On this day (September 15), Roy Acuff was born in Maynardville, Tennessee. After deciding to focus on a music career, he helped shape the modern country music world. He was also a key figure in the early days of the Grand Ole Opry and the first living artist to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
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Acuff grew up in a musical family. However, music wasn’t his first passion. Instead, he was an athlete. In high school, he lettered in football, baseball, and basketball. After finishing high school, he turned down a chance to go to college, worked on the railroad, and played semi-professional baseball. In 1929, he tried out for the local minor league team, the Knoxville Smokies. However, he collapsed several times after suffering sunstroke, according to the Country Music Hall of Fame. This ended his baseball career.
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When one door closes, another opens. Acuff’s issues during training camp led to a nervous breakdown. While recovering at his parents’ house, he began honing his fiddle skills. Little did he know, he was on his way to changing the music world forever.
Roy Acuff Quickly Gained Acclaim
Roy Acuff’s music career started in 1932 with a medicine show that traveled through Tennessee and Virginia. This showed Acuff that he wanted to be a performer. After returning to the Knoxville, Tennessee, area, he started playing square dances and other events with local musicians. Before long, he formed the Crazy Tennesseans and began performing on local radio stations.
In 1936, the Crazy Tennesseans traveled to Chicago, Illinois, and recorded for the American Record Corporation. Those early sessions produced songs like “Great Speckled Bird,” “You’re the Only Star in My Blue Heaven,” “Smokey Mountain Rag,” and “Streamlined Cannonball.”
Their sound, centered around Acuff’s powerful voice, bridged the gap between the Hillbilly Music of the Appalachian Mountains and the budding commercial format called Country Music. It was just traditional enough to catch the ears of purists and different enough to be innovative. This helped land the Crazy Tennesseans a slot on the Grand Ole Opry.
Acuff and the Opry
Roy Acuff and his band failed to make waves during their debut. However, they returned in 1938, and “Great Speckled Bird” won the crowd over in a big way. Before long, he was the show’s biggest star. His time on the Opry catapulted him to fame. He headlined the Prince Albert Show on NBC, sold songbooks, released hit records, and drew huge crowds wherever he went. Acuff also appeared in several films. In short, he was the biggest star in country music at the time.
After making it big as a performer, he stepped into the business side of music and opened Acuff-Rose Publications. It was the first publishing house exclusively for country music. It helped shape the way music publishing took place in Nashville for decades to come.
Roy Acuff Gets Down to the Nitty Gritty
Roy Acuff’s style started to fall out of fashion in the late 1940s. Honky tonk and pop-country were taking over the genre and edging out the traditional string band sound. However, his music remained popular, and he remained one of the biggest country stars.
As the country music world continued to change, fans seemingly began to forget about Acuff and his Smoky Mountain Boys. Then, in 1971, he took a chance on some long-haired hippie types from the West Coast, and it revived his career.
In 1971, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band released their album Will the Circle Be Unbroken. The popular band worked with a long list of folk and country music, hoping to introduce them to a new generation of listeners. Roy Acuff, the Carter Family, Merle Travis, Doc Watson, and many more found substantial career boosts from the album.
This helped him continue to draw crowds. Appearances on Hee Haw and his continued work with the Grand Ole Opry helped him remain popular among fans of classic country music.
It is nearly impossible to sum up all that Acuff did for country music or what the genre would look like without his influence. However, Hank Williams, a huge fan and an Acuff-Rose signee, perfectly summed up his popularity in a famous quote. “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.”
Featured Image by David Redfern/Redferns/Getty Images
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