On this day (September 15) in 1903, Roy Acuff was born in Maynardville, Tennessee. When he rose to fame in the 1930s, he helped transform country music into a more lucrative genre. Later, he became one of the biggest stars of the Grand Ole Opry. Additionally, he teamed with Fred Rose to establish Acuff-Rose Music, Nashville’s first country music publishing company.
As a child, Acuff played the fiddle as a hobby. However, he was much more interested in sports. After high school, he turned down a scholarship to Carson-Newman University and worked toward a baseball career. In the late 1920s, he tried out for the Knoxville Smokies, the New York Giants’ farm team. He suffered sunstroke during spring training that led to chronic illness and a nervous breakdown. While recovering, he avoided the sun, which gave him plenty of time to hone his fiddling skills.
Roy Acuff’s Early Career
According to the Country Music Hall of Fame, Acuff joined Dr. Hauer’s medicine show in 1932. He wore blackface, played the fiddle, and sang while Hauer hawked patent medicines–also called snake oil–across the southern Appalachian region. During this time, he learned to sing loud and clear to be heard over the crowd without amplification. He also met Clarence Ashley, a legendary Appalachian folk musician, who taught him “The House of the Rising Sun” and “Greenback Dollar.”
Two years later, Acuff left the medicine show to perform in the Knoxville area, where he had built a following. He and his band, the Tennessee Crackerjacks, played on WROL and WNOX. At the time, listeners were accustomed to hearing vocalists drowned out by their accompanying string bands. Acuff didn’t have this problem. As a result, his following grew. Their renditions of classic songs like “The Great Speckled Bird” helped them land a recording contract with American Record Corporation. They recorded “Wabash Cannonball,” among other songs for ARC.
The Star System
After multiple failed attempts, Roy Acuff and his band finally landed a guest spot on the Grand Ole Opry in 1937. They didn’t get much of a reaction from the fans. Then, in February 1958, they returned. “Great Speckled Bird” brought fan mail from all across WSM’s territory…