Archive for Grand Ole Opry

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Lester Flatt

Posted in Oaklawn Memorial Cemetery with tags , , , , on May 13, 2024 by Cade

June 19, 1914 – May 11, 1979

Guitarist, mandolinist, singer and songwriter, Lester Flatt, played in a number of bands during his 20s all throughout the American south. In 1945, he joined Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys and the history of country music was altered forever. Flatt played rhythm guitar and sang lead vocals for the legendary group for 3 years, churning out dozens of hits that shaped the eponymous new genre: Bluegrass.

In 1948, Flatt left the Blue Grass Boys along with banjo player, Earl Scruggs. The two would team up to form Flatt and Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys and become one of the most popular bluegrass acts of all time.

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Bill Monroe

Posted in Rosine Cemetery with tags , , , , on January 9, 2023 by Cade

September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996

William Smith Monroe was a hugely influential country musician. Born into a musical family in the “Bluegrass State” of Kentucky, young Bill took up playing the mandolin since his older brothers had already learned guitar and fiddle. They formed a family band, the Monroe Brothers, to play local dances and other shows and Bill (along with brother, Charley) eventually landed spots on regional and national radio programs and a recording contract with RCA Victor. Over the next several years, Bill gathered a stable of talented musicians and eventually formed the Blue Grass Boys where he leaned heavily on his Scottish roots and the music he grew up with. By the time Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys had found and fine-tuned their unique sound, an entire new genre of country music was born.

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Earl Scruggs

Posted in Spring Hill Cemetery with tags , , , , , on September 27, 2021 by Cade

January 6, 1924 – March 28, 2012

There are banjo players…and then there’s THE banjo player.

Earl Eugene Scruggs not only reinvented how the instrument was used, but he opened the door for an entire new genre of music. As a young man, Earl joined the fabled Blue Grass Boys (led by the legendary Bill Monroe) where his patented 3-finger picking style helped shape and define the band’s sound. “Bluegrass” would eventually become an entire sub-genre in country music and many of the sounds that came from the Blue Grass Boys became archetypes for the style. Maybe none more so than Scruggs’ fast-paced, solo banjo picking. Continue reading →

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Roy Acuff

Posted in Spring Hill Cemetery with tags , , , on August 30, 2021 by Cade

September 15, 1903 – November 23, 1992

“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.” – Hank Williams

As a young man in Tennessee, Roy Claxton Acuff wanted to be a baseball player. When that didn’t work out for him, he found solace in some country-western records his dad gave him. With his mind successfully off of baseball, he decided he wanted to be an entertainer and so he set out to become one. Continue reading →

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Chet Atkins

Posted in Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens with tags , , , on February 15, 2021 by Cade

atkins3
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.

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Minnie Pearl

Posted in Mt. Hope Cemetery (TN) with tags , , on November 16, 2020 by Cade

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.

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Patsy Cline

Posted in Shenandoah Memorial Park with tags , , , on November 2, 2020 by Cade

cline1September 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.

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Little Jimmy Dickens

Posted in Woodlawn Memorial Park (TN) with tags , , on January 4, 2015 by Cade

dickens1December 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 →

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Eddy Arnold

Posted in Woodlawn Memorial Park (TN) with tags , , on March 13, 2014 by Cade

arnold2May 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.

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Marty Robbins

Posted in Woodlawn Memorial Park (TN) with tags , , , on March 5, 2014 by Cade

robbins1September 26, 1925 – December 8, 1982

Martin David Robinson (Marty Robbins) was a singer, actor and sometime NASCAR driver who found his career by way of the Navy and a small-time Phoenix television show. His major country hits “El Paso” and “A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation” were also successful on the pop charts. Robbins appeared in a couple of films such as Guns of a Stranger and the Clint Eastwood movie, Honkytonk Man. In his spare time, Marty liked to race cars. Like, professionally. Continue reading →

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