT label, called simply JD's. 500 copies were pressed and sold at the nightclub and, after they sold out, another 500 copies were pressed by the Sounds label. He also played lead guitar for Patsy Montana on a record album that she recorded in Arizona in 1964. Duane Eddy and Bobby Bare recommended Jennings to producer Chet Atkins, who signed Waylon to RCA Victor. Bobby Bare did his own cover of "Four Strong Winds" after he heard Jenning's version. Still under contract to A&M, Alpert released him which allowed him to sign with RCA Records. Jennings packed up and moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1965. The Nashville Sound Jennings and Jessi Colter. Jennings was accustomed to performing and recording with his own band, The Waylors; this was a practice that was not encouraged by Nashville producers who controlled nearly every aspect of recording. Over time, however, Jennings felt limited by the Nashville Sound and the lack of artistic freedom that came with it, in the 1960s country music industry. His second marriage was to Lynn Jones. He got married for a third time to Barbara Rood. He married for the fourth and final time to Jessi Colter in 1969. Colter (then known as Miriam Eddy) had been married to guitar legend Duane Eddy. With help of Jennings, Colter became a country singer in her own right for a brief period of time during the 1970s and was best-known for her 1975 Country-Pop smash, "I'm Not Lisa". Jennings had grown more frustrated with the Nashville recording scene and a 1972 bout with hepatitis almost killed him. With his recording contract nearing an end, RCA had already lost another creative force that year: Jennings had met Willie Nelson, who had likewise felt frustrated by the lack of freedom in the studio and by the entire Nashville ethos, which led him to relocate his base to Texas, two years earlier. Jennings seriously considered leaving Nashville and returning to a broadcasting career in Phoenix that year. Outlaw Two things came along to turn Jennings' hard times around. The first was a business manager from New York City, named Neil Reshen, and the second was his old friend Willie Nelson. Reshen approached Jennings, who was still recovering from hepatitis, and offered to re-negotiate his recording and touring contracts. Jennings agreed and the contract re-negotiation began in earnest. At a 1972 meeting in a Nashville airport, Jennings introduced Reshen to Nelson. By the end of the meeting, Reshen was manager to both singers. By that time, Jennings was aware of the fact that rock bands had almost unprecedented creative freedom to record what they wanted to record, with or without a producer and even to design their album covers. He wanted similar freedom for himself—an unprecedented move in 1972 Nashville. Also in 1972, RCA issued Ladies Love Outlaws, an album that Jennings never wanted released.