1.
Nashville, Tennessee
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Nashville is the capital of the U. S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in the central part of the state. The city is a center for the music, healthcare, publishing, banking and transportation industries and it is known as a center of the country music industry, earning it the nickname Music City, U. S. A. Since 1963, Nashville has had a consolidated city-county government which includes six municipalities in a two-tier system. Nashville is governed by a mayor, vice-mayor, and 40-member Metropolitan Council, thirty-five of the members are elected from single-member districts, five are elected at-large. Reflecting the citys position in government, Nashville is home to the Tennessee Supreme Courts courthouse for Middle Tennessee. According to 2015 estimates from the U. S. Census Bureau, the balance population, which excludes semi-independent municipalities within Nashville, was 654,610. The 2015 population of the entire 13-county Nashville metropolitan area was 1,830,345, the 2015 population of the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Columbia combined statistical area, a larger trade area, was 1,951,644. The town of Nashville was founded by James Robertson, John Donelson, and it was named for Francis Nash, the American Revolutionary War hero. Nashville quickly grew because of its location, accessibility as a port on the Cumberland River, a tributary of the Ohio River. By 1800, the city had 345 residents, including 136 African American slaves and 14 free blacks, in 1806, Nashville was incorporated as a city and became the county seat of Davidson County, Tennessee. In 1843, the city was named the permanent capital of the state of Tennessee, by 1860, when the first rumblings of secession began to be heard across the South, antebellum Nashville was a prosperous city. The citys significance as a port made it a desirable prize as a means of controlling important river. In February 1862, Nashville became the first state capital to fall to Union troops, the state was occupied by Union troops for the duration of the war. Within a few years after the Civil War, the Nashville chapter of the Ku Klux Klan was founded by Confederate veteran John W. Morton, meanwhile, the city had reclaimed its important shipping and trading position and developed a solid manufacturing base. The post–Civil War years of the late 19th century brought new prosperity to Nashville and these healthy economic times left the city with a legacy of grand classical-style buildings, which can still be seen around the downtown area. Circa 1950 the state approved a new city charter that provided for the election of city council members from single-member districts. This change was supported because at-large voting diluted the minority populations political power in the city and they could seldom gain a majority of the population to support a candidate of their choice
2.
Hall of fame
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A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or animals, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their fame in their field. Sometimes, the plaques may instead be posted on a wall or inscribed on a sidewalk. In other cases, the hall of fame is more figurative, the lists are maintained by an organization or community, and may be national, state, local, or private. The English-language term was popularised in the United States by the Hall of Fame for Great Americans at Bronx Community College, in New York City and its inspiration is the Ruhmeshalle in Munich, Germany. The Walhalla memorial in Bavaria, Germany, is an earlier hall of fame, conceived in 1807. The meaning of fame has changed over the years, originally meaning renown as opposed to more common meaning of celebrity
3.
Museum
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Most large museums are located in major cities throughout the world and more local ones exist in smaller cities, towns and even the countryside. Museums have varying aims, ranging from serving researchers and specialists to serving the general public, the goal of serving researchers is increasingly shifting to serving the general public. There are many types of museums, including art museums, natural history museums, science museums, war museums, the city with the largest number of museums is Mexico City with over 128 museums. According to The World Museum Community, there are more than 55,000 museums in 202 countries, the English museum comes from the Latin word, and is pluralized as museums. The first museum/library is considered to be the one of Plato in Athens, however, Pausanias gives another place called Museum, namely a small hill in Classical Athens opposite to the Akropolis. The hill was called Mouseion after Mousaious, a man who used to sing on the hill, the purpose of modern museums is to collect, preserve, interpret, and display items of artistic, cultural, or scientific significance for the education of the public. The purpose can also depend on ones point of view, to a family looking for entertainment on a Sunday afternoon, a trip to a local history museum or large city art museum could be a fun, and enlightening way to spend the day. To city leaders, a healthy museum community can be seen as a gauge of the health of a city. To a museum professional, a museum might be seen as a way to educate the public about the museums mission, Museums are, above all, storehouses of knowledge. In 1829, James Smithsons bequest, that would fund the Smithsonian Institution, stated he wanted to establish an institution for the increase, Museums of natural history in the late 19th century exemplified the Victorian desire for consumption and for order. Gathering all examples of classification of a field of knowledge for research. As American colleges grew in the 19th century, they developed their own natural history collections for the use of their students, while many large museums, such as the Smithsonian Institution, are still respected as research centers, research is no longer a main purpose of most museums. While there is a debate about the purposes of interpretation of a museums collection, there has been a consistent mission to protect. Much care, expertise, and expense is invested in efforts to retard decomposition in aging documents, artifacts, artworks. All museums display objects that are important to a culture, as historian Steven Conn writes, To see the thing itself, with ones own eyes and in a public place, surrounded by other people having some version of the same experience can be enchanting. Museum purposes vary from institution to institution, some favor education over conservation, or vice versa. For example, in the 1970s, the Canada Science and Technology Museum favored education over preservation of their objects and they displayed objects as well as their functions. One exhibit featured a printing press that a staff member used for visitors to create museum memorabilia
4.
Music of the United States
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The music of the United States reflects the countrys multi-ethnic population through a diverse array of styles. It is a mixture of music influenced by West African, Irish, Scottish, the United States has the worlds largest music market with a total retail value of 4,898.3 million dollars in 2014, and its music is heard around the world. Since the beginning of the 20th century, some forms of American popular music have gained a global audience. Native Americans were the earliest inhabitants of the land that is known as the United States. Beginning in the 17th century, immigrants from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Germany, African slaves brought musical traditions, and each subsequent wave of immigrants contributed to a melting pot. Much of modern music can trace its roots to the emergence in the late 19th century of African American blues. The African American basis for popular music used elements derived from European, there are also strong African roots in the music tradition of the original white settlers, such as country and bluegrass. Many American cities and towns have vibrant music scenes which, in turn, Modern day music is heavily influenced by previous and present African-American music genres. Some distinct aspects of American music, like the format, are derived from African techniques. Throughout the later part of American history, and into modern times, the Civil War, and the period following it, saw a general flowering of American art, literature and music. Amateur musical ensembles of this era can be seen as the birth of American popular music, Music author David Ewen describes these early amateur bands as combining the depth and drama of the classics with undemanding technique, eschewing complexity in favor of direct expression. If it was music, the words would be in English. In a way, it was part of the awakening of America that happened after the Civil War, a time in which American painters, writers. Music intertwines with aspects of American social and cultural identity, including through social class, race and ethnicity, geography, religion, language, gender, the relationship between music and race is perhaps the most potent determiner of musical meaning in the United States. The development of an African American musical identity, out of disparate sources from Africa, little documentation exists of colonial-era African American music, when styles, songs, and instruments from across West Africa commingled in the melting pot of slavery. In contrast, country music derives from both African and European, as well as Native American and Hawaiian, traditions and yet has long been perceived as a form of white music. Country music is also intertwined with identity, and is specifically rural in origin and function, other genres, like R&B. For much of American history, music-making has been a feminized activity, in the 19th century, amateur piano and singing were considered proper for middle- and upper-class women
5.
Country music
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Country music is a genre of United States popular music that originated in the southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from the genre of United States, such as folk music. Blues modes have been used throughout its recorded history. The term country music is used today to many styles and subgenres. In 2009 country music was the most listened to rush hour radio genre during the evening commute, immigrants to the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North America brought the music and instruments of Europe and Africa along with them for nearly 300 years. Country music was introduced to the world as a Southern phenomenon, Bristol, Tennessee, has been formally recognized by the U. S. Congress as the Birthplace of Country Music, based on the historic Bristol recording sessions of 1927. Since 2014, the city has been home to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, historians have also noted the influence of the less-known Johnson City sessions of 1928 and 1929, and the Knoxville sessions of 1929 and 1930. Prior to these, pioneer settlers, in the Great Smoky Mountains region, had developed a musical heritage. The first generation emerged in the early 1920s, with Atlantas music scene playing a role in launching countrys earliest recording artists. Okeh Records began issuing hillbilly music records by Fiddlin John Carson as early as 1923, followed by Columbia Records in 1924, many hillbilly musicians, such as Cliff Carlisle, recorded blues songs throughout the 1920s. The most important was the Grand Ole Opry, aired starting in 1925 by WSM in Nashville, during the 1930s and 1940s, cowboy songs, or Western music, which had been recorded since the 1920s, were popularized by films made in Hollywood. Bob Wills was another musician from the Lower Great Plains who had become very popular as the leader of a hot string band. His mix of country and jazz, which started out as dance hall music, Wills was one of the first country musicians known to have added an electric guitar to his band, in 1938. Country musicians began recording boogie in 1939, shortly after it had played at Carnegie Hall. Gospel music remained a component of country music. It became known as honky tonk, and had its roots in Western swing and the music of Mexico. By the early 1950s a blend of Western swing, country boogie, rockabilly was most popular with country fans in the 1950s, and 1956 could be called the year of rockabilly in country music. Beginning in the mid-1950s, and reaching its peak during the early 1960s, the late 1960s in American music produced a unique blend as a result of traditionalist backlash within separate genres
6.
Country Music Association
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The Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre, however the CMA may be best known to most country music fans for its annual Country Music Association Awards broadcast live on network television each fall. Initially, CMAs Board of Directors included nine directors and five officers, wesley Rose, president of Acuff-Rose Publishing, Inc. served as CMAs first chairman of the board. Broadcasting entrepreneur and executive Connie B. Gay was the founding president, originally there were nine individual membership categories. The current 15 categories represent all facets of the music industry, CMA membership is composed of those persons or organizations that are involved in Country Music, directly and substantially. The first CMA Awards ceremony was held in 1967 in Nashville, sonny James and Bobbie Gentry hosted the event, which was not televised. The winner of the first Entertainer of the Year award was singer Eddy Arnold, male Vocalist of the Year went to Jack Greene and Female Vocalist of the Year to Loretta Lynn. In 1968, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans hosted the awards, the first live telecast of the show was in 1969. The CMA also gives a CMA Broadcast Award to country-formatted radio stations each year, Broadcast Awards are segmented based on market size, major market, large market, medium market and small market. A single station cannot win the award in consecutive years, in honor of the associations 50th anniversary, MCA Nashville released a song called Forever Country
7.
Tennessee
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Tennessee is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th largest and the 17th most populous of the 50 United States, Tennessee is bordered by Kentucky and Virginia to the north, North Carolina to the east, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, and Arkansas and Missouri to the west. The Appalachian Mountains dominate the eastern part of the state, Tennessees capital and second largest city is Nashville, which has a population of 654,610. Memphis is the states largest city, with a population of 655,770, the state of Tennessee is rooted in the Watauga Association, a 1772 frontier pact generally regarded as the first constitutional government west of the Appalachians. What is now Tennessee was initially part of North Carolina, Tennessee was admitted to the Union as the 16th state on June 1,1796. Tennessee was the last state to leave the Union and join the Confederacy at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, occupied by Union forces from 1862, it was the first state to be readmitted to the Union at the end of the war. Tennessee furnished more soldiers for the Confederate Army than any other state besides Virginia and this sharply reduced competition in politics in the state until after passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-20th century. This city was established to house the Manhattan Projects uranium enrichment facilities, helping to build the worlds first atomic bomb, Tennessees major industries include agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. Poultry, soybeans, and cattle are the primary agricultural products, and major manufacturing exports include chemicals, transportation equipment. In the early 18th century, British traders encountered a Cherokee town named Tanasi in present-day Monroe County, the town was located on a river of the same name, and appears on maps as early as 1725. The meaning and origin of the word are uncertain, some accounts suggest it is a Cherokee modification of an earlier Yuchi word. It has been said to mean meeting place, winding river, according to ethnographer James Mooney, the name can not be analyzed and its meaning is lost. The modern spelling, Tennessee, is attributed to James Glen, the governor of South Carolina, the spelling was popularized by the publication of Henry Timberlakes Draught of the Cherokee Country in 1765. In 1788, North Carolina created Tennessee County, the county to be established in what is now Middle Tennessee. When a constitutional convention met in 1796 to organize a new out of the Southwest Territory. Other sources differ on the origin of the nickname, according to the Columbia Encyclopedia. Tennessee ties Missouri as the state bordering the most other states, the state is trisected by the Tennessee River. The highest point in the state is Clingmans Dome at 6,643 feet, Clingmans Dome, which lies on Tennessees eastern border, is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail, and is the third highest peak in the United States east of the Mississippi River
8.
Musical instrument
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A musical instrument is an instrument created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument, the history of musical instruments dates to the beginnings of human culture. Early musical instruments may have used for ritual, such as a trumpet to signal success on the hunt. Cultures eventually developed composition and performance of melodies for entertainment, Musical instruments evolved in step with changing applications. The date and origin of the first device considered an instrument is disputed. The oldest object that some refer to as a musical instrument. Some consensus dates early flutes to about 37,000 years ago, many early musical instruments were made from animal skins, bone, wood, and other non-durable materials. Musical instruments developed independently in many populated regions of the world, however, contact among civilizations caused rapid spread and adaptation of most instruments in places far from their origin. By the Middle Ages, instruments from Mesopotamia were in maritime Southeast Asia, development in the Americas occurred at a slower pace, but cultures of North, Central, and South America shared musical instruments. By 1400, musical instrument development slowed in areas and was dominated by the Occident. Musical instrument classification is a discipline in its own right, Instruments can be classified by their effective range, their material composition, their size, etc. However, the most common method, Hornbostel-Sachs, uses the means by which they produce sound. The academic study of instruments is called organology. Once humans moved from making sounds with their bodies—for example, by using objects to create music from sounds. Primitive instruments were designed to emulate natural sounds, and their purpose was ritual rather than entertainment. The concept of melody and the pursuit of musical composition were unknown to early players of musical instruments. A player sounding a flute to signal the start of a hunt does so without thought of the notion of making music. Musical instruments are constructed in an array of styles and shapes
9.
Elvis Presley
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Elvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is referred to as the King of Rock and Roll. Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis and his music career began there in 1954, when he recorded a song with producer Sam Phillips at Sun Records. Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, Presley was a popularizer of rockabilly. RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, Presleys first RCA single, Heartbreak Hotel, was released in January 1956 and became a number-one hit in the United States. He was regarded as the figure of rock and roll after a series of successful network television appearances. In November 1956, Presley made his debut in Love Me Tender. In 1958, he was drafted into military service, in 1973, Presley featured in the first globally broadcast concert via satellite, Aloha from Hawaii. Several years of drug abuse severely damaged his health. Presley is one of the most celebrated and influential musicians of the 20th century and he won three Grammys, also receiving the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, and has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame. Presley was born on January 8,1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, to Gladys Love and Vernon Elvis Presley, Jesse Garon Presley, his identical twin brother, was delivered stillborn 35 minutes before his own birth. Thus, as a child, Presley became close to both parents and formed an especially close bond with his mother. The family attended an Assembly of God, where he found his musical inspiration. Although he was in conflict with the Pentecostal church in his later years, rev. Rex Humbard officiated at his funeral, as Presley had been an admirer of Humbards ministry. Presleys ancestry was primarily a Western European mix, including Scots-Irish, Scottish, German, gladyss great-great-grandmother, Morning Dove White, was possibly a Cherokee Native American. Gladys was regarded by relatives and friends as the dominant member of the small family, Vernon moved from one odd job to the next, evincing little ambition. The family often relied on help from neighbors and government food assistance, the Presleys survived the F5 tornado in the 1936 Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak. In 1938, they lost their home after Vernon was found guilty of kiting a check written by the landowner, Orville S. Bean and he was jailed for eight months, and Gladys and Elvis moved in with relatives
10.
Dolly Parton
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After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Dolly Parton made her album debut in 1967, with her album Hello, Im Dolly. However, in the new millennium, Parton achieved commercial success again and has released albums on independent labels since 2000, including albums on her own label, Parton is the most honored female country performer of all time. Achieving 25 RIAA certified Gold, Platinum, and Multi-Platinum awards, she has had 25 songs reach No.1 on the Billboard country music charts, a record for a female artist. She has 41 career top 10 country albums, a record for any artist, all-inclusive sales of singles, albums, hits collections, and digital downloads during her career have topped 100 million worldwide. Parton has received 46 Grammy nominations, in 1999, Parton was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. She has composed over 3,000 songs, notably I Will Always Love You, Jolene, Coat of Many Colors and she is also one of the few to have received at least one nomination from the Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, Tony Awards, and Emmy Awards. As an actress, she starred in such as 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Rhinestone. Parton was born in Sevier County, Tennessee, the fourth of 12 children of Robert Lee Parton, a farmer and construction worker, Partons middle name comes from her maternal great-great grandmother, Rebecca Whitted. She has described her family as being dirt poor, Partons father paid the doctor who helped deliver her with a bag of oatmeal. She outlined her familys poverty in her early songs Coat of Many Colors and they lived in a rustic, one-room cabin in Locust Ridge, just north of the Greenbrier Valley of the Great Smoky Mountains, a predominantly Pentecostal area. Music played an important role in her early life and she was brought up in the Church of God, the church her grandfather, Jake Robert Owens pastored. Her earliest public performances were in the church, beginning at age six, at seven, she started playing a homemade guitar. When she was eight years old, her uncle bought her first real guitar, Parton began performing as a child, singing on local radio and television programs in the East Tennessee area. By ten, she was appearing on The Cas Walker Show on both WIVK Radio and WBIR-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee, the day after she graduated from high school in 1964, she moved to Nashville. Her songs were recorded by other artists during this period, including Kitty Wells. She signed with Monument Records in 1965, at 19, where she was pitched as a bubblegum pop singer. She released a string of singles, but the one that charted, Happy, Happy Birthday Baby. Although she expressed a desire to record country material, Monument resisted, after her composition, Put It Off Until Tomorrow, as recorded by Bill Phillips, went to number six on the country chart in 1966, the label relented and allowed her to record country
11.
Waylon Jennings
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Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Jennings began playing guitar at eight and began performing at 14 on KVOW radio and his first band was The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a DJ on KVOW, KDAV, KYTI, in 1958, Buddy Holly arranged Jenningss first recording session, of Jole Blon and When Sin Stops. Holly hired him to play bass, in Clear Lake, Iowa, Jennings gave up his seat on the ill-fated flight that crashed and killed Holly, J. P. Richardson, Ritchie Valens, and pilot Roger Peterson. Jennings then worked as a DJ in Coolidge, Arizona, and he formed a rockabilly club band, The Waylors. He recorded for independent label Trend Records and A&M Records before succeeding with RCA Victor after achieving creative control, during the 1970s, Jennings joined the Outlaw Country movement. He released critically acclaimed albums Lonesome, Onry and Mean and Honky Tonk Heroes followed by hit albums Dreaming My Dreams as well as Are You Ready for the Country, in 1976, he released the album Wanted. The Outlaws with Willie Nelson, Tompall Glaser, and Jessi Colter and that success was followed by Ol Waylon and the hit song Luckenbach, Texas. Jennings was featured in the 1978 album White Mansions performed by various artists documenting the lives of people in the Confederacy during the Civil War. The songs on the album were written by Paul Kennerley, by the early 1980s, Jennings was struggling with a cocaine addiction, which he quit in 1984. Later, he joined the country supergroup The Highwaymen with Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash, during that period, Jennings released the successful album Will the Wolf Survive. He toured less after 1997 to spend time with his family. Between 1999 and 2001, his appearances were limited by health problems, on February 13,2002, Jennings died from complications of diabetes. Jennings also appeared in films and television series and he was the balladeer for The Dukes of Hazzard, composing and singing the shows theme song and providing narration for the show. In 2001, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, in 2007, he was posthumously awarded the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award by the Academy of Country Music. Waylon Arnold Jennings was born on June 15,1937, on the G. W and he was the son of Lorene Beatrice and William Albert Jennings. The Jennings family line descended from Irish and Black-Dutch, meanwhile, the Shipley family moved from Tennessee and settled in Texas. The Shipley line descended from Cherokee and Comanche families, the name on his birth certificate was Wayland, meaning land by the highway
12.
Grammy Award
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A Grammy Award, or Grammy, is an honor awarded by The Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the mainly English-language music industry. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and the presentation of awards that have a more popular interest. It shares recognition of the industry as that of the other performance awards such as the Emmy Awards, the Tony Awards. The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4,1959, to honor, following the 2011 ceremony, The Academy overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012. The 59th Grammy Awards, honoring the best achievements from October 2015 to September 2016, was held on February 12,2017, the Grammys had their origin in the Hollywood Walk of Fame project in the 1950s. The music executives decided to rectify this by creating a given by their industry similar to the Oscars. This was the beginning of the National Academy of Recording Arts, after it was decided to create such an award, there was still a question of what to call it, one working title was the Eddie, to honor the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Edison. They finally settled on using the name of the invention of Emile Berliner, the gramophone, for the awards, the number of awards given grew and fluctuated over the years with categories added and removed, at one time reaching over 100. The second Grammy Awards, also held in 1959, was the first ceremony to be televised, the gold-plated trophies, each depicting a gilded gramophone, are made and assembled by hand by Billings Artworks in Ridgway, Colorado. In 1990 the original Grammy design was revamped, changing the traditional soft lead for a stronger alloy less prone to damage, Billings developed a zinc alloy named grammium, which is trademarked. The trophies with the name engraved on them are not available until after the award announcements. By February 2009,7,578 Grammy trophies had been awarded, the General Field are four awards which are not restricted by genre. Album of the Year is awarded to the performer and the team of a full album if other than the performer. Record of the Year is awarded to the performer and the team of a single song if other than the performer. Song of the Year is awarded to the writer/composer of a single song, Best New Artist is awarded to a promising breakthrough performer who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording that establishes the public identity of that artist. The only two artists to win all four of these awards are Christopher Cross, who won all four in 1980, and Adele, who won the Best New Artist award in 2009 and the other three in 2012 and 2017. Other awards are given for performance and production in specific genres, as well as for other such as artwork. Special awards are given for longer-lasting contributions to the music industry, the many other Grammy trophies are presented in a pre-telecast Premiere Ceremony earlier in the afternoon before the Grammy Awards telecast
13.
Vanderbilt University Press
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Vanderbilt University Press is a university press that is part of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt University Press is the publishing arm of Vanderbilt University. The Press selects, edits, and markets scholarly texts, especially in the areas of the humanities and social sciences, health care, the Press also publishes local books and music for the general public. Vanderbilt University Press Editorial Committee is composed of faculty and administrators from the university. The Committee over its career has published over 300 books
14.
Hank Williams
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Hiram King Hank Williams, was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Born in Mount Olive, Butler County, Alabama, Williams moved to Georgiana, where he met Rufus Payne, Payne had a major influence on Williams later musical style, along with Roy Acuff and Ernest Tubb. During this time, Williams informally changed his name to Hank and he moved to Montgomery, where he began his music career in 1937, when producers at radio station WSFA hired him to perform and host a 15-minute program. He formed as backup the Drifting Cowboys band, which was managed by his mother, Williams eventually married Audrey Sheppard, who was his manager for nearly a decade. After recording Never Again and Honky Tonkin with Sterling Records, he signed a contract with MGM Records, in 1947 he released Move It on Over, which became a hit, and also joined the Louisiana Hayride radio program. One year later, he released a cover of Lovesick Blues, after an initial rejection, Williams joined the Grand Ole Opry. He was unable to read or notate music to any significant degree, among the hits he wrote were Your Cheatin Heart, Hey, Good Lookin, and Im So Lonesome I Could Cry. Several years of pain, alcoholism, and prescription drug abuse severely damaged Williams health. He divorced Sheppard and was dismissed by the Grand Ole Opry because of his unreliability, Williams died on New Years Day of 1953 at the age of 29, from heart failure exacerbated by pills and alcohol. Despite his short life, Williams had a influence on 20th-century popular music. The songs he wrote and recorded have been covered by artists and have been hits in various genres. He has been inducted into multiple halls of fame, such as the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Williams was born in Butler County, Alabama, the son of Jessie Lillybelle Lillie and his parents married on November 12,1916. Hank Williams was of English ancestry, Elonzo Williams worked as an engineer for the railroads of the W. T. Smith lumber company. He was drafted during World War I, serving from July 1918 until June 1919 and he was severely injured after falling from a truck, breaking his collarbone and suffering a severe blow to the head. After his return, the familys first child, Irene, was born on August 8,1922, another son of theirs died shortly after birth. Their third child, Hiram, was born on September 17,1923, in Mount Olive. Since Elonzo Williams was a Mason, and his wife was a member of Order of the Eastern Star the child was named after Hiram I of Tyre, as a child, he was nicknamed Harm by his family and Herky or Poots by his friends
15.
Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)
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James Charles Jimmie Rodgers was an American country singer in the early 20th century, known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling. Among the first country music superstars and pioneers, Rodgers was also known as The Singing Brakeman, The Blue Yodeler, and The Father of Country Music. In the 1900 Census for Daleville, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, Jimmies mother, Eliza Rodgers, was listed as already having had seven children, Jimmie was next to the youngest at that time, and was probably born sixth of the total of seven children. He eventually returned home to live with his father, Aaron Rodgers, a foreman on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. Rodgers affinity for entertaining came at an age, and the lure of the road was irresistible to him. By age 13, he had organized and begun traveling shows. His father found Rodgers his first job working on the railroad as a water boy, here he was further taught to pick and strum by rail workers and hobos. As a water boy, he would have exposed to the work chants of the African American railroad workers known as gandy dancers. In 1924 at age 27, Rodgers contracted tuberculosis, the disease temporarily ended his railroad career, but at the same time gave him the chance to get back to the entertainment industry. He organized a traveling show and performed across the Southeastern United States until, once again. He returned to work as a brakeman in Miami, Florida. He relocated to Tucson, Arizona, and was employed as a switchman by the Southern Pacific Railroad and he kept the job for less than a year, and the Rodgers family settled back in Meridian in early 1927. Rodgers decided to travel to Asheville, North Carolina, later that same year, on April 18,1927, at 9,30 pm, Jimmie, and Otis Kuykendall, performed for the first time on WWNC, Ashevilles first radio station. A few months later, Rodgers recruited a group from Bristol, Tennessee, called the Tenneva Ramblers, in late July 1927, Rodgers bandmates learned that Ralph Peer, a representative of the Victor Talking Machine Company, was coming to Bristol to hold an audition for local musicians. Rodgers and the group arrived in Bristol on August 3,1927, Peer agreed to record them the next day. As the band discussed how they would be billed on the record, an argument ensued, the broke up. However, in an interview, Claude Grant of the Tenneva Ramblers gave a totally different reason for the bands breakup. Rodgers had taken some guitars on consignment and he sold them but did not pay back the music stores which supplied the guitars
16.
Roy Acuff
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Roy Claxton Acuff was an American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. In 1952 Hank Williams told Ralph Gleason, Hes the biggest singer this music ever knew and you booked him and you didnt worry about crowds. For drawing power in the South, it was Roy Acuff, Acuff began his music career in the 1930s and gained regional fame as the singer and fiddler for his group, the Smoky Mountain Boys. He joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1938, and although his popularity as a musician waned in the late 1940s, he remained one of the Oprys key figures and promoters for nearly four decades. In 1942, Acuff co-founded the first major Nashville-based country music publishing company—Acuff-Rose Music—which signed such artists as Hank Williams, Roy Orbison, in 1962, Acuff became the first living inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Acuff was born on September 15,1903 in Maynardville, Tennessee to Ida and Simon E. Neill Acuff, the Acuffs were a fairly prominent family in Union County. Roys paternal grandfather, Coram Acuff, had been a Tennessee state senator, Roys father was an accomplished fiddler and a Baptist preacher, his mother was proficient on the piano, and during Roys early years the Acuff house was a popular place for local gatherings. At such gatherings, Roy would often amuse people by balancing farm tools on his chin and he also learned to play the harmonica and jaw harp at a young age. In 1919, the Acuff family relocated to Fountain City, a few south of Maynardville. Roy attended Central High School, where he sang in the chapels choir. His primary passion, however, was athletics and he was a three-sport standout at Central and, after graduating in 1925, was offered a scholarship to Carson-Newman University but turned it down. He played with several baseball clubs around Knoxville, worked at odd jobs. In 1929, Acuff tried out for the Knoxville Smokies, a baseball team then affiliated with the New York Giants. A series of collapses in spring training following a sunstroke, however, the effects left him ill for several years, and he suffered a nervous breakdown in 1930. I couldnt stand any sunshine at all, he later recalled, while recovering, Acuff began to hone his fiddle skills, often playing on the familys front porch after the sun went down. His father gave him records of regionally renowned fiddlers, such as Fiddlin John Carson and Gid Tanner. In 1932, Dr. Hauers medicine show, which toured the southern Appalachian region, the purpose of the entertainers was to draw a large crowd to whom Hauer could sell medicines for various ailments. As the medicine show lacked microphones, Acuff learned to sing loud enough to be heard above the din, a skill that would later help him stand out on early radio broadcasts
17.
Johnny Gimble
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John Paul Gimble, better known as Johnny Gimble, was an American country musician associated with Western swing. Gimble was considered one of the most important fiddlers in the genre and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 in the early influences category as a member of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. Gimble was born in Tyler, Texas, United States, and he began playing in a band with his brothers at age 12, and continued playing with two of them, George and Jerry, as the Rose City Swingsters. The trio played local gigs, but soon after Gimble moved to Louisiana. He returned to Texas after completing his service in the U. S. Army in World War II, after serving in World War II, Gimble returned to Texas and continued to hone his fiddling skills with a number of Texas radio and dance bands. In 1948 he made his first recording, playing with Robert Bros Rhythmairs in Corpus Christi, a year later he joined Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, with whom he toured for most of the next decade. With Wills, he played fiddle and electric mandolin, and distinguished himself by using a five-string fiddle. His fiddling style was influenced by other Texas fiddlers who played the fiddle tunes. Gimble learned from them, and further developed while playing with Wills, who epitomized and promoted a new sound known as Western swing. He broke off to form his own group in 1951, performing as the band at Willss club in Fort Worth and Oklahoma City. He played fiddle on Marty Robbins #1 hit Ill Go on Alone, in 1955 Gimble, moved to Waco and supplemented his income from hosting a local television show Johnny Gimble & the Homefolks by working as a barber and at the V. A. hospital. In 1968, after repeated encouragement from his peers, Johnny moved his family to Nashville, the following year he took a cue from a song which he had written and performed on the Atkins Superpickers album, and recorded the first of ten solo albums, Fiddlin Around. From 1979-81, Gimble toured with Willie Nelson worldwide, appearing in a role in Honeysuckle Rose. He appeared in the 1970s through the 2000s on Austin City Limits on TV and he was a member of the Million Dollar Band. Gimbles granddaughter, Emily, is a notable vocalist and keyboard player who has performed with Johnny, Asleep at the Wheel, Warren Hood, and Hayes Carl. Emily was a member of Asleep at the Wheel as keyboardist and vocalist from 2014 -2016. She has since launched her career, based out of Austin. Gimbles grandson, Jon Gimble, is the District Clerk in McLennan County as of January 2015, Gimble died at his home in Dripping Springs, Texas on May 9,2015, aged 88
18.
Dottie West
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Dottie West was an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with her friends and fellow recording artists Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, she is considered one of the genres most influential and groundbreaking female artists. Dottie Wests career started in the 1960s, with her Top 10 hit, Here Comes My Baby Back Again, which won her the first Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1965. In the early 1970s, West wrote a popular commercial for the Coca-Cola company, titled Country Sunshine and her duet recordings with Rogers, Every Time Two Fools Collide, All I Ever Need Is You, and What Are We Doin in Love, became country music standards. Dottie West was born Dorothy Marie Marsh on October 11,1932, outside McMinnville and she was the first child of ten born to Pelina Artha and William Hollis Marsh. The family was poor and to make ends meet, Pelina opened up a restaurant, dotties father, Hollis Marsh, was an alcoholic who beat and sexually abused her. The abuse continued until she was 17, when she reported him to the local sheriff. She testified against her father in court, and he was sentenced to 40 years in prison, after living with the sheriff for a short time, she moved to McMinnville with her mother and siblings. She also joined her school band, The Cookskins, where she sang. In 1951, she obtained a scholarship to Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville. At the same time, West made numerous trips to Nashville in the hopes of landing a recording deal, in 1959, she and Bill auditioned for producer Don Pierce at Starday, and were immediately offered a contract. West often played hostess to these struggling songwriters, offering them a place to stay, in return, they taught West about the structure of songwriting. During this time, she became a close friend of groundbreaking female country singer Patsy Cline. Cline would become one of Wests biggest career inspirations, as West related to Ellis Nassour in the 1980 book Patsy Cline, the greatest advice Cline ever gave her was, When youre onstage sing to the audience with all of your heart and mean it. Then cast a spell over them, if you cant do it with feeling, then dont. Cline even offered to help pay Wests rent or buy groceries when she, West had asked Cline to ride with her and Bill in their car, but Cline, anxious to get back home to her children, opted to fly instead. In 1963, Jim Reeves recorded a song written by West called Is This Me and it became a No.3 hit that year. As a result, Reeves helped West secure a contract with RCA Victor
19.
Ricky Skaggs
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Rickie Lee Ricky Skaggs, is an American country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin, however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, mandocaster, Skaggs was born in Cordell, Kentucky. He started playing music at age 5 after he was given a mandolin by his father, at age 6, he played mandolin and sang on stage with Bill Monroe. At age 7, he appeared on televisions Martha White country music variety show, playing with Lester Flatt and he also wanted to audition for the Grand Ole Opry at that time, but was told he was too young. In his mid-teens, Skaggs met a fellow teen guitarist, Keith Whitley, by 1970, they had earned a spot opening for Ralph Stanley and Skaggs and Keith Whitley were thereafter invited to join Stanleys band, the Clinch Mountain Boys. Skaggs later joined The Country Gentlemen in Washington, DC, J. D. Crowes New South, in 1976, Skaggs formed progressive bluegrass band Boone Creek, including members Vince Gill and Jerry Douglas. For a few years, Skaggs was a member of Emmylou Harriss Hot Band and he wrote the arrangements for Harriss 1980 bluegrass-roots album, Roses in the Snow. In addition to arranging for Harris, Skaggs sang harmony and played mandolin, Skaggs launched his own country career in 1980, achieving 12 #1 hits,8 CMA awards, and 8 ACM awards. In 1982, he became a member of the Grand Ole Opry, guitarist and producer Chet Atkins credited Skaggs with single-handedly saving country music. In the 1990s and 2000s, Skaggs went back to his bluegrass roots, with his band, Kentucky Thunder, he is a perennial winner of Grammy Awards and International Bluegrass Music Association for best bluegrass album. In 2000, he shared the stage with Vermont-based jam band, on March 20,2007, Skaggs released an album with rock musician Bruce Hornsby. In 2008, Skaggs released an album he recorded with The Whites on his Skaggs Family Records label, in 2008, Skaggs recorded a bluegrass version of Old Enough by the Raconteurs with Ashley Monroe and the Raconteurs. He played mandolin on the track as well as sharing vocals with Jack White, Brendan Benson, in 2011, Skaggs with other Bluegrass musicians featured with Irish band, The Brock McGuire Band on their album Green Grass Blue Grass. An exploration of the connection between Irish Traditional Music and American Bluegrass and Appalachian music, also in 2011, Skaggs contributed to Moody Bluegrass TWO. Much Love, a bluegrass tribute album to the British Progressive Rock band The Moody Blues. Skaggs sang lead vocal on the song You And Me, in 2012, Skaggs collaborated with Barry Gibb on the song, Soldiers Son which was released on Music to My Ears. In 2015, Skaggs toured with Ry Cooder, Sharon White, Skaggs has been married to Sharon White of The Whites since August 1981. They have a daughter, Molly, and a son, Lucas, Skaggs was previously married to Brenda Stanley and has two children, Andrew and Mandy, from that relationship
20.
Tennessee State Museum
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Tennessee State Museum is a large museum in Nashville depicting the history of the U. S. state of Tennessee. Starting from pre-colonization and going into the 20th century, the museum interprets the Frontier, the age of President Andrew Jackson, the museum includes an area of more than 60,000 square feet of permanent exhibits and a hall with changing exhibitions covering 10,000 feet. The total ground area of the museum is 120,000 feet on three floors, the museums collection of uniforms, weapons, and battle flags from the Civil War is one of the largest in the nation. The museum is situated in the floors of the James K. Polk building in downtown Nashville. The earliest record of a museum in the city date to 1817 when a portrait artist, Ralph E. W. Earl, the state museum opened in 1937 in the War Memorial Building, after being authorized by the General Assembly. It decided that the state needed a museum to deal with various collections from the state, most of the museum operations moved to the James K. Polk Building in 1981, which it shares with the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. The museum displays a variety of paintings, silver, weapons, larger exhibits include reproductions of a historic print shop, a painting gallery, and a grist mill. The state museum features a store offering handmade crafts, jewelry. The Military Museum, focused on wars, is still housed in the War Memorial Building across the street. Its exhibits range from Tennessee participation in the battles of the Spanish–American War to World War II. Museum operations and policies are overseen by the Douglas Henry State Museum Commission, the State Building Commission in 2013 revived plans for a new state museum. Made up of top officials and constitutional officers, in August 2013 it approved $475,000 for planning this project. There have been discussions that the museum would be sited east of the Bicentennial Park Mall, the commission hired a museum consultant to create a master plan, this would include the program for the building, a site analysis, and conceptual operating plan and funding plan. The museum also owns the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, part of the non-profit and it leases the motel to the Lorraine Motel Civil Rights Museum Foundation on a long-term basis to be operated as part of the museum complex. Under the terms of its 20-year lease made in 2007, the Tennessee State Museum reserves responsibility for maintenance of the Lorraine Motel. The Foundation owns and operates the buildings and properties associated with the complex. Certain parts of the motel have been preserved for their historic aspects related to Martin Luther King, official museum homepage Tennessee State Library and Archives
21.
Glen Campbell
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Glen Travis Campbell is an American rock and country music singer, musician, songwriter, television host and actor. During his 50 years in business, Campbell has released more than 70 albums. He has sold 45 million records and accumulated 12 RIAA Gold albums, four Platinum albums, Campbell made history in 1967 by winning four Grammys total, in the country and pop categories. For Gentle on My Mind, he received two awards in country and western, By the Time I Get to Phoenix did the same in pop. Three of his early hits later won Grammy Hall of Fame Awards and he owns trophies for Male Vocalist of the Year from both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, and took the CMAs top award as 1968 Entertainer of the Year. John Wayne picked Campbell to play him in the film True Grit. Campbell sang the song which was nominated for an Academy Award. Glen Travis Campbell was born in Billstown, a community near Delight in Pike County, Arkansas, to John Wesley. He is the son of 12 children. His father was a sharecropper of Scottish ancestry and he started playing guitar as a youth and credits his uncle Boo for teaching him the guitar. In 1954, Campbell moved to Albuquerque to join his uncles band known as Dick Bills and he also appeared there on his uncles radio show and on K Circle B Time, the local childrens program on KOB television. In 1958, Campbell formed his own band, the Western Wranglers, in 1960, Campbell moved to Los Angeles to become a session musician. In October 1960 he joined The Champs, by January 1961, Campbell had found a daytime job at publishing company American Music, writing songs and recording demos. Because of these demos Campbell soon was in demand as a session musician and became part of a group of studio musicians later known as The Wrecking Crew. Campbell played on recordings by Bobby Darin, Ricky Nelson, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, The Monkees, Nancy Sinatra, Merle Haggard, Jan and Dean, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and Phil Spector. In May 1961, he left The Champs and was signed by Crest Records. His first solo release, Turn Around, Look at Me, was a moderate success, Campbell also formed The Gee Cees with former bandmembers from The Champs, performing at The Crossbow Inn in Van Nuys. The Gee Cees, too, released a single on Crest, the instrumental Buzz Saw, in 1962, Campbell signed with Capitol Records
22.
The Jordanaires
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The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. They are known for providing vocals for Elvis Presley, in live appearances. The group has worked in the recording studio, on stage. In 1948, Matt and Jack left to become full-time preachers and were replaced by Bob Hubbard, also a minister, and bass singer Culley Holt, after three years Money was replaced as pianist by Gordon Stoker. At that time, they formed the new group as the Melodizing Matthews, in Springfield, Missouri and this starting lineup lasted until 1949, at that time, Bob Hubbard was drafted and was replaced by Hoyt Hawkins. Later that year, Monty and Bill Matthews left, Hawkins switched to baritone, and new lead Neal Matthews was recruited. Don Bruce came in as a new first tenor, however, the group narrowed to a quartet, with Stoker taking over as first tenor. They became members of the Grand Ole Opry in 1949 and they recorded for Capitol Records in the early 1950s, and began providing vocal accompaniment behind solo singers in Nashville, Tennessee. The lineup changed again in 1954, with Culley Holt leaving, the quartet became well known in the southern gospel realm, and what made them stand out from other quartets of that time was how they would bring spirituals to a predominantly white audience. While continuing to turn out albums of their own, the group become better known for the signature background harmonies they have provided on dozens of secular records. Jarrett remained until 1958, at time, he was replaced by Ray Walker. October 31954 a teenage Elvis Presley made the drive from Memphis to Nashville to make his one, debuting his high-energy brand of rockabilly with Blue Moon of Kentucky it was his first live performance on national radio broadcast. He had just recorded his first record at Sun studios, Thats All Right just a few weeks prior, an afternoon in 1955, the Jordanaires played a show in Memphis with Eddy Arnold to publicize their new syndicated TV series, Eddy Arnold Time. He was on Sun Records at that time, on January 10,1956, Presley recorded his first session for RCA with guitarist Scotty Moore, bassist Bill Black, and drummer D. J. Fontana. I Got a Woman, Heartbreak Hotel, and Money Honey were recorded, Presley asked his new label RCA Victor if the Jordanaires could appear on the recordings. The next day Gordon Stoker was called by Chet Atkins to do a session with a new singer named Elvis. RCA had also just signed the Speer Family, Atkins asked Stoker to sing with Ben and Brock Speer so he could use them. The recording session for Im Counting on You and I Was the One was the first session Presley did with vocal background, by April 1956, Heartbreak Hotel was No.1
23.
The Louvin Brothers
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The Louvin Brothers were an American musical duo composed of brothers Ira Lonnie Loudermilk and Charlie Elzer Loudermilk, better known as Ira and Charlie Louvin. The brothers are cousins to John D. Loudermilk, a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member, the brothers wrote and performed secular country music, as well as fire and brimstone Gospel music. Ira played virtuoso mandolin and generally sang lead vocal in the range, while Charlie played rhythm guitar. They helped popularize the technique of close harmony in country. Ira died in a accident in 1965. They were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001, the brothers adopted the name Louvin Brothers in the 1940s as they began their career in gospel music. Their first foray into music was the minor hit The Get Acquainted Waltz. Other hits included Cash on the Barrelhead and When I Stop Dreaming and they joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1955 and stayed there until breaking up in 1963. Their songs were influenced by their Baptist faith and warned against sin. Nevertheless, Ira Louvin was notorious for his drinking, womanizing, when performing and drinking, Ira would sometimes become angry enough on stage to smash his mandolin when he was unable to tune it, and - when sober - glue it back together. Charlie strummed a guitar, grinned like a vaudevillian and handled the bottom register and this was more than close-harmony singing, each instance was an act of transubstantiation. In 1963, fed up with Iras drinking and abusive behavior, Charlie started a solo career, Ira died on June 20,1965, at the age of 41. A drunken driver struck their car head-on, and both Ira and Anne were killed instantly, at the time, a warrant for Iras arrest had been issued on a DUI charge. Charlie died of cancer in January,2011 at age 83. Country-rock band The Byrds recorded the Louvin-penned The Christian Life for their 1968 release Sweetheart of the Rodeo, in 2001, The Louvin Brothers were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. The tribute CD Livin, Lovin, Losin, Songs of the Louvin Brothers, produced by Carl Jackson and Kathy Louvin and released in 2003, won the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Country Album. Although the brothers are still remembered today for their talent, they are also remembered for the unusual cover used for their 1959 album. While some reviewers count this as being one of the greatest iconic album covers of all time, the cover can also be found today on several Web sites celebrating unusual or bizarre album covers
24.
Patsy Montana
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Ruby Rose Blevins, known professionally as Patsy Montana, was an American country music singer, songwriter and actress. Montana was the first female performer to have a million-selling single with her signature song I Want to Be a Cowboys Sweetheart. Ruby Blevins was born in Beaudry, Arkansas and grew up near Hope and she had ten siblings, all of them boys, However, two died early from an accidental fire. In 1929, Blevins went to California to study violin at the University of the West and she won a local talent contest with her singing, yodelling, and playing the guitar and first prize was an opportunity to play on the Hollywood Breakfast Club radio program. In the summer of 1933, Blevins went with two of her brothers to the Chicago Worlds Fair. The trips mission was to enter a large, prize watermelon the Blevins had raised, while in Chicago, she auditioned for a crooners role. However, she began laughing halfway through the song, the producer on hand fell in love with her giggle and auditioned her instead at WLS-AM for a group called the Prairie Ramblers. Blevins and the Ramblers became regulars on WLSs National Barn Dance program, the Prairie Ramblers also backed Blevins on most of her hits with ARC Records, Decca Records, and RCA Records. In 1934, Blevins repertoire included Montana Plains, a reworking of an originally called Texas Plains. Blevins further altered the composition, which became her signature song, released in 1935, the song made Blevins the first female country recording artist to have a million seller. It was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA, Blevins performed on National Barn Dance until the 1950s, and worked with the likes of Gene Autry, Pat Buttram, Red Foley, the Girls of the Golden West and George Gobel. Blevins took her name from silent film star and world-champion roper, Monte Montana. She made one feature-length movie called Colorado Sunset with Smiley Burnette, Barn Dance also introduced her to her future husband, Paul E. Rose. Rose was a manager for Gene Autry at the time, and was always around when Autry was performing. According to Patsy, they were the two single people involved with the show and kinda got thrown together. Though Rose was around five years her junior, they married on July 3, honeymooned, two weeks later they were again united, but throughout their married life they often followed this pattern. The couple had two daughters, Beverly and Judy, Montana and her two daughters later appeared as the Patsy Montana Trio. After semi-retiring in the late 1950s to spend time with her family
25.
Webb Pierce
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His biggest hit was In the Jailhouse Now, which charted for 37 weeks in 1955,21 of them at number one. For many, Pierce, with his flamboyant Nudie suits and twin silver dollar-lined convertibles, became the most recognizable face of music of the era. Pierce was a member of the Grand Ole Opry and was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. A tribute album in his honor was released in 2001 entitled Caught In The Webb - A Tribute To Country Legend Webb Pierce. He began to play guitar before he was a teenager and at 15 was given his own weekly 15-minute show, Songs by Webb Pierce and he enlisted in the US Army, and in 1942 he married Betty Jane Lewis. After he was discharged, the moved to Shreveport, Louisiana. In 1947, the couple appeared on KTBS-AMs morning show as Webb Pierce with Betty Jane, Pierce also performed at local engagements, developing his unique style that was once described as a wailing whiskey-voiced tenor that wrang out every drop of emotion. In 1949, California-based 4 Star Records signed the Webbs under separate contracts, with his wife signed for duets with her husband under the name Betty Jane, however, success only came for Pierce, and in the summer of 1950, the couple divorced. He moved to KWKH-AM and joined Louisiana Hayride during its first year, before the show, he bought tickets for several young girls in line and asked them to sit in the first row, and after each of his songs to scream and beg for more. It worked, their spread throughout the audience. Pierce assembled and performed with a band of local Shreveport musicians, including pianist Floyd Cramer, guitarist-vocalist Faron Young, bassist Tillman Franks and vocalists Teddy and Doyle Wilburn. He also founded a label, Pacemaker, and Ark-La-Tex Music, a publishing company, with Horace Logan. On Pacemaker, Pierce made several records between 1950 and 1951 designed to attract radio play around Louisiana, in 1951, Pierce got out of his 4 Star contract and was quickly signed by Decca Records. His second single, Wondering, became his hit, climbing to No.1 early in 1952. Pierce moved to Nashville, Tennessee where he met and married his second wife, in June 1952, he had his second No.1 single with That Heart Belongs to Me. In September 1952, the Grand Ole Opry needed to fill the left by the firing of Hank Williams. After Williams death, he became the most popular singer in music, for the next four years, every single he released hit the top ten. 1, including There Stands the Glass, Slowly, More and More and his singles spent 113 weeks at No.1 during the 1950s, when he charted 48 singles
