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Member Number: 162
Roy Claxton Acuff (15 September 1903 – 23 November 1992) was an American country musician known around the world as the "King of Country Music".
Early life
He was born in Maynardville, Tennessee to Ida Carr and Simon E. Neil Acuff, the third of five children. He played semi-professional baseball, but a sunstroke in 1929 and a nervous breakdown in 1930 ended his aspirations to play for the New York Yankees.
Music career
He then turned his attention to his father's fiddle and began playing in a traveling medicine show, often performing in blackface. He toured the Southern United States and eventually formed a band called "The Crazy Tennesseans".
In 1936, he recorded his two most enduring songs, the traditional The Great Speckled Bird and The Wabash Cannonball. He debuted at the Grand Ole Opry two years later. He was booked as a fiddler, and he should have played the Turkey Buzzard for a square dancin' segment, but he decided to try and sing The Great Speckled Bird. His decision was not well received, however. Acuff became a regular on the Opry, forming a backing band called the Smoky Mountain Boys, led by friend and Dobro player Bashful Brother Oswald. By 1940 he was the star of the show.
Acuff's recording of The House of the Rising Sun on November 3, 1938 is the first known commercial recording of the song. He released several singles in the 1940s such as The Wreck on the Highway, Beneath That Lonely Mound of Clay and The Precious Jewel. During the 1940s he also appeared in six movies.
In 1942, a man of many talents, he formed a music publishing venture with Chicago songwriter Fred Rose. Acuff-Rose Music became a country music phenomenon, owning huge numbers of copyrights including those by Marty Robbins, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant and all of the songs of Hank Williams.
As his record sales declined in the late 40s and 50s, Acuff spent most of his time on the road, becoming one of the hottest tickets in country music. In 1962 he was the first living musician elected to The Country Music Hall of Fame. By the 1970s Acuff performed almost exclusively with the Grand Ole Opry, at Opryland USA, greatly legitimizing it as the top institution in country music. He made one rare appearance at Carlton Haney's Camp Spring Bluegrass Festival in 1971. He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1991.
Political career
Acuff had a brief affair with politics, losing a run for the office of Governor of Tennessee as a Republican in 1944 and 1948. Acuff later campaigned in 1970 for his friend Tex Ritter in his campaign for GOP nomination for U.S. Senate in Tennessee.
- Born To Be With You: Roy Acuff by Alain Dormoy, September 15, 2002
- Acuff-Ecoff Family Archives
- Who2
- Country Music Hall of Fame
Trivia
* A popular legend is that Japanese troops during World War II would enter battle yelling, "To hell with Roy Acuff",
* In 1962, Roy Acuff was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. For his contribution to the recording industry, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located on 1541 Vine St.
* Acuff was initiated as an Entered Apprentice at the East Nashville Freemasonry Lodge in 1943, and raised to Master Mason in 1944. He was made a 33rd Degree Mason on 21 October 1985.
* Acuff is thought to be one inspiration for Henry Gibson's character Haven Hamilton in Robert Altman's film Nashville. The fictionalized character was reportedly a composite of several well-known musicians, including Acuff and Hank Snow.
* Acuff on recording: "[A] little secret of my policy in the studio ... [w]henever you once decide that you are going to record a number, put everything you've got into it. Don't say, 'Oh, we'll take it over and do it again' because every time you go through it you lose just a little something ... [l]et's do it the first time and to hell with the rest of them" - on the classic album Will the Circle Be Unbroken.
* U.S. Olympian high jumper Amy Acuff is his distant cousin. Some sources erroneously list her as his daughter.
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Western Swing Hall of Fame inductee to perform in Sequim Peninsula Daily, WA - "A jubilee in the South is a big party," said Les, recalling the late Roy Acuff's invitation, "Come on down to Memphis, and we'll have a jubilee. ... |
Knoxville Deals with Recent School Shooting Associated Content, CO - ... some rather distinguished people, such as baseball greats Bubba Trammel and Todd Helton, Actor Brad Renfro, and Country guitar legend Roy Acuff. ... |
`Hee Haw' reruns to air on RFD-TV The Associated Press - Regulars included George Lindsey, Junior Samples, Minnie Pearl, Archie Campbell, Roy Acuff, Misty Rowe, Lisa Todd, Gunilla Hutton, Barbi Benton and the ... |
Gracie gets her 'Kentucky Kamping' Hillsboro Argus - OregonLive.com, OR - Her favorite, and most memorable, song is "The Great Speckled Bird" by Roy Acuff, and it was among the selection of played for the group. ... |
Share this article: Clarksville Leaf Chronicle, TN - Country entertainer Roy Acuff bought the cave property in 1948 and staged his Saturday Night Radio Dance Broadcast from the site. ... |
Karma Policed LA Weekly, CA - Acuff-Rose Music, where the Supreme Court upheld 2 Live Crew's fair-use rights to parody Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman." Once again, and perhaps ... |
Uncle Dave recorded 14 songs in Richmond studio Palladium-Item, IN - Although eclipsed by Roy Acuff in 1939, he remained a mainstay of the show until his death. To this day, Opry members tell stories about Uncle Dave Macon ... |
GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — Jim Hawkins likes his art to be simple. Glenwood Springs Post Independent, CO - Just above the clarinet hangs a vinyl record of country music star Roy Acuff, the title of the album is “There’s gonna be some changes made around here. ... |
'Play it Sam - if she can take it, so can I.' The Democrat, MS - ... but we have to point out that neither candidate had any music from Johnny Cash, Jimmy Buffett, Bo Diddley, Roy Acuff, or Wilson Pickett. ... |
From rock to country to academia, Tricia Walker settles on 'Velvet' Vicksburg Post, MS - She likes country music, so in addition to working at the Opry, meeting country greats such as Roy Rogers, watching baseball with Roy Acuff, and hanging out ... |
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