Roy Acuff

Roy Acuff (1903-92), American country music fiddler, singer, and composer, born in Maynardsville, Tennessee. While recuperating from sunstroke, which put an end to a potential baseball career with the New York Yankees, Acuff developed a serious interest in music. He performed (1932) in a medicine show and formed a band eventually known as the Smoky Mountain Boys. He became a popular fixture at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, where he first appeared in 1938. During World War II Acuff and the Smoky Mountain Boys performed for U.S. armed forces throughout the world, helping to bring country music to other nations. Acuff remained true to the traditional string-band sound of mountain music. With Fred Rose he established (1942) the Acuff-Rose Publishing Company, the first such company devoted entirely to country music. He twice ran for governor of Tennessee; as a Democrat (1944), when he lost the primary, and as a Republican (1948), when he won the primary but lost the election. Acuff was the first living member elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame (1962). Among the perennial favorites associated with his name are “Wabash Cannonball,””Wreck on the Highway,””Great Speckled Bird,” and “The Precious Jewel.” In 1987 Acuff received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.