Uncle Dave Macon Biography-1924
“And now Friends we present Uncle Dave Macon, with his gold teeth, plug hat, chin whiskers, gates-ajar collar and that million dollar Tennessee smile. . .take it away Uncle Dave!” George D. Hay, the “Solemn Old Judge” introducing Uncle Dave Macon in the 1940 Republic Picture, “Grand Ole Opry.”
Uncle Dave described himself as “Banjoist and songster, liking religion and meeting, farming and thanking God for all His bountiful gifts in the beautiful world he has bestowed upon us.” From July 8 to July 11, 1924 Macon accompanied by Sid Harkreader made his first recordings in NY City; it would be the beginning of a long and illustrious recording career spanning fourteen years and capturing some of the finest versions of old-time Country songs.
Uncle Dave was known for his encyclopedic knowledge of Minstrel, folk, African-American and popular songs; the very mixture that became the repertoire of early Country Music. The first star of the Grand Ole Opry carried a grip with Jack Daniel’s sippin’ whiskey and played a bawdy song like “I tickled Nancy” followed by “Rock of Ages.”
He was an avid farmer all his life even after achieving fame. He plowed his field with a mule until his death at age 81 and raised hogs so that each year he could give each of his children two sides of pork.
Early Life
David Harrison Macon, the Dixie Dewdrop, was born October 7, 1870 to Captain John Macon, an officer in the Confederate Army, and Martha Ramsey Macon in Smart Station near McMinnville, Tennessee. When Macon was thirteen, his family moved to Nashville after his father purchased the Old Broadway Hotel downtown. At age fifteen Macon met banjoist Joel Davidson in Sam McFlynn’s circus and soon convinced his mother to buy him a banjo. It was during this time that he also learned many of his African-American folk songs, which were passed between blacks and whites. The blues, gospel and popular songs also influenced him.
According to some accounts young Macon soon became a skilled banjo player and entertainer. He learned three tricks he would later use in his performances. While picking and singing, he flipped his banjo in the air, caught it and continued without a break in the music. He played the banjo while swinging it between his legs. In another stunt he planted his banjo on the floor and strummed it with a Derby hat while walking around the banjo.
After witnessing his father being murdered in a brawl outside the rooming house, his mother sold the hotel and the family moved to Readyville, a town 10 miles south of Murfreesboro. In 1889 Macon married Matilda Richardson and bought a farm nearby. To support his farm and growing family (he would have six sons) Uncle Dave founded the Macon Mule and Wagon Transportation Company. There were four grocery stores on the square of Murfreesboro. Uncle Dave did deliveries to each one of them. As he would make his delivery to each one, he would sing out what he was delivering to each one of the merchants. That's when everyone knew deliveries had come- when they would hear him singing.
Macon kept a banjo under the seat of his wagon. On the way home after his work was done, he would go back down Main Street pull out the banjo and sing at the top of his voice. The children would come out and watch him and the gentlemen would tip their hats to him. They would always enjoy him coming to town.
After 1920 when cars and trucks put his freight line out-of-business, Macon began performing regularly. Around 1922 the manager of Loew’s Birmingham Theater heard Macon perform at a Shriner’s meeting and offered him several hundred dollars a week to perform there. He was such a big hit for Loew’s that a rival’s company tried to hire him away.
Sid Harkreader Biography
Macon Meets Harkreader
Uncle Dave traveled with touring companies, building up an audience with his old-time music and comedy stage show. According to Charles Wolfe, in 1923 Macon was playing informally at Charlie Melton’s barbershop in Nashville when Sid Harkreader came in with a fiddle under his arm. The two began working together and Harkreader, who played guitar and sang as well as fiddled, accompanied him on a series of Leow’s theater concerts.
Harkreader, who was one of the first Country performers on WSM in Nashville, and had a significant recording and performing career in the 1920s had this to say in his memoirs, Autobiography of Sidney J. Harkreader:
"My mission, my desired goal, and joy in life is to give to the people my talent which I believe is the gift of God which he gave to me. It makes me feel so good inside knowing that God is with me wherever I play my fiddle before an audience. It seems that God is releasing all I have to give each time I play for people. I am thinking and praying that someday before I die, my hopes and prayers will be answered and that I'll go down in history as the greatest fiddler (by the help of God) in my profession, and I'll have the joy of knowing that I have, at least, made people happy along the way, and I'll never be forgotten. I love people, I love music, and God made me that way. How can I lose? I hope someday I can be crowned the greatest fiddler, if not in this world, then in the world to come."
Harkreader’s Early life
Sidney J. Harkreader (Feb 26, 1898 - Mar 19, 1988) known as "Fiddlin'" Sid Harkreader, grew up in the farmlands of Middle Tennessee's Wilson County. Unlike many Country musicians, no one in Harkreader's immediate family played or sang. His great-grandfather had apparently been a fine violinist, and Harkreader's father hoped that somehow this talent might be passed down to his offspring through the bloodline. Young Sid learned to play fiddle from a neighbor and also an elderly worker on his father’s farm. He played at square dances and was delighted to make between ten dollars and 20 dollars per night. Harkreader sang and also learned to play the guitar. During World War I, he left his father's farm to work at a munition plant just outside of Nashville.
Harkreader’s Early Career-Recording Sessions
After the chance meeting with Macon at Melton’s Barbershop, Harkreader began accompanying Macon on his Loew’s Circuit tours. In 1924 Sam McGee [see: McGee’s Biography further down] joined the tour and occasionally replaced Sid. The same year Sterchi Brothers Furniture company, regional distributors of Vocalion Records, paid for Macon and Harkreader to travel to NYC to record. In July, 1924 Macon cut fourteen songs and eight were with Harkreader (see list below).
On April 13, 1925 at the second session with Uncle Dave Macon, Harkreader cut his first solo sides singing and playing guitar: “Dark Eyes” and “Dying Girl’s Message.” Following the first recording session with Macon, the fiddler was approached by a Paramount talent scout who offered him a cool grand to cut 24 sides. He took along banjo player Grady Moore for the first set of sessions done in June, 1927. After Paramount released his songs under their Broadway label under the name Harkins and Moran, Sid took them to court and won a settlement. Despite the lawsuit, the following April Paramount again invited Sid to record; this time with Blythe Poteet, Sam McGee’s cousin, (Moore was too sick to travel) backing him up on guitar and fiddle. Many of Harkreader’s Paramount songs were songs he played with Uncle Dave you can compare the songs below in the next paragraph. Most of these tracks were reissued in the '70s by County on their Early Nashville String Band series, and some material by Harkreader has also been released by the JEMF label, which also printed the delightful booklet Sid Harkreader's Memoirs. Harkreader did one last session with Macon, which was Sid’s last session, in June, 1929 but most of the songs were not released.
Sid Harkreader and Uncle Dave Macon Discography (July, 1924-April, 1926) Vocalion:
All-Go-Hungry Hash House; Arkansas Travelers; Bile Dem Cabbage Down; Chewing Gum; Darling Zelma Lee; Down by the Old Mill Stream; Down By The River; Down in Arkansas; For Goodness Sakes Don't Say I Told You; From Jerusalem To Jericho; Girl I Left Behind Me; I Don’t Reckon It’ll Happen Again; I Tickled Nancy; Jonah and the Whale; Life and Death of Jesse James; Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane; Love Somebody; Man That Rode the Mule Around the World; Mister Johnson; Muskrat Medley; New Coon in Town; Old Dan Tucker; Old Ship of Zion; Put Me in My Little Bed; Over the Mountain; Rooster Crow Medley; *Run Jimmie Run; Save My Mother’s Picture From The Sale; Soldier's Joy; Station Will Be Changed After Awhile; Tennessee Jubilee; Watermelon Smilin’ On the Vine;
Sid Harkreader Discography (April 1925-April, 1928) Vocalion & Paramount: A Trip To Town; Bits of Blues; Bully Of The Town; Chin Music; Dark Eyes; Don’t Reckon It’ll Happen Again; drink Her Down; Dying Girl’s Message; Gambler’s Dying Words; Hand Me Down My Walking Cane; He’ll Find No Girl Like Me; I Love The Hills Of Tennessee; In The Sweet Bye And Bye; John Henry; It Looks To Me like A Big Time Tonight; It Won’t Be Long Now; Kitty Wells; Land Where We Never Grow Old; Lazy Tennessee; Life’s Railway To Heaven; Little Rosewood Casket; Mocking Bird Breakdown; My Little Home In Tennessee; Old Joe (Clark); Old Rugged Cross; On the Bowery; Only As Far As The Gate; Picture From Life’s Other Side; Red River Valley; *Run Jimmie Run; Sweet Bird; Take Me Back To My Carolina Home; Traveling Coon; Wang Wang Blues; Way Down In Jail On My Knees (Lonesome Road Blues); Where Is My mama; Where The River Shannon Flows; Will There Be Any Stars In My Crown;
Sid Harkreader and Uncle Dave Macon Discography (June 1929) Brunswick/Vocalion: Darling Zelma Lee; Hush Little Baby; Over The Mountain; Put Me In my Little Bed; Since Baby’s Learned To Talk; Uncle Dave’s Travels (Skit w/Dialogue) Part I; II; and IV.
Harkreader and Macon-WSM and the Grand Ole Opry
What many people don’t know is Uncle Dave played with Sid Harkreader on WSM for a Policeman’s Benefit Show on Nov. 6, 1925 billed as “An Evening with WSM.” George Hay was hired on Nov. 9th and his first broadcast with Uncle Jimmy Thompson was Nov. 28, which is known as the beginning of The Grande Ole Opry. Harkreader was one of the first historic country players to broadcast live over Nashville's radio stations WDAD and WSM.
Fiddlin’ Sid Harkreader remembers listening to Opry shows: “The old crystal radio set was attached to a window sill and had earphones. Only one person could listen to the broadcast. The crystal set was replaced by an upright cabinet battery radio, which could be heard all over a room. It had a volume control and people thought it was the grandest thing in the whole world, but the batteries didn’t last long. Country people would gather at the country store or at a neighbor’s house to listen. Large crowds would gather on Saturday night to hear the Grand Ole Opry.”
Harkreader began his informal association with the Opry and WSM in 1925 and he was there in December 1927- the night Hay uttered the immortal words: “"For the past hour, we have been listening to music taken largely from Grand Opera. From now on we will present the 'Grand Ole Opry.'"
“I played two tunes on my fiddle the night the Opry was named,” recalled Harkreader. “The others who were in the studio that night were Dr. Humphrey Bate and his Possum Hunters, Burt Hutcherson, and DeFord Bailey, George Wilkerson and his Fruit Jar Drinkers, and the Binkley Brothers. [But at that time] everyone who could play an instrument or sing old-time country music was welcome. No one at any particular time. All they needed to do was just go by the station, and it was almost certain that they would get on the air.”
Harkreader finally landed a regular spot on the Opry in 1931 after the teamed up with guitarist Jimmy Hart.
In 1935 he formed a string band called Sid Harkreader and his Company. He left the Opry in 1937 to tour full-time.
Harkreader’s Later Life
Harkreader's main base of operations remained in the Nashville area, where he continued making appearances at the Opry until as late as 1969. His departure coincided with one of the venue's regular attempts at modernization. Harkreader continued to perform occasionally around Nashville.
Nashville guitarist Mark Brine recalled the fiddler: “I had the great fortune of knowing Fiddlin' Sid Harkreader during the last decade of his life. I first met Sid at Tootsies Orchid Lounge on Nashville's lower Broad Street, where I was performing regularly as a soloist.” In the summer of 1979 Brine set up a private recording session with Sid: “After we had gotten two takes down, the telephone rang. Sid was talking to the caller and at last returned to the room sayin', " … that was some fella named John Hartford. He wants to come by and play some music with me. Did you ever hear of him?" I couldn't believe my ears!” After Hartford came by Brine captured them on his reel-to-reel: “And, man-o-man, might I say them two fellows were cookin'! I was doing my absolute best to just keep up with them. And, I do mean that!”
Sam and Kirk McGee Biographies
Sam (guitar) and Kick (banjo) McGee with Arthur Smith (fiddle)
Sam Meets Uncle Dave
In 1924 Uncle Dave met Sam McGee when Macon and Sid Harkreader were playing a show near Franklin, Tennessee. Sam was a blacksmith and had been playing the guitar and banjo for many years. Sam invited Macon home after the show and after hearing Sam pick “Missouri Waltz” Uncle Dave invited him to play a few dates with him in place of Harkreader. In 1925 Sam played with Harkreader and Macon on the Loews’s Bijou Theater in Birmingham appearing on stage in a rural outfit. He sat on a plaster of Paris tree stump and played solos while Bob Bradford did his buck-and-wing dance.
Kirk joined the acted and they were billed as ‘Uncle Dave Macon and hid Sons from Billygoat Hill, with Sam dressed as a rustic clown and all three playing their backwoods image. “I never did learn much about playing from him,” said Sam. But I did learn about handling an audience.”
Although Uncle Dave was a consummate showman he wasn’t the best banjo picker in the world but he still won many contests. In 1926 both Sam and Uncle Dave signed up to play in a banjo contest in Birmingham. Uncle Dave made a deal with Same that they would split the money if one of them won. Sam figured that since Uncle Dave was famous he’d easily win first. When they had the contest the performers played behind a curtain so no one could see them and Sam won first prize while Uncle Dave didn’t get in the top three. Uncle Dave said, “Don’t tell that one on me.”
Sam never told that story on his mentor, Uncle Dave until the Dixie Dewdrop passed away many years later. Sam McGee eventually became known as “Grand Dad of the Country Guitar Pickers” and is considered one of the best all-time guitar pickers in Country Music.
The McGee Brothers Early Days
Sam Fleming McGee was born May 1, 1894, near Franklin, Tennessee, Williamson County, 20 miles south of Nashville. Kirk was born Nov. 4, 1898. Their first teacher was their father who knew three of four hundred old fiddler tunes. “He seemed to play more slowly than they do now,” said Kirk “every note was sharp and clear.” As a boy Sam would stay up listening to the marathon picking sessions at his house. “Time didn’t mean as much to them as it does to so many now. They’d stay up till two or three in the morning playing waltzs breakdowns and two-steps. I’d be there taking it all in until they made me go to bed.”
Sam first learned banjo and accompanied an old fiddler name Willie Williams while Kirk learned banjo licks from Felix Bennet. By the time they were teens they were playing for square dances. One of Sam’s first mentors was Tom Hood who convinced him to “get away from the banjo and get me a guitar.” Around 1910 Sam developed an alternating bass style similar to what Travis and Atkins would later make famous from Jim Sapp and Amos Johnson, two African American pickers. He would play the melody on the treble strings with his fingers while playing rhythm with his thumb. The use of alternating bass and playing the melody on the treble strings had more in common with black blues than local string band playing, where a guitar kept time with bass runs while backing the fiddle. By 1920 Kirk was playing guitar and fiddle.
McGees Start Recording
In April 1926 Sam McGee traveled to New York City with Uncle Dave Macon and Sid Harkreader where Sam played guitar and recorded his first sides backing Uncle Dave. Sam also recorded five songs: two guitar solos: “Buck Dancer’s Choice” and “Franklin Blues;” and three vocals: “In A Cool Shady Nook” (Katy Cline), “If I Could Only Blot out The Past” and “Knoxville Blues.”
The McGee Brothers made their first recording together in 1928 for Gennett [see songs below]. They continued to play with Uncle Dave and other groups (another Fruit Jar Drinkers group of George Wilkerson for Sam, and the Crook Brothers band for Kirk) and recorded with Uncle Dave.
Sam And Kirk McGee; McGee Brothers Discography to 1942 (Songs with Dave Macon not included):
Sam McGee Solo Recordings (4-14-1926 to 1934): As Willie And Mary Strolled By The Seashore; Brown’s Ferry Blues; Buck Dancer’s Choice; Chevrolet Car; Easy Rider; Franklin Blues; If I Could Only Blot out The Past; In A Cool Shady Nook; Kickin’ Mule; Knoxville Blues; Railroad Blues; Red River Valley; Ship Without A Sail; Southern Whistlin’ Coon; Way Down In Arkansas;
Kirk McGee Solo Recordings Nov. 1928- 1934 (includes songs with Blythe Poteet): C-H-I-C-K-E-N Spells Chicken; Flower From My Angel Mother’s Grave; Home Ain’t Nothing Like This; House At The End of The Lane; If I Could Only Blot out The Past; If I Could Only Hear My Mother Pray Again; If I Only Had A Home; Love Always Has It’s Way; My Girl Is A High Born Lady; My Mother’s Hands; My Wife Left Me; No One Else Can Take Your Place; Only A Step To The Grave; Shoo Fly Don’t Bother Me; Where Is My Mama;
McGee Brothers- May 1927 to Nov. 1928 (sometimes with Mazy Todd): Brown’s Ferry Blues; C-H-I-C-K-E-N Spells Chicken; Charming Bill; Flower From My Angel Mother’s Grave; Hannah Won’t You Open The Door; My Family Has Been A Crooked Set; Old Master’s Runaway; Ragged Jim; Rufus Blossom; Salt Lake City Blues; Salty Dog Blues; Someone Else May Be There While I’m Gone; (The) Tramp;
McGees Play Grand Ole Opry- The Dixieliners
Sam McGee, early Opry performer: “The Opry came down here and said they wanted players who were outstanding in the field—and that’s where they found us, out standing in the field.”
In 1926 the McGees started perfoming on the WSM radio’s The Grand Ole Opry with Uncle Dave. According to Sam: “Just as soon as word circulated about the Opry, the Barn Dance it was then, everybody got excited about it. Uncle Dave Macon and me were down in Alabama. He says, ‘Let’s go and play on that Barn Dance.’ It wasn’t any trouble to get on then because it was so new and they didn’t have the people they needed.”
Uncle Dave began was using his son Dorris to play guitar for him, and when the 1929 Depression hit the McGees and Macon parted ways. In 1932 The Dixieliners were formed with Fiddlin' Arthur Smith, Sam and Kirk. This trio was one of the finest to ever play on the Opry and played five years. Kirk was fine singer, guitarist and banjoist as well as a fiddler. Arthur was excellent fiddler and a good singer and clawhammer banjoist and Sam was a good singer and excellent guitarist and banjoist. Although frequently on tour and radio, The Dixieliners, one of the best Opry groups, never recorded until the reunion record in the 1950's (see listing below).
Besides guitar, Sam played the banjo and the Gibson banjo-guitar. He and Kirk were often billed as comedy acts, with Sam wearing a red wig to become a Toby character developed in minstrel shows. A lot of his songs show his comedic side (with lines like, "Met a little gypsy in a fortune telling place--she read my mind, and then she slapped my face..."), but were accompanied with masterful runs and bends on the guitar. Charles K. Wolfe's excellent book on the early Opry, A Good Natured Riot, tells how Uncle Dave taught showmanship to the McGee brothers, particularly playing up the hillbilly aspects for comedy.
McGees Later Years
Sam and Kirk’s lives intertwined with some of the best old time acoustic musicians of the 20th Century, including Dave Macon, the Delmores, and Fiddlin' Arthur Smith, as well as moving into bluegrass circles. By the late 30's the Dixieliners dissolved, and the McGees took up their day jobs (Kirk in realty in Nashville and Sam in farming in Franklin), still appearing regularly on the Opry in the old-time segment, which was retained into the 60's.
Sam's granddaughter Jane McGee Frost wrote about Sam's playing the first electric guitar on the Opry: "Yes, Sam McGee did play the first electric guitar (National New Yorker Model made in 1938) ever played on the Opry sometime In the early 40’s. The story he told in our family and that I have heard forever is that after he played, George D. Hay told him not to bring that electric guitar back that they wanted to keep the Opry down to earth. A year or so after that, Pee Wee King performed with electrical instruments in his band and from that point on, the Opry allowed electric instruments. My Uncle Bass McGee still has this National New Yorker electric guitar. It does not look anything like any other musical instrument I have ever seen.”
She also wrote: "I inherited my grandfather’s Gibson Mastertone banjo as well as a couple of mandolins. When he passed away [Sam died in a farm accident in 1975], he had 27 musical instruments in his estate and all remain within our family except for one Gibson Electric guitar which was loaned out and is now missing. (serial number Gibson E-S300A5087 in case you come across this hot instrument--contact Jane...)
In 1957 Sam and Kirk were “discovered” during the folk revival and eventually recorded three albums for Folkways and Starday. These recordings come from three live sessions, the first from a 1955 show at the New River Ranch (a show that also featured Grandpa Jones). Recorded by Mike Seeger, the set includes a cover of Tennessee Ernie Ford's “Milk 'Em In The Morning Blues,” Kokomo Arnold's “Milk Cow Blues,” Sam's own “Railroad Blues” and three others. The next 16 tracks (from a 1966 show in Bean Blossom, Indiana) spotlight the brothers on a typically eclectic set of tunes, including John Henry, Tiger Rag, Blackberry Blossom, When The Wagon Was New, and others. The final four tracks were again recorded by Seeger, this time in 1967 as part of the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife.
Mike Seeger: "I saw the McGees at a Grandpa Jones show at New River Ranch in 1955. I knew very little about them except Sam's guitar picking, and only a little of that. They were still playing well and I asked them to record. Their LPs didn't sell very well, as far as I know. Both LPs are available on special order and single tracks are down-loadable at 99 cents each via the SF website. "
Sam And Kirk McGee Discography After 1942:
In 1962 the McGee Bothers cut an album for Starday called Opry Old Timers. Also featured on the album are songs by the Crook on alternate tracks. Starday: SLP-182 “Opry Old Timers” Sam & Kirk McGee with Crook Brothers [1962] Roll On Buddy; Hung Down My Head & Cried; Freight Train Blues; Roll Along Jordan; My Gal's a High Born Lady; Coming From the Ball; Chittlin' Cookin' Time in Cheatham County;
Grandad of the Country Guitar Pickers: (Sam and Kirk McGee: Arhoolie Records; available from County Records) Sam McGee Stomp; Fuller Blues; Burglar Bold; Dew Drop; Jesse James; Ching Chong; Blackberry Blossom; Wheels; How Great Thou Art; When The Wagon Was New; Franklin Blues; Penitentiary Blues; Pig Ankle Rag; Railroad Blues; Buckdancer's Choice; Black Mountain Rag; Wayfaring Stranger
McGee Brothers (Sam and Kirk McGee) and Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith: Old Timers of the Grand Old Opry (Folkways Records - FW02379 1964): Amos Johnson Rag; Bile Them Cabbage Down; Boogie; Buck Dancer's Choice; Charming Bill; Chinese Breakdown; Coming from the Ball; Cumberland Gap; Dance All Night With a Bottle in Your Hand; Don't Let Your Deal Go Down; Drummer Boy; Dusty Miller; Easy Rider; Evening Shade The; Green Valley Waltz; Guitar Waltz; Hell Among the Yearlings; Hollow Poplar; House of David Blues; I've Had a Big Time Tonight Jim Sapp Rag; Keep a Light in Your Window; Kilby Jail; Knoxville Blues; Late Last Night; Lafayette; Memphis Blues; Milk Cow Blues; Milk 'Em in the Evening Blues; Needlecase; Peacock Rag; Pig at Home in the Pen; Polly Ann; Railroad Blues; Red Wing; Rock House Joe; Roll on Buddy; Sally Johnson; Sally Long; Single-Footing Horse; Sixteen on Sunday; Snowdrop; Uncle Buddy; Under the Double Eagle; Whistling Rufus; Whoop 'Em Up Cindy; Widow Haley;
Sam & Kirk McGee (Fuller Arnold’s MBA label recorded in the 1970s): Blue Light; Blues Come On In; Bound To Go; Buck Dancer’s Choice; Cabbage Head; Dark Clouds; Drunkard’s Dream; End Of Forever; Flattop Pickin’ Sam McGee; Franklin Blues; Gulf Coast Blues; Kirk’s Waltz; Knoxville Blues; Little Texas Waltz; Mabel Claire; Railroad Blues; Sally Long; Sam’s Other Side; Shut The Door; Southern Moon; Too Late To Change Your Mind; Tramp, The; Uncle Fuller; Victor Rag; Waiting For A Letter; When The Wagon Was New; While I'm Away; Won’t Happen Again;
Uncle Dave’s First Recordings
In 1924 Sterchi Brothers Furniture company, regional distributors of Vocalion Records, paid for Macon and Harkreader to travel to NYC to record. They had discovered Blind George Reneau and "Uncle Am" Stuart also had recorded for Vocalion in 1924. On July 8, 1924 Macon cut 14 songs including two of his signature songs “Chewing Gum” and “Keep My Skillet Good And Greasy.” According to Archie Green, Macon’s “Hill Billie Blues,” a version of “Hesitation Blues,” was one of the key songs that led to Country Music being called ‘hillbilly’ music.
Macon recorded for Vocalion/Brunswick until the Depression. In March, 1930 Uncle Dave recorded what would be his last session for Brunswick in Knoxville with Dorris (his son’s recording debut). Because of dropping record sales caused by the Depression the sides were never released and Uncle Dave severed his relationship with Brunswick and Vocalion their companion company, who he had been recording with since 1924. He immediately set up a session with Okeh and with Sam McGee did a session in December 1930.
Macon and the Grand Ole Opry
Uncle Dave became the first “professional” performer on the show in 1925- 26 and played at Opry until his death in 1952 at the age of 81. Macon didn’t play regularly on the Opry during the early years because he made much more money touring.
On December 26, 1925, Judge George Hay asked him share an hour program with Uncle Jimmy Thompson on WSM’s Barn Dance in Nashville, and introduced him as ‘The Dixie Dewdrop,’ a nickname that he was known by for the rest of his life. What many people don’t know is Uncle Dave played with Sid Harkreader on WSM for a Policeman’s Benefit Show on Nov. 6, billed as “An Evening with WSM.” Hay was hired on Nov. 9th and his first broadcast with Uncle Jimmy Thompson was Nov. 28, which is known as the beginning of The Grande Ole Opry.
Tennessee Journalist Rufus Jarman gave the account of Macon’s first radio appearance on the Opry: “I remember on Saturday night when uncle Dave made his debut on WSM. We had read about it in the paper but we didn’t mention it about Lascassa. We had one of the two radio sets in the community and we were afraid everybody in the county would swarm into our house to hear Uncle Dave and trample us.”
Macon was both the oldest in the company and the only professional. In 1927 he became a cast member when WSM’s Barn Dance was renamed The Grand Ole Opry. He assembled a group he named the Fruit Jar Drinkers featuring the famous McGee brothers and fiddler Sid Harkreader, performing crowd-pleasers like "Take Me Back to My Old Carolina Home," "Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy" and "Chewing Gum."
Macon’s Opry performances energized the broadcasts in novel fashion, and his success was instantaneous. His habit of a spoken introduction to his songs and his lyrical novelties contrasted nicely to the then largely instrumental presentations. His consummate showmanship excited the audiences in the Ryman Auditorium. This was picked up by the radio listeners who, in turn, attended in even larger numbers his traveling act. Although Macon was the Opry’s biggest star he was not a regular on the show because he was constantly touring.
Uncle Dave Macon was probably the most successful entertainer to come out of Rutherford County, Tennessee. He would always come out and introduce himself as “My name is Dave Macon and I'm from Rutherford County. I suppose most of you don't know anything about Rutherford County. Well let me tell you about Rutherford County...”
Uncle Dave Macon and His Fruit Jar Drinkers
Prompted by a Vocalion A & R man, in 1927 Macon formed a string band with Sam McGee guitar, Kirk McGee fiddle, and local fiddler Mazy Todd, who often appeared on the Grand Ole Opry with his own band. Macon named his group Uncle Dave Macon and his The Fruit Jar Drinkers and this was clearly a group that could compete with the popular Skillet Lickers.
The problem was there was already a different band playing on the Opry named “The Fruit Jar Drinkers” who were “really Tennessee hill men tall lean gangly and they drank moonshine from fruit jars.” When Macon’s 1927 and 1928 recordings with “The Fruit Jar Drinkers” became popular George Hay wrote Vocalion and asked them to stop using the “Fruit Jar Drinkers” but it was too late.
Macon on Gennett- 1934
Because of the Great Depression Macon stopped recording until 1934 when Kirk McGee arranged a session for them with Gennett. In August 1934 Uncle Dave, accompanied by Sam & Kirk McGee, traveled to Richmond, Indiana, for a two-day session for Gennett on August 14th & 15th. Fourteen sides were cut, including “Thank God For Everything,” “When the Train Comes Along,” There’s Just One Way To the Pearly Gates,” “He’s Up With the Angels Now,” and “Don’t Get Weary, Children.” All of these are signature Macon gospel and novelty songs.
Tempting to Macon collectors are the titles of songs not released from the Gennett session, including “You’ve Been A Friend To Me, “The Grey Cat,” “Tune In On Heaven,” and “The Train Left Me and Gone.” Another unissued side, “Eli Green’s Cake Walk,” would have featured Uncle Dave on the piano, doing an instrumental he occasionally played on the Grand Ole Opry. Fortunately, the unissued “Tennessee Tornado” has been found, a test pressing which surfaced at a garage sale in Murfreesboro, with Uncle Dave’s handwriting on the label. Uncle Dave sometimes gave away the pressings he received from recording companies to his friends in Middle Tennessee.
Macon and the Delmore Brothers- Bluebird 1935
In addition to touring throughout the South and Midwest accompanied by Fiddlin’ Sid or Sam & Kirk McGee, Uncle Dave began touring with the Delmore Brothers. The brother act began playing on the Grand Ole Opry in 1933 and Dave took a liking to them. On his tours The Delmores did most of the driving and chores and Macon taught them the ropes of the music business.
Anton Delmore remembered: “He didn’t want a penny that wasn’t his and he didn’t want you to have a penny that belonged to him. We split (the money) three ways and of course you can’t divide a penny into three parts. Uncle Dave would put it down in his little book and always remembered who the odd penny belonged to.”
After Opry appearances in the mid-30s Macon would frequently stay with the Delmores at their house in Nashville instead of driving back to his home. Macon remained close to the Delmores until they left the Opry around 1938. The Delmores even set up Macon’s first session on Bluebird on Jan. 22, 1935 in New Orleans. In a cold unheated studio they recorded six songs: Kelly Harrell’s “Over The Mountain,” When The Harvest Days Are Over,” “I’ll Tickle Nancy” ‘Skillet Good and Greasy,” “Just One Way To Open Up Them Pearly Gates,” and “One More River to Cross.”
At the session Uncle Dave was clowning around with a black gospel quartet waiting to record and he got them laughing so hard all he had to do is look at them and they would crack up. When Dave turned his head from the mic to look at the black group while he was recording Eli Oberstein stopped the session and said, “Now Uncle Dave you’re not going to sing for those boys back there so come on, let’s get something going.” Uncle Dave, who didn’t like anyone telling him what to do was not pleased saying,” now Cap I can sing anyway I want to and still be heard. I’ve got lots of get up and go (volume). I’ve got lots of country hams to eat up there in Readyville. I’ve got plenty of wood hauled up and I don’t have to be bossed around by no New York sharpshooter just to make a few records.”
Macon Stars in Movie- 1940
In 1940 Uncle Dave and his guitar-picking son Dorris, along with George D. Hay and Roy Acuff with his Smoky Mountain Boys and Girls, went to Hollywood and made “Grand Ole Opry” for Republic Pictures. The film still is a gem and contains the only known footage of Uncle Dave giving one of his typical performances.
He played the constable of a small rural town. He plays in a string band led by Roy Acuff where he calls a dance set in a lengthy version of Soldier’s Joy. He appears playing the theme song, “Down in Union County” with the band bouncing down a hill in an open touring car. The show stopper is Macon and his son Dorris playing “Take Me Back To My Carolina Home” in which Macon “sings, picks, mugs, fires his banjo like a gun, fans it, twirls it, passes it between his legs and dances with it.”
Uncle Dave’s Last Years
Bradley Kincaid remembered performing with Uncle Dave in tent shows across the south in the mid-40s. “We went out into Oklahoma,” said Kincaid. “We played Claremont where Will Rogers was from and Uncle Dave was on the show. I can remember Dave say, ‘I’ll tell you we’ve got some great men in congress. We’ve got about the best men money can buy up there.’ He was crazy about county ham. He’d go into a restaurant and pull that ham out of his pocket. A waitress would come around and he say, ‘Fry me up some of that with some eggs’.”
Uncle Dave Macon lamented the state of morals and music. “People today”, Macon was quoted as saying, “are drifting away from the old tunes, the real music. And at the same time they are drifting away from morals – one is the cause of the other. When I was young you never saw more than the toe of a woman’s shoe.”
The raconteur and showman continued to play the Grand Ole Opry until three weeks before his death at age 81. Every July Murfreesboro honors its most famous son with “Uncle Dave Macon Days,” three days of competitions in old time and bluegrass music, clogging and buckdancing. A “Motorless Parade” is held and a Heritage Award Winner is named (previous recipients include Roy Acuff, Grandpa Jones, Leroy Troy, Wilma Lee Cooper, and Kitty Wells). Uncle Dave Macon was one of the first country music performers to be installed in Nashville’s Country Music Hall Of Fame.
Lasting Influence
Macon, who cut over 350 records for such labels as Vocalion, Brunswick, Gennett, and Bluebird between 1924 and 1938, was inducted into Country Music Hall of Fame in 1966. In 1975 there were seven LP’s devoted to Uncle Dave’s recordings. In 1982 “Laugh Your Blues Away” won a grammy for best traditional recording.
Complete Uncle Dave Macon Recorded Songs: Ain't It A Shame To Keep Your Honey Out In The Rain; All I've Got's Gone; All In, Down and Out Blues; All-Go-Hungry Hash House; Angel Band (O Bear Me Away On Your Snowy Wings); Arcade Blues; Are You Washed In The Blood?; Arkansas Travelers; Around Louisville; Backwater Blues; Bake That Chicken Pie; Beautiful Love; Bible's True; Bile Dem Cabbage Down; Bowery (I'll Never Go There Anymore); Braying Mule; Buddy Won't You Roll Down the Line; Bully of the Town; Bum Hotel; Carry Me Back To Old Virginny; Carve That Possum; Chewing Gum; Come Dearest the Daylight is Dawning; Come On Buddie Don't You Want to Go; Comin’ Round The Mountain; Coon That Had The Razor; Cotton-Eyed Joe; Country Ham And Red Gravy; Cross Eyed Butcher And The Hen; Cumberland Mountain Deer Race; Darling Zelma Lee; Death of John Henry; Deliverance Will Come; Diamonds In The Rough; Don't Get Weary Children; Don't You Look for Trouble, Laugh Your Blues Away; Down By The Old Mill Stream; Down By the River; Down In Arkansas; Eleven Cent Cotton; Elephant March (Banjo Solo); Fame Apart from God's Approval; Farm Relief; Fatal Wedding; For Goodness Sake Don’t Say I Told You; Fox Chase; From Earth To Heaven; From Jerusalem to Jericho; Gal That Got Stuck On Everything She Said; Gayest Old Dude That's Out; Girl I Left Behind Me; Give Me Back My Five Dollars; Go Along Mule; Go On Nora Lee; Going Across the Sea; Going Back to Dixie (Gwine Back to Dixie); Got No Silver Nor Gold Blues; Governor Al Smith; Greenback; Grey Cat On A Tennessee Farm; He's Up with the Angels Now; He Won the Heart of My Sarah Jane; Heartaching Blues; Hill Billie Blues (Hesitation Blues); Hold on to the Sleigh; Hold that Woodpile Down; Hop High Ladies, The Cake’s All Dough; How Beautiful Heaven Must Be; Honest Confession Is Good For The Soul; Hungry Hash House; Hush Little Baby, Don't You Cry; I Ain't Got Long To Stay; I Don't Care If I Never Wake Up; I Don't Reckon It'll Happen Again; I’ll Never Go There Anymore; I'll Rise When the Rooster Crows; I’ll Tickled Nancy; I'm Drifting Farther from You; I'm Free I've Broken the Chains; I'm A-Goin’ Away in the Morn; I’m Going Away To Leave You Love; I'm the Child to Fight; I’se Gwine Back To Dixie; I've Got the Mourning Blues; In A Cool Shady Nook; In And Around Nashville; In The Good Old Days Of Long Ago; In the Good Old Summer Time; In The Old Carolina State; In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree; In The Sweet Bye and Bye; Jesse James (Life And Death Of Jesse James); Jesus Lover Of My Soul; Johnny Grey; Jonah And The Whale; Jordan Is a Hard Road to Travel; Just From Tennessee; Just One Way to the Pearly Gates; Just Tell Them That You Saw Me; Kentucky Boot Leggers; Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy; Kissing on the Sly; Lady in the Car; Late Last Night When My Willie Came Home (Way Downtown); Laugh Your Blues Away; Life And Death Of Jesse James; Little Brown Jug; Little Old Log Cabin In The Lane; Long John Green; Love Somebody; Man That Rode The Mule Round The World; Maple On The Hill; Miss McLeod's Reel; Mister Johnson (Thompson’s Mule); Mockingbird Medley Song; Molly Married A Traveling Man; More Like Your Dad Everyday; Mountain Dew; Muskrat Medley; My Daughter Wished to Marry; My Girl's a High Born Lady; Mysteries of the World; Never Make Love No More; New Coon In Town; New Ford Car; Nobody's Business; Nobody's Darling But Mine; No One to Welcome Me Home; O Bear Me Away On Your Snowy Wings (Angel Band); Oh Baby, You Done Me Wrong; Oh, Lovin' Babe; Old Dan Tucker; Old Man's Drunk Again; Old Maid's Last Hope; Old Maid's Love Song; Old Ship of Zion; Old Ties; One More River to Cross; Only As Far As The Gate, Dear Ma; On the Dixie Bee Line; Over There (In and Around Nashvile); Over The Mountain; Over the Road I'm Bound to Go; Papa's Billie Goat; Peek-A-Boo; Pickaninny Lullaby Song; Pictures From Life’s Other Side; Polly Put the Kettle; Poor Old Dad (w/Sam and Kirk McGee); Poor Sinners, Fare You Well; Prodigal's Return; Put Me In My Little Bed; Rabbit in the Pea Patch; Railroadin’ and Gamblin’; Rise When The Rooster Crows; Rock about My Saro Jane; Rock of Ages; Roe Hire Poor Gal; Roll Down the Line; Rooster Crow Medley; *Run, Jimmie, Run; Rye Straw; Sail Away Ladies; Saro Jane; Sassy Sam; Save My Mother's Picture From The Sale; Shall We Gather at the River; She'll Be Coming Around The Mountain; She's Got the Money Too; Sho' Fly, Don't Bother Me; Shout Mourner; Since Baby's Learned To Talk; Sleepy Lou; Soldier’s Joy; Something's Always Sure to Tickle Me; Sourwood Mountain Medley; Stagolee (Stack/Stag-O-Lee); State of Arkansas (Misery in Arkansas); Station Will Be Changed After Awhile; Stop That Knocking At My Door; Summertime On The Beeno Line; Susie Lee; Sweet Bunch of Daisies; Sweet Marie; Take Me Back to My Old Carolina Home; Take Me Home, Poor Julia; Tell Her to Come Back Home; Tennessee Jubilee; Tennessee Red Fox Chase; Thank God For Everything; That's Where My Money Goes; They're After Me; Things I Don't Like To See; Think of (the) Days That Were Gone, Maggie; Them Two Gals Of Mine; Tom and Jerry; Tossing the Baby So High; Travelin' Down the Road; Travelin' On My Mind; Turkey in the Straw; Two-In-One Chewing Gum; Uncle Dave’s Beloved Solo; Uncle Dave's Travels (Parts I-IV); Uncle Ned; Visit at the Old Maid's; Wait Till The Clouds Roll By; Walk, Tom Wilson Walk; Walking in The Sunlight; Was You There When They Took Away my Lord; Watermelon Smilin’ On The Vine; Way Down the Old Plank Road; We Are Up Against It Now; We Need A Change Of Business All Around; When Reuben Comes to Town; When The Harvest Days Are Over; When the Train Comes Along; Whoop 'Em Up Cindy; Will There Be Any Stars [in My Crown]; When the Train Comes Along; Where Was You When They Took My Lord Away; Won't You Come and Be Mine (Beautiful Love); Working For My Lord; Worthy of Estimation; Wouldn't Give Me Sugar in My Coffee; Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train; You've Been A Friend To Me; Zelma Lee (Darling Zelma Lee)