August 10, 1927 – May 14, 2005
One of the most iconic voices in all of bluegrass country music, Jimmy Martin was a singer and guitar player who, at the age of 22, snuck backstage at a Bill Monroe concert to audition for the legend’s vacant guitar player spot. Martin was hired on sight and used his high tenor voice to help create and perfect the “high lonesome” sound alongside Monroe’s vocals. The two singing together became one of the most recognizable sounds in bluegrass music.
July 1, 1954 – May 9, 1989
Jackie Keith Whitley was a bright star in 1980s Country Music. He quickly gained attention as a bluegrass singer and guitar player and moved to Nashville from his native Kentucky in 1983 to start a recording career. His first three album releases charted a dozen hits, culminating in three straight number 1 hits off of his 1988 album, Don’t Close Your Eyes. Continue reading
June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001
Iconic guitarist, instrumentalist and producer, Chester “Chet” Atkins rarely basked in the limelight during his 50+ year career. He was more than happy to play on a friend’s record, or churn out hit after hit from the helm of the now-legendary RCA Victor studio in Nashville, Tennessee. That is not to say he wasn’t gifted in his own right. You don’t win 14 Grammys, 9 CMA awards or earn the nickname “Mr. Guitar” by being a slouch. But his biggest contribution to the music industry was undoubtedly his time spent cultivating the “Nashville Sound” that allowed Country music to successfully cross over to Pop audiences throughout the 1950s and ’60s.
September 8, 1897 – May 26, 1933
“The Singing Brakeman”
“The Blue Yodeler”
“The Father of Country Music”
Jimmie Rodgers learned to play music at a very young age. His father, a railway foreman, tried to deter young Jimmie’s wont to become a traveling entertainer by getting him a job at the railyard. Jimmie spent his rail days learning to better play guitar from other workers and passing hobos…as one does. The urge to travel and play never left him and when tuberculosis ended his railroad career at the age of 27, it was all the confirmation Jimmie needed to take a real shot at being a musician.
April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017
Glen Campbell was not the first “Rhinestone Cowboy,” but he’s arguably the most famous. At least, that’s what you might suspect judging him solely by his biggest hit.
Despite personally resonating with the titular character in the chart-topping 1975 song, Campbell was so much more than a sequined journeyman waiting for his turn in the spotlight.
October 25, 1912 – March 4, 1996
All together now: “How-DEEE!”
The stage of the Grand Ole Opry is hallowed ground. Whether it was the historic stage of the famed Ryman Auditorium, or the newfangled stage at the modern Opry House, setting foot upon it can be life-changing for anyone with the fortune to do so. It transforms performers. None more literally than a young comedienne named Sarah Colley, who stepped onto the Opry stage and became…Minnie Pearl.
September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963
If country music has official royalty, Patsy Cline was its first queen.
Virginia Patterson Hensley knew she wanted to be a singer from the very beginning. Though she worked odd jobs in her Virginia hometown out of a need to help her family, it wasn’t long until she was aiming higher and soliciting auditions wherever and whenever she could. Following a brief illness at the age of 15 that affected her throat…and therefore her voice, Ginny realized quickly that she had been given a gift. Local radio shows and a stint with a regional country band followed and soon, her gift was being shared on television and larger radio markets.
December 19, 1920 – January 2, 2015
James Cecil “Little Jimmy” Dickens stood just 4’11”. But the persona he left behind loomed much, much larger. Dickens was known for his outlandish, rhinestone-laden outfits and novelty hits such as “May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose.” He was a member of both the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Continue reading
November 4, 1953 – April 8, 2001
Van Stephenson was a notable Nashville songwriter who wrote hits for the likes of Crystal Gayle, Dan Seals, Kenny Rogers and the band Restless Heart. But, beyond writing, he also had a career as a performer and recording artist. He had a number of solo albums in the 1980’s, but is perhaps most remembered as one third of the 1990’s country act, BlackHawk.Stephenson enjoyed success with the group for the better part of the decade. He left the group in 2000 due to being diagnosed with Melanoma. He died from the disease the next year at the age of 47.
May 15, 1918 – May 8, 2008
In the vast landscape that is American country music, few artists – if any – had the type of unbelievable success that Richard Edward “Eddy” Arnold had in the late 1940’s and 1950’s. Arnold played the radio station circuit for years before breaking into the country charts with 1945’s “Each Minute Seems a Million Years.” Over the next decade, he would chart more than 40 singles on the country charts – many of which hit and stayed at No. 1.The 1950’s brought rock and roll to the forefront and Eddy’s career waned.
Celebrity Graveland 