In looking up something regarding Roy Acuff, I came upon a listing of "honorific titles" in music and scrolled down to "The King of Country Music". Three names were listed--George Strait, Garth Brooks and Roy Acuff--but the title solely belongs to Acuff and always will. He originally came to the Opry in the late '30s to fiddle, but ended up singing "The Great Speckled Bird" and helped usher in a transition at the Opry from string band music to the singer-based format that endures to this day. He had many early hits, my favorites being his signature "Wabash Cannonball", "Precious Jewel", "Wreck On The Highway" and "The Great Speckled Bird". Interestingly, beyond the 40s, he never really topped the charts again, but his reign as the "King" was undisputed and his impact on country music was immense. The purity of his mountain voice, coupled with the whimsy and driving dobro of the largely unheralded Pete Kirby, Bashful Brother Oswald, is refreshing. The photo above is a really blurry shot of Acuff at Carnegie Hall on a package show I saw while in college that also featured Tammy Wynette and Merle Haggard. I met him that night and it was a thrill. I used to be into Roy a lot more in college than today, but he remains stuck in my craw and I'm glad I can't get him out! Here are three favorites, plus a bonus track, "Smoke On The Water," a song which predicted the defeat of the Axis powers in World War II. In fact, Acuff was so popular during the period, Japanese soldiers charging at Okinawa shouted, "To hell with Roosevelt, to hell with Babe Ruth, to hell with Roy Acuff". He died in 1992.
"Wabash Cannonball"
"The Great Speckled Bird" (Wilburn Brothers TV Show)
"Once More" (Wilburn Brothers TV Show)
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