Roy Acuff (TN) 1903-1992 Performer
[Acuff was a performer, who arranged and collected songs to be performed including his hits The Great Speckled Bird and Wabash Cannonball, both which may be considered traditional.
R. Matteson 2015]
Roy Acuff Biography
“What a beautiful thought I am thinkin’; Concernin’ the Great Speckled Bird.”
On November 9, 1962 Roy Claxton Acuff was the first living member to be inducted into the Country Music Hall-Of-Fame. The citation on his plaque begins: “The Smoky Mountain Boy”…Fiddled and sang his way into the hearts of millions the world over.”
Roy Acuff was The Smoky Mountain Boy who recorded 341 songs during his long career. His first session as Roy Acuff and His Crazy Tennesseans featured Roy Acuff on fiddle, Sam “Dynamite” Hatcher on harmonica, Clell Summey on steel guitar, Jess Easterday on guitar and Red Jones on stand-up bass. In Chicago on October 20, 1936 for ARC they cut “Singing My Way To Glory,” “Charmin Betsy,” “My Mountain Home Sweet Home,” the jug band song “Gonna Raise A Ruckus Tonight” and the song that one day would make Acuff famous, “Great Speckle(d) Bird.”
Known as The King of Country Music Roy Acuff was an artist whose devotion to his work boosted not only his own career, but also the credibility and popularity of his field. This country music legend helped bring the fledgling industry and its capital, Nashville with The Grand Ole Opry, from the classification of regional entertainment to a certified national institution.
The Early Years
Born September 15, 1903 in Maynardville, Tennessee, Roy Acuff was the third of five children. The son of a small-town Baptist preacher, Roy’s first musical instrument was the Jew’s harp and he moved on the harmonica. A mischievous boy, he learned to sing hymns and his father was a good country fiddler: “When Papa would get out of bed and the house was warming up on a winter morning he would take the old fiddle out from under the bed and play it up there in the hollow.”
In 1919 the family moved to Fountain City, a Knoxville suburb. In high school the five-foot eight inch and 140-pound Roy, played football, basketball and starred in baseball, his favorite sport. Although he was small, he was fast and tough, at sports and using his fists. After high school Roy worked for the railroad and played basketball and baseball.
During a fishing trip in Florida Roy suffered severe sunstroke and after he returned passed out during a baseball game and had to be hospitalized. After he was released he passed out again and spent most of 1930 in bed recovering. “It was hard to express how dark my life was,” said Acuff. “Not being able to play baseball and be in sports.” Many biographical accounts of Roy’s life make it seem like this prevented him from a major league baseball career, nothing could be further from the truth; Roy was a good athlete but probably not major league caliber. What did happen was Roy began to play the fiddle seriously and listened to records of Fiddlin’ John Carson and Gid Tanner.
To replace sports in 1931 he began to throwing and catching a yo-yo. When his neighbor Dr. Hauer, heard the young Acuff fiddlin’ on his porch, Hauer invited him to join his medicine show in the summer of 1932. There he played fiddle with guitarist Jake Tindell and banjoist/guitarist Tom Ashley, who taught his Rising Sun Blues. Besides learning songs he did blackface comedy, skits and told jokes and learned to work a crowd. “I didn’t make much money at it,” recalled Acuff, "but I got a pretty good background in show business.” It was also where Roy learned to belt it out. “You sang to several thousand people in the open,” he said, “and you couldn’t get to them unless you put your lungs to the fullest test.”
Tennessee Crackerjacks
By 1933, Acuff formed a group, the Tennessee Crackerjacks with Clell Summey (dobro), Jess Easterday (guitar) and Red Jones (bass) that played in 1934 on WROL, a Knoxville radio station. For eight months they also did the ‘Mid-Day Merry Go-Round” show on WNOX where Bill Carlisle and Pee Wee King got their starts.
Crazy Tennesseans; Great Speckled Bird 1935
In 1935 the band got a new name when WROL announcer Allen Stout said, “Listeners, these are just crazy Tennesseans.” During this time Roy met Charlie Swain during his radio performances and learned “The Great Speckled Bird” from him. Charlie got the song from Rev. Guy Smith, who sang six verses to the tune of “I’m Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes,” a melody that had been sung in the mountains for years. The lyrics are based on the ninth verse, twelth chapter of Jeremiah: "Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour." Roy stated that the Great Speckled Bird to him represented the bible and the church.
It was recorded (the original record labels, however, spelled it 'Speckle' and to many people it will always bear that title) at Roy's first session in 1936. The popular Bird was later recorded by many country and bluegrass artists including Johnny Cash (in 1959), Bert Southwood [in 1990], and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Biblical Analysis- Summary of the book of Jeremiah:
According to one biblical scholar: "Jeremiah warns the people of Judah about their coming captivity, which is God's judgement for their persistant sins and failure to live as God's people should. The people have chosen to ignore God; now God will ignore them, but only for a time. God also promises to restore His people when they turn back to Him. Jeremiah tells the people that judgement should not be looked at merely as punishment, but rather as a loving act by God to restore His people to Himself. God's people had become vultures, birds of prey, and therefore unworthy of a place in God's house. Birds of prey were not allowed to be offered in sacrifice to God in the Temple.
They are continually pulling and pecking at one another, speckled with shed blood. They have made their country a cock-pit. The Hebrew root word behind the word "speckled" is the same as the one behind the word "to color", so as well as denoting a speckling with blood, it also denotes a blending together of the Law of Moses with the paganism of the surrounding nations, a mixing of the superstitious with the divine. The birds round about (the surrounding nations) are against her. Those that have made a prey of others shall themselves be preyed on. In other words, to be like a "great speckled bird" is not good!
However, underneath all of this wrath of God is His love for His people and the ultimate promise of His mercy. When the song implies that the great speckled bird is somehow "better" than the rest, the lyrics are theologically innaccurate. The same is true when lyrics also mention the bird's "meekness." The great speckled bird in the Bible is certainly not something to be admired or aspired to."
This song was adopted by a denomination known as the "Church of God", who felt themselves attacked by other denominations, and therefore identified with the bird in the song being attacked by others. There is a reference of Roy Acuff having been a member of the Church of God.
Marries- Cuts First Record- First Sessions in 1936
William R. Calloway ARC A &R man heard Acuff singing great speckled bird on the noon radio show WROL and signed him to a record contract. They cut twenty songs including the Great Speckled in four sessions on consecutive days from Tuesday, Oct. 20 until Friday. Two songs with bawdy lyrics were cut the last day to fill out the twenty: "Doin It The Old Fashioned Way" and “When Lulu’s Gone.” Roy wouldn’t issue the bawdy songs under his name so they were issued as by the Bang Boys.
Acuff married Mildred Douglas in 1936, that same year recording two sessions for ARC (a company controlling a host of labels, later merged with Columbia). Tracks from these sessions included two of his greatest hits: "Wabash Cannonball" (featuring vocals by Dynamite Hatcher) and "The Great Speckled Bird."
In March 1937 ARC and Calloway got Acuff back in the studio. They did another session but Roy was dissatisfied with Calloway and he felt the rights to his songs had slipped through his hands especially “a song he wrote titled “A Three Room Shack” about his homeplace. Later in October 1938 he was convinced by Art Satherley to renew his contract with ARC (which was also now Columbia Records). In November they cut another session with sixteen songs.
Grande Ole Opry
Roy began making trips to Nashville as early as 1934. He would talk to Judge Hay about letting his band play on the Grand Ole Opry. Roy also wrote several stars on the show including Robert Lunn to see if they could help. Eventually David Stone, head of the WSM touring service, arranged a trial performance for the band in October 1937. Arthur Smith, the opry’s main fiddler had missed a show (he was having reoccuring problems with alcohol abuse) and they need Acuff and his band to fill in the first fifteen minutes.
“I did a poor job of fiddlin’,” recalled Roy. "I was scared to death. I played back of the bridge as much as front of the bridge.” He sang “Great Speckled Bird and played some fiddle tunes including “Old Hen Cackle and Turkey Buzzard.” Roy said, "My voice sounded to me like a whinin' pups!" They failed to impress the Opry staff and returned to Knoxville.
In February 1938 a spot had opened for a band to join the Delmore Brothers on the Opry tours and fill in for Arthur Smith’s Dixieliners. According to Alton Delmore there were four bands that tried out for the position.
By 1938 the Delmores were growing tired of behind-the-scene politics that went with their WSM Grand Old Opry shows. Before they left they managed to help out a young performer trying to break into the big time music business- Roy Acuff, the eventual Father of Country Music. Acuff had already made records with his band the Crazy Tennesseans and arranged to meet the Delmores and visit them back stage.
Roy’s band was one of four bands that auditioned to temporarily fill a spot on the Opry and do road shows with the Delmores. Alton remembered, “Their performance was too far away from good entertainment” and “they sounded really pitiful.” When Alton went down to talk with the bands he realized the leader of the Crazy Tennesseeans was his friend Roy Acuff! Since Alton got to select the band they would do the road shows with he picked Acuff’s band, knowing, "that old boy will crawl to make good."
Acuff and his band changed their name to appease the Opry brass, and Roy Acuff and his Kentucky Mountain Boys appeared with the Delmores on the Opry. The first night he sang, “Great Speckled Bird” and after receiving “a ton of mail” became a regular on the show. And the rest is history…
On Feb. 10, 1938 Stone offered the band now called Roy Acuff and his Smoky Mountain Boys a spot on the Opry and lined-up road shows with the Delmores.
House of the Rising Sun
It was during versatile entertainer Clarence "Tom" Ashley medicine show days one summer in 1932 that he first played with Roy Acuff. Ashley related the experience to a reporter for the Tennessee paper in the following way: "Just before one summer, the Doc told me he had a neighbor boy who could sing a little and play a little and said he'd like to take him along. He asked if I'd train him, and I said I would. That boy stayed with us two summers and I taught him some songs, and after that he went off on his own and did right well. He was Roy Acuff."
The oldest known existing recording of "House of the Rising Sun" is by Ashley and Gwen Foster and was released in 1934 . Ashley said he had learned it from his grandfather, Enoch Ashley. Texas Alexander's "The Risin' Sun", which was recorded in 1928, is sometimes mentioned as the first recording, but this is a completely different song. Roy Acuff, who recorded the song commercially on November 3, 1938, surely learned this number from Ashley during those two summers. By recording the Rising Sun and singing it on The Opry, Acuff helped perpetuate an old song that probably would have been forgotten.
New “Smokey Mountain Boys” Wabash Cannonball 1939
The band had frequent clashes with Roy over what songs they would perform. Red Jones the bass player wanted to do popular songs and jazz oriented songs. By the end of the 1938 the band quit and returned to Knoxville. Roy put together a band from players he had played with in Knoxville that featured Pete “Os” Kirby (dobro), Lonnie Wilson (guitar), Jess Easterday, an original member (bass and mandolin) with Jake Tindell (blackface comedian).
He added a singer and banjo picker Rachel Veach to the line-up in April. Rachel was born on a farm near Peytonville, TN. She met Sam McGee who introduced her to Roy. Billed as “Rachel, Queen of the Hills,” she became part of the act with her bandmates Lonnie and Pete billed as, “Pap and Oswald, Rachel’s Two Comedian Boy Friends.” Their first gig was in Robbins, NC where they dressed as hillbillies. Another Smoky Mountain Boy was Pete “Os” Kirby nicknamed “Bashful Brother Oswald,” who born dec. 26, 1911. Os became an excellent banjo and guitar player, learning from his father at an early age.
Os (Pete) had a famous laugh that convulsed many an audience. Rachel sang "I Want My Mommy,” on one Acuff recording session. She quit the band in 1946 when her husband returned from the service about the time harmonica wizard Jimmy Riddle became another Smoky Mountain boy again. Riddle was born Sept. 3, 1918 in Dyersburg TN. He was give a harmonica when just a baby. “I was just born with it,” said Riddle, who also learned to play piano and accordian. He formed his first band in 1934 called Uncle Rube Turnipseed. Jimmy played harmonica for a Swift Jewel Cowboy recording session in 1939 for ARC and Art Satherley. Riddle joined Acuff in 1944 but was drafted and returned in 1946.
Lonnie Wilson was a member until 1958 and appeared in all of Roy’s movies. He did a brief stint in the service as a marine during the war 1943 to 1945. Joe Zinkan joined the band when Lonnie went in the service and remained until 1958. When Lonnie rejoined in 1945 Joe switched to bass. Oral “Odie” Rhodes played bass and was the rube comedian Odie. He also played guitar.
Late in 1943 Roy hired Bill Monroe’s fiddler Tommy Magness. In 1948 Magness recorded eight fiddle tunes on Roy’s Columbia Album Old Time Darn Dance. In 1949 the La Croy Sisters joined the band. In 1951 fiddler Howdy Forrester joined the band. “I studied down in Hickman County where a large percentage of people play the fiddle but not many of them actually learn it.”
The other song Roy became known for on the Opry was “The Wabash Cannonball.” The song, written by William Kindt in 1904, was a rewrite of “Great Rock Island Route” by J.A. Roff in 1882. Although Roy recorded the song in 1936 he didn’t sing it on the record. He probably learned the song from The Carter Family’s popular record. By the 1920s “The Wabash Cannonball” had entered tradition and most versions, including the Carter’s, have problems rhyming [they start off rhyming “shore” with “shore”] the lyrics in the first verse.
Curiously there's a verse refering to Daddy Claxton and ironically Claxton is Roy's middle name. It's as if Roy was destined to sing his popular rendition of the song. Roy didn't record his most requested song with him singing until 1947... and it was a hit again! Another unusual fact about Roy was his ability with a yo-yo, he later taught the President of the United Sates a few tricks.
Grande Old Opry Movie; Roy’s First Songbook 1940
Roy went to Hollywood and starred with Uncle Dave Macon in the 1940 movie Grande Ole Opry. Roy and his wife Mildred compiled a book of songs and published Roy Acuff’s Folio of Original Songs Featured Over The Grande Ole Opry. The books cost a nickel to print and sold for a quarter. After announcing the book on the air the first week in 1941 Roy got orders for 5,000 books.
War Days; The Rose-Acuff Publishing Firm
Acuff was at the height of his popularity during the War years (1942-1945). Thousands of southern boys entered the service, exposing Northern GIs to Bob Wills and Ernest Tubb. “I went into the merchant marine in 1943 and took my guitar with me,” said the fifties country star Ferlin Husky during a 1958 congressional hearing on the music industry. “There were lots of boys . . . who had never really heard country music before, and it was interesting to see how fast they acquired a taste for it.” In September 1945 a debate raged among GIs in Munich: Who was better, Frank Sinatra or the Grand Ole Opry’s Roy Acuff? A four-thousand-vote radio poll put Acuff ahead by six hundred.
The patriotic mood was probably responsible for Roy Acuff’s status as “King of Country Music” (the title was bestowed on Roy by baseball’s Dizzy Dean, a big hillbilly fan). A Tennessean raised on folk music and hymns, Acuff performed in a completely unironic, almost solemn style. Unlike almost every other country-music star of the thirties and forties, he eschewed cowboy clothes and never recorded a single cowboy song, cloaking himself instead in Appalachian hearth-and-home values. In 1942 his income topped two hundred thousand dollars. The story is often told that when the Japanese attacked American positions on Okinawa, they cursed the three things they thought Americans held dearest: “To hell with Roosevelt, to hell with Babe Ruth, to hell with Roy Acuff!”
At a sold-out concert in Dallas, Roy introduced two guests to the audience Dizzy Dean and Gene Autry. At the concert said, "Friends it’s always an honor to appear on the stage with the “King of the Hillbillies.” The name stuck (although it had been used before by Riley Puckett ion the 1920s) and when the term Country Music replaced hillbilly music the name was updated to: King of Country Music.
In 1942 after the success of Roy’s first songbook, he approached Fred Rose, who he knew from the Grand Ole Opry, about starting a publishing company. Rose, a songwriter for twenty years, had just started writing Country songs for Gene Autry in Hollywood and scored hits with “Tears on My pillow,” “Be Honest With Me” and “Tweed-O-Twill.”
‘When I finally approached Fred he thought I was just kidding,” said Acuff. Several weeks later Fred Rose agreed to start the company and Acuff acting as the financier withdrew $25,000 and began the company. The money was to be used for expenses but Roy later said, “The truth is Fred Rose never touched that initial money that I put in; he didn’t have to. He was writing songs at that time and I had songs; and he took them all and got started.” One of the songs was “Fireball Mail,” a song written by Rose (under the name Floyd Jenkins, he also wrote under the name Bart Dawson). Acuff added two words at the end of the chorus (bye, bye) “Let her bye, bye, bye, the Fireball Mail” when he recorded it, and it was changed. In 1943 the firm opened at first run from Fred’s home then moved to 220 Capitol Boulevard.
Fred would go to Roy’s sessions and if another songs was needed he would write one on the spot; within 30 minutes the song would be done. “He was just that fast,” said Roy. In 1946 Wesley Forster joined the firm and they hired Mel Foree as the first field promotion manager. One of Rose’s abilities was finding and developing songwriters. It was then that they bought six of Hank Williams songs and signed him to an exclusive contract. Roy never mentioned to Fred that he knew Williams and Acuff wasn’t there when Hank signed.
Williams was a long time fan of Roy Acuff and Hank made it a point to attend Roy’s shows when they played near Mobile. Hank would come back to Roy’s dressing room and say, “Here’s one of your songs, Roy and I’ll even play it on the fiddle to be sure it sounds like you.” Roy commented on Hank’s singing: “He loved my type of songs. And he, truthfully, would copy me to a great extent. I guess in a way he idolized me as a country artist.”
By 1948 they moved again and filled a complex on Franklin Road and scored one of their biggest songs, “Tennessee Waltz.” By then Williams songs were huge hits and Rose-Acuff was on its way. Roy never recorded Hank’s songs until 1966 when he cut the LP: For the First Time- Roy Acuff Sings Hank Williams.
It was Rose that began writing with Williams and set up recording sessions as well as promoting his records and songs. Rose set up the first sessions in Nashville for newly formed MGM records and became an A&R man along with Frank Walker.
Roy Acuff, co-organized in Nashville the first publishing house for country music. By 1943 the Grand Ole Opry was syndicated by CBS and broadcast across the nation. Roy was featured every Saturday night on “The Prince Albert show.” He later formed a music publishing venture with Chicago songwriter Fred Rose. Hank Williams, the Everly Brothers and Roy Orbison were among those who initially signed with Acuff-Rose Music.
The problem was Roy was making big money on his tours but could play Saturday night because he had to come back to Nashville. He made little money for appearing on the Opry but the publicity was making his carreer.
Makes Films- Leaves Opry 1946
After the Grand Ole Opry film in 1940 Roy starred in seven more films for Republic and also Columbia Pictures. In 1942 he made Hi Neighbor for Republic peforming the songs “Stuck Up Blues,” “I Know We are Saying Goodbye” and Pass The Biscuits Mirandie.” The next year he shot O’ My Darling Clementine with Irene Ryan (who became granny in the Beverly Hillbillies TV show) singing his original song “Fireball Mail.” His fist film in February 1944 teamed Roy up with Tex Ritter in the Cowboy Canteen for Columbia. Then he shot Sing Neighbor Sing for Republic that summer. In 1945 Roy traveled to Hollywood again to make his best film, Night Train In Memphis. During his movies Roy had to record his Opry radio show by remote telephone.
His movie associates in Hollywood offered Roy contracts but he never wanted to move to Hollywood and become a full-time movie star. He did make two more films in 1948: Smokey Mountain Melody and Home in San Antoine.
After a contract dispute Roy decided to leave the network portion of Opry in April 1946 so he could concentrate on his road shows. Red Foley was hired to replace him as host of the network show. The radio network show faded out somewhat in the mid-50s after television became popular. Roy would never again enjoy the same popularity as he did from 1940-46.
Back To The Opry 1947
On April 26, 1947 Roy was asked by Harry Stone and Ernest Tubb to return to the Opry. Though Foley remained the host of the Opry’s network show Roy retuned and hosted the “Royal Crown Cola Show” at the Opry in 1947 and hosted it until 1956. He also had the “Roy Acuff Songbook Show.”
Runs For Govenor 1948
Roy became interested in politics in 1943, after he invited Tennessee Governor Prentice Cooper to be the guest of honor at a gala held to mark the nationwide premier of the Opry's Prince Albert show. Cooper rejected the offer, however, and lambasted Acuff and his "disgraceful" music for making Tennessee the "hillbilly capital of the United States." A Nashville journalist reported the governor's comments to Acuff, and suggested Acuff run for governor himself. While Acuff initially didn't take the suggestion seriously, he did accept the Republican Party nomination for governor in 1948.
Acuff's nomination caused great concern for E.H. Crump, the head of a Memphis Democratic Party political machine that had dominated Tennessee state politics for nearly a quarter-century. Crump was not worried so much about losing the govenor's office— in spite of Acuff's name recognition— but did worry that Acuff would draw large crowds to Republican rallies and bolster other statewide candidates. While Acuff did relatively well and helped reinvigorate Tennessee's Republicans, his opponent, Gordon Browning, still won with 67% of the vote.
Later Years
After leaving the Opry, Acuff spent several years touring the Western United States, although demand for his appearances dwindled with the lack of national exposure and the rise of musicians such as Ernest Tubb and Eddy Arnold, who were more popular with younger audiences. He continued to play on the Opry, although by the 1960s, his sales had dropped off considerably. Acuff's tremendous contribution to country music was recognized in November 1962, when he became the first living musician to be honored as a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
After nearly losing his life in an automobile accident outside of Sparta, Tennessee in 1965, Acuff pondered retiring, making only token appearances on the Opry stage and similar shows, and occasionally performing duos with long-time bandmate Bashful Brother Oswald. He was guest performer on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's triple album set "Will The Circle Be Unbroken?" in 1972 which brought Roy's music to contemporary and country-rock music fans.
On March 16, 1974, when the Opry officially moved from the Ryman Auditorium to the Grand Ole Opry House at Opryland Roy was featured. The first show at the new venue opened with a massive projection of a late-1930s image of Roy Acuff and the Smoky Mountain Boys onto a large screen above the stage. A recording from one of the band's 1939 appearances was played over the sound system, with the iconic voice of George Hay introducing the band, followed by the band's performance of "Wabash Cannonball." That same night, Acuff showed President Richard Nixon (who was in attendance) how to yo-yo, and convinced the president to play several songs on the piano.
In ‘82, he was feted with a two-hour TV special celebrating his 50 years in country music and, in a tribute that was piped in from the White House, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed him "the epitome of the American dream." Other awards included the Music City News Living Legend Award in 1983, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987, the Music City News Minnie Pearl Award in 1989 and the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1997. Roy continued to appear regularly on the Grand Ole Opry throughout the '80s, but cut down on his previously extensive touring schedule, until by the early '90s his only appearances were infrequent guest spots at Opryland.
The King of Country Music died on November 23, 1992, following a short illness. "I like to think I was the first person to bring voice to the Opry," Mr. Acuff once said. "I was one of the first fellows who reared back and hit a microphone with a strong voice."Recordings: Roy Acuff- fiddle; Sam “Dynamite” Hatcher- Harmonica; Clell Summey steel guitar;, Jess Easterday- Guitar; Red Jones- Stand up bass; First As Roy Acuff and His Crazy Tennesseeans 10-20-36 on ARC then Roy Acuff and His Smokey Mountain Boys 11-3-38 Pete Oswald Kirby-steel Guitar; Lonnie Wilson-guitar; Oral Rhodes bass;
Hit Songs Written By Acuff: Fireball Mail; Night Train To Memphis; Precious Jewel, The; That’s What Makes The Jukebox Play; Wreck On The Highway
Roy Acuff Complete Recorded Songs: Advice to Joe; All Night Long; All The World Is Lonely Now; Along To The China Coast; Answer To Sparkling Blue Eyes; Are You Thinking Of Me Darling; Automobile Of Life; Back In The Country; Baldknob Arkansas; Be Honest With Me; Beautiful Brown Eyes; Beaver Creek Dam; Before I Met You; Beneath That Lonely Mound Of Clay; Birmingham Jail; Black Mountain Rag; Black Smoke; Blue Eyed Darling; Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain; Blue Ridge Sweetheart; Blues In My mind; Bonnie Blue Eyes; Branded Wherever I Go; Broken Heart; Brother Take Warning; Budded Roses; Bully of The Town; Candy Kisses; Carry Me Back To The Mountains; Charmin’ Betsy; Cold Cold Heart; Columbus Stockade Blues; Come And Knock; Come Back Little Darling; Come Back Little Pal; Coming From The Ball; Coney Island Baby; Conscience Set Me Free; Corrine Corrina; Country Home Folk; Crazy worried Mind; Dance Around Molly; Day They Laid Mary Away; Devil’s Train; Do You Wonder Why; Doin’ It The Old Fashioned Way; Don’t Be Angry; Don’t hang Your Dirty Linen On My Line; Don’t Judge Your Neighbor; Don’t Make Me Go To Bed And I’ll Be Good; Don’t Worry about That Mule; Doug MacArthur; Down In Union County; Drifting Too Far From The Shore; Each Season Changes You; Easy Rockin’ Chair; End Of The World; Eyes Are Watching You; Family Who Prays; Farther Along; Filipino Baby; Fireball Mail; Fly Birdie Fly; Foggy River; Freight Train Blues; Gathering Flowers For The Hillside; Give My Love To Nell; Glory Is Coming; Golden Treasure; Gone, Gone, Gone; Gonna Have a Big Time Tonight; Gonna Raise A Ruckus Tonight; Goodbye Brownie; Goodbye Mr. Brown; Gray Eagle;Great Judgement Morning; Great Shining Light; Great Speckled Bird; Great Speckled Bird No. 2; Great Titanic; Haven of Dreams; Heart That was Broken For Me; Heartaches And Flowers; Heartbreak Avenue; Hey Good Lookin’; Hi Hattin’ Blues; Hillbilly Fever; Hold On To God’s Unchanging Hand; Honky Tonk Mamas; How Beautiful Heaven Must Be; Hunderd And Forty-four Thousand; I Called And Nobody Answered; I Can’t Find A Train; I Can’t Help It; I Closed Ny Heart’s Door; I Couldn’t Believe It Was True; I Don’t Care If You Don’t Love Me; I Gambled And I Lost; I Had A Dream; I Heard a Silver Trumpet; I Know We’re Saying Goodbye; I Like Mountain Music; I Love You Because; I Saw The Light; I Talk To Myself About You; I Think I’ll Go Home And Cry; I Wanna Be Loved; I Wish I Had Kissed You Goodbye; Ida Red; If Brother Jack Were Here; If I Could hear My Mother Pray Again; I’ll Always Care; I’ll Be Alone; I’ll Fly Away; I’ll Forgive You But I Can’t Forget; I’ll Go on Alone; I’ll Reap My Harvest In Heaven; I’m Building A Home; I’m Moving On; I’m Planting A Rose; I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry; In The Shadow Of The Smokies; It Won’t Be Long; It’s All Right Now; It’s Hard To Love; It’s So Hard To Smile; It’s Just About Time; It’s Too Late Too Worry Anyhow; Jambalaya; Jealous Heart; Jesus Died For Me; Jole Blon; Just A friend; Just Inside The Pearly Gates; Just To Ease My Worried Mind; Kawliga; Last Letter; Legend of The Dogwood Tree; Let Me Be First To Say I’m Sorry; Letter Edged in Black; Life’s Railway To Heaven; Life To Go; Little Mary; Little Moses; Little Rosewood Casket; live And let Die; Living On The Mountain Baby Mine; Lonesome Indian; Lonesome Joe; Lonesome Old River Blues; Lonesome Valley; Longest Train; Lord Build Me A Cabin; lost Highway; Lost John He’s Gone; Low And Lonely; Lying Woman Blues; Making Believe; Mansion On A Hill; Midnight Train; Mommy Please Stay Home With Me; Money Won’t Buy This Soul Of mine; Mother’s Prayers Guide Me; Mountain Guitar; Mule Skinner Blues; My Gal Sal; My Mountain Home Sweet Home; My Opal Of Yesterday; My Tears Don’t Show; Nearest Thing To Heaven; Nero Played His Fiddle; New Greenback Dollar; Night Spots; Night Train To Memphis; No Letter In The Mail; No one Will Ever Know; Nobody’s Darlin’ But Mine; Not A Word From Home; Oh Lonesome Me; Oh Those Tombs; Old Age Pension Check; Old Fashioned Love; Old Three Room Shack; Old Time Sunshine Song; Once More; One I Love Is Gone; One Old Shirt; Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone; Precious Jewel; Pale Horse And His Rider; pan American; Pins and Needles; Plant Some Flowers on My Grave; Plastic Heart; Please Forgive Daddy; Please Don’t Talk about Me When I’m Gone; Pliney Jane; Polk County Breakdown; Precious Jewel; Precious Memories; Pretty Little Widow; Prodigal Son; Put My Little Shoes Away; Radio Station SAVED; Railroad Boomer; Red Lips Kiss My Blues Away; Red River Valley; Rising Sun; River Of Crystal; Roll On Buddy; Roof Top Lullaby; Rushing Around; Sad Memories; Sailing Along; Satisfied Mind; Searching For Happiness; Send Me The Pillow You Dream On; Shake My Mother’s Hand For Me; She No Longer Belongs To Me; She’s My Curly Headed Baby; Short Changed In Love; Shout Oh Lulu; Shut Up in The Mines; Sing A Country Song; Singing My Way To Glory; Sinner’s Death; six More Days; Sixteen Chickens And a Tambourine; Small Country Towns; Smoky Mountain Memories; Smoky Mountain Moon; Smoky Mountain Rag; So Many Times; Somebody Touched Me; Songbirds Are singing For Me; Southbound Train; Steamboat Whistle Blues; Steel Guitar Blues; Steel Guitar Chimes; Streamlined Cannonball; Streamlined Heartbreaker; Stuck Up Blues; Sunshine Special; Swamp Lilly; Sweep Around Your Own Back Door; Sweeter Than The Flowers; Take Me Home Country Roads; Take My Hand Precious Lord; Take These Chains From My Heart; Take Me Now or Tell Me Never; Tell Mother I’ll Be There; Ten Little Numbers; Tennessee Central Number 9; Tennessee Waltz; Thank God; Thanks For Not Telling Me; That Beautiful Picture; That Glory Bound Train; That Silver Haired Daddy; That’s Country; That’s What Makes The Jukebox Play; There’ll Be No Teardrops Tonight; There’s A Big Rock In The Road; They Can Only Fill One Grave; They’ll Never Take Her Love From Me; Thief Upon The Tree; Things That Might Have Been; This World Cannot Stand long; This world Is Not My Home; Thy Burdens Are Greater Than Mine; Tied Down; Till No Longer You Cared; Time Will Make You Pay; Today My Love Came Back To Me; Tomorrow Never Comes; Touch The Morning; Traveling The Highway Home; Trouble Trouble; Turn Your Radio On; Two Little Orphans; Uncle Pen; Unclouded Day; Unloved And Unclaimed; Vagabond’s Dream; Wabash Blues; Wabash Cannonball; Wait For The Light To Shine; Waiting For My Call To Glory; Walk A Mile In Your Neighbors Shoes; Walkin’ In My Sleep; Waltz Of Broken Vows; Waltz Of The Wind; Weary Lonesome Blues; We Live In Two Different Worlds; We Planted Roses On Our Darling’s Grave; Weary River; Were You There When They Crucified My Lord; What A Friend We Have In Jesus; What Do You Think About Me?; What Good Will It Do?; What Will I Do; What Would You Do With Gabriel’s Trumpet; When I Lay My Burden Down (Happy In Prison); When Lulu’s Gone; When My Money Runs Out; When Thye Take The Last look At Me; Where Could I Go; Where The Soul Never Dies; Whoa Mule; whole Month Of Sundays; Why Don’t You love Me; Will The Circle be Unbroken; Willie Roy The Crippled Boy Wonder Is All I Do; Worried Mind; Would You Care?; Wreck On The Old 97; Wreck On The Highway; Write me Sweetheart; Yes Sir That’s My Baby; You are My Love; You’ll Reap Those Tears; Your Address Unknown; Your Cheatin’ Heart; You’re A Heavenly Thing; You’re My Darling; You’re The Only Star In My Blue Heaven; You’ve Got To See Mama Every Night; You Win Again; Zeb Turney’s Gal
Discography
1951 Old Time Barn Music • CBS
1955 Songs of the Smokey Mountains • Capitol
1958 Great Speckled Bird • Harmony
1961 Once More It's Roy Acuff • Hickory
1961 That Glory Bound Train • Harmony
1962 Hymn Time • MGM
1963 Country Music Hall of Fame • Capitol
1963 Hand-Clapping Gospel Songs • Hickory
1963 Roy Acuff Sings American Folk Songs • Hickory
1963 Songs of the Smokey Mountains • Capitol
1963 Star of the Grand Ol' Opry • Hickory
1963 The World is His Stage • Hickory
1965 Great Train Songs • Hickory
1965 Roy Acuff • Metro
1965 The Great Roy Acuff • Harmony
1965 The Voice of Country Music • Capitol
1966 Roy Acuff Sings Hank Williams • Hickory
1966 Waiting for My Call to Glory • Harmony
1970 I Saw the Light • Hickory
1970 Roy Acuff Time • Hickory
1970 Sunshine Special • Hilltop
1970 Time • Hickory
1974 Back in the Country • Hickory
1975 Smokey Mountain Memories • Hickory
1975 That's Country • Hickory
1975 Wabash Cannonball • Intersound
2004 Firerball Mail • Proper
2004 Beautiful Brown Eyes • Proper
2004 Great Speckle Bird • Proper
2004 So Many Times • MCA]
Partial PD Songlist: Tell Mother I’ll Be There rec. 1937; Hold To God’s Unchanging Hand; Whoa Mule; Lonesome Valley; House of the Rising Sun; Old Dan Tucker; This World Is Not My Home; I Didn’t Hear Nobody Pray; East Virginia Blues; Were You There When They Crucified My Lord; If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again; L'il Liza Jane; I'm Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes; Wabash Cannonball; Great Speckled Bird; Broken Heart (Lover’s Return); My Gal Sal (Paul Dresser w & m 1905); Oh, Lonesome Me; Good Ole Mountain Dew; Great Speckled Bird, The; Little Moses (also covered by Carter family);
Guy Smith's poem was printed in 1936 in a newspaper, before Roy Acuff's copyright. Smith may have obtained the idea from an earlier hymn or poem. The authorship of this famous song will probably always remain unknown, although it has been attributed to a Rev Gant and to Rev Guy Smith (Acuff also wrote four additional verses which became known as 'The Great Speckled Bird No 2'). The song, which pictures the church as a group of persecuted individuals who ultimately will gain eternal salvation as a reward for their earthly travail, is based upon the ninth verse of the twelfth chapter of Jeremia: 'Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her'. The song was popular not only as a recording hit but as a favorite in some of the Pentecostal Holiness churches as well. Vance Randolph, for example, heard it sung in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, as an official Assembly of God hymn, and W. J. Cash claimed that it was 'the official hymn of the Church of God'.