Roy Acuff

(Singer, Songwriter, Fiddle, Music Publisher, Yo Yo Exponent)

• Given Name: Roy Claxton Acuff

• Date of Birth: September 15, 1903

• Place of Birth: Maynardsville, TN

• Married: Mildred Louise Douglas

• Children: Roy Jr.

• Date of Death: November 23, 1992

Roy Acuff was one of country music's most important stylists and contributed some of its best known and most enduring songs. He was a major influence on younger performers such as George Jones, Lefty Frizzell, Hank Williams and the Louvin Brothers.

He was born in Maynardsville, TN, about 25 miles north of Knoxville. Although his father had attended a local college and served as a lawyer and as a preacher in the local Baptist church, the family's circumstances were modest. Growing up in a rural area, Mr. Roy heard old ballads, sung unaccompanied in a forceful style that formed his notion of music. His father taught him to play accompanied by the radio, and he also attended church singing school.The family moved to Knoxville, where Roy's interests were playing baseball and fighting. He was invited to tryout at a Major League training camp, but during a 1929 fishing trip to Florida, he suffered a severe sunstroke, followed by a nervous breakdown. When he recovered, he decided to forego baseball, instead becoming an apprentice to a local medicine show man, Doc Hauer. He traveled the country with the show, learning to work the crowd as a showman, singing loudly, doing imitations and even balancing things on his nose. This led to a job playing on WROI in Knoxville with local band, The Tennessee Crackerjacks -- soon dubbed The Crazy Tennesseeans.

Things changed for Roy when he got a fellow radio performer to write out the words of The Great Speckle [sic] Bird, a song associated with the Church of God. When he began singing it, he became a sensation in east Tennessee and was invited to record for the ARC label.In 1938 when Roy was invited to try out for the Grand Ole Opry, he sang The Great Speckled Bird and cards poured in. The Opry changed the name of his band to the Smoky Mountain Boys and hired him for the Opry.

In the early 40's, Roy's sound became a national phenomenon with a string of hit records. During WWII, his shows were popular and attracted large crowds. Roy joined with veteran songwriter and WSM staffer Fred Rose in 1942 to open Acuff-Rose, the first modern publishing company in Nashville to specialize in country music. Almost immediately successful, by the late 1940's, it had to its credit songs by Hank Williams, the Louvin Brothers, and later Don Gibson, the Everly Brothers and Roy Orbison.

Acuff-Rose is still a major force in Nashville and a member of the Opryland Music Group. His touring had included package tours with Elvis Presley in the 1950's, but by the 1970's Roy had decided to quit touring. He returned to his traditional country roots and his audience expanded dramatically when he was on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album Will the Circle Be Unbroken in 1971. He entertained President Richard Nixon during the opening of the New Opry House at Opryland in 1974. In his final years, he became an elder statesman of country music, greeting friends and fans at his home just a few yards from the Opry's front door.

Recordings include:

• The Great Speckled Bird
• Beneath That Lonely Mound of Clay
  
• The Precious Jewel
  
• The Wreck on the Highway
  
• Fire Ball Mail
  
• Wait for That Light to Shine
• Two Different Worlds
• The Prodigal Son
  
• I'll Forgive You, But I Can't Forget
  
• Jole Blon
  
• Waltz of the Wind
  
• The Tennessee Waltz