Roy Acuff & the Smoky Mountain Boys
side 1: Streamlined Cannon Ball
Shellac, 10", 78 RPM, Single
photo by Styrous®
side 1: Streamlined Cannon Ball
Shellac, 10", 78 RPM, Single
photo by Styrous®
Today, September 15, 2018, is the birthday of Roy Acuff. He was an American country music
singer, fiddler, and promoter, born 115 years ago. 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 singer-based format that helped make it internationally successful. In 1952, Hank Williams
told Ralph Gleason, "He's the biggest singer this music ever knew. You
booked him and you didn't worry about crowds. For drawing power in the
South, it was Roy Acuff, then God."
The popularity of Acuff's rendering of the song The Great Speckled Bird (link below) helped the group land a contract with ARC, for which they recorded several dozen tracks (including the band's best-known track, Wabash Cannonball (link below) in 1936.
Needing to complete a 20-song commitment, the band recorded two ribald tunes—including When Lulu's Gone—but released them under a pseudonym, the Bang Boys. I remeber when I was in the boy scouts and we would march in the woods we would sing songs including the tune, Bang, Bang, Lulu, with MANY Stanza variations, which was based on When Lulu's Gone. The one Stanza that has always stuck in my brain is:
In 1942, Acuff and Fred Rose founded Acuff-Rose Music, the first major Nashville-based country music publishing company, which signed such artists as Hank Williams, Roy Orbison, and the Everly Brothers. It was estimated that Acuff earned more than $200, 000 in 1942.
This November, 1943, file photo shows Acuff, second from left, performing with the Smoky Mountain Boys at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. From left are Lonnie Wilson, Acuff, Jimmy Riddle, Pete Kirby, and Velma Williams, partially hidden behind Kirby.
Acuff was born on September 15, 1903, in Maynardville, Tennessee. 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.
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 1938, he changed the name of his band to Roy Acuff & the Smoky Mountain Boys, a name that was to stick, and recruited long time band members Bashful Brother Oswald, Howdy Forrester and Jimmie Riddle.
In 1932, Dr. Hauer's medicine show,
toured the southern Appalachian region, and 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 the 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.
date & photographer unknown
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 1938, he changed the name of his band to Roy Acuff & the Smoky Mountain Boys, a name that was to stick, and recruited long time band members Bashful Brother Oswald, Howdy Forrester and Jimmie Riddle.
date & photographer unknown
Bang, Bang, Lulu
Needing to complete a 20-song commitment, the band recorded two ribald tunes—including When Lulu's Gone—but released them under a pseudonym, the Bang Boys. I remeber when I was in the boy scouts and we would march in the woods we would sing songs including the tune, Bang, Bang, Lulu, with MANY Stanza variations, which was based on When Lulu's Gone. The one Stanza that has always stuck in my brain is:
"Lulu had a boyfriend, his name was Diamond Dick
She never saw the Diamond but always saw the . . .
Bang, Bang, Lulu
Bang, Bang, Lulu
Bang, Bang, Lulu
She'll do it every time!"
When you're twelve years old, with dozens of other boys the same age, you have to prove how manly you are. Of all the versions of the tune I've heard, the one that comes closest to the sound and tempo we sang in the scouts is by the German band, Boney M. (link below).
Another version, Lulu, was recorded by the very rowdy Oscar Brand on his 1958 Old Time Bawdy Sea Shanties.
side 2: Mule Skinner Blues
Shellac, 10", 78 RPM, Single
photo by Styrous®
This November, 1943, file photo shows Acuff, second from left, performing with the Smoky Mountain Boys at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. From left are Lonnie Wilson, Acuff, Jimmy Riddle, Pete Kirby, and Velma Williams, partially hidden behind Kirby.
Roy Acuff & the Smoky Mountain Boys - 1943
Grand Ole Opry - Nashville, Tennessee
photographer unknown
Grand Ole Opry - Nashville, Tennessee
photographer unknown
On September 18, 1947, Ernest Tubb and Acuff performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City, NY. It was the first country performance to appear there.
He was so popular in Tennessee that the Republican Party begged Acuff to run
for the governorship in 1948. Acuff garnered more votes than any GOP
candidate before him, but it was not enough to win in the then solidly
Democratic state.
Roy Acuff - 1948
photographer unknown
His tremendous contribution to country
music was recognised in November 1962 when Acuff became the first living inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee, one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amassed one of the world's most extensive musical collections.
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 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, an honored guest at the event, how to yo-yo, and convinced the president to play several songs on the piano (link below).
In 1979, Opryland opened the Roy Acuff Theatre, which was dedicated in Acuff's honor (it was demolished in 2011 after suffering extensive damage in the 2010 Tennessee floods).
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, the first Country music act to receive the esteemed honor.
Roy Acuff died in Nashville, Tennessee on November 23, 1992, of congestive heart failure. He was 89 years old.
date & photographer unknown
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 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, an honored guest at the event, how to yo-yo, and convinced the president to play several songs on the piano (link below).
In 1979, Opryland opened the Roy Acuff Theatre, which was dedicated in Acuff's honor (it was demolished in 2011 after suffering extensive damage in the 2010 Tennessee floods).
date & photographer unknown
Roy Acuff died in Nashville, Tennessee on November 23, 1992, of congestive heart failure. He was 89 years old.
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A - The Streamlined Cannon Ball, written by Acuff*
B - Mule Skinner Blues (Blue Yodel #8), written by Rodgers*
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Side A Label): DAL 949
Matrix / Runout (Side B Label): DAL 958
Side 1:
A - The Streamlined Cannon Ball, written by Acuff*
B - Mule Skinner Blues (Blue Yodel #8), written by Rodgers*
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Side A Label): DAL 949
Matrix / Runout (Side B Label): DAL 958
Roy Acuff And His Smoky Mountain Boys – The Streamlined Cannon Ball
Label: Columbia – 37012
Format: Shellac, 10", 78 RPM, Single, Reissue
Country: US
Released: 1946
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Country
Label: Columbia – 37012
Format: Shellac, 10", 78 RPM, Single, Reissue
Country: US
Released: 1946
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Country
Viewfinder links:
Roy Acuff
Chickens on Wood String Band
Everly Brothers
Radio
Net links:
Roy Acuff Discography
Alan Cackett ~ Roy Acuff biography
xRoads Virginia ~ Roy Acuff: Making Hillbilly Music Respectable
Oldies.com ~ Roy Acuff Biography
YouTube links:
Roy Acuff ~
The Streamlined Cannon Ball
Mule Skinner Blues
The Great Speckled Bird
Wabash Cannonball
When Lulu's Gone
Boney M - Bang Bang Lulu 1986
Roy Acuff talks about the new Opry house
US Postal Service stamp - 1962
Styrous® ~ Saturday, September 15, 2018
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