Uncle Dave Macon
Uncle Dave Macon | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | David Harrison Macon |
Also known as | "Dixie Dewdrop" |
Born | October 7, 1870 Smartt Station, Tennessee, US |
Origin | Nashville, Tennessee |
Died | March 22, 1952 Murfreesboro, Tennessee US | (aged 81)
Genres | Old-time music |
Occupation(s) |
|
Instrument(s) | Banjo, vocals |
Years active | 1880s–1952 |
David Harrison Macon (October 7, 1870 – March 22, 1952), known professionally as Uncle Dave Macon, was an American
Macon's music is considered the ultimate bridge between 19th-century American folk and vaudeville music and the phonograph and radio-based music of the early 20th-century. Music historian Charles Wolfe wrote, "If people call yodelling
Early life and family
Macon was born in Smartt Station (about five miles south of
In 1889, Macon married Matilda Richardson and moved to a farm near Kittrell, Tennessee, where they raised six sons. Around 1900, Macon opened a freight line between Murfreesboro and Woodbury, Tennessee. It was called The Macon Midway Mule and Mitchell Wagon Transportation Company. Often, when Macon was driving along with his mules, hauling freight and produce, he would entertain people by singing and playing the banjo at various stops along the way. In time, his sons became part of the company as they grew up. But the arrival of an automobile-based competitor threatened his mule company, and he was forced to close down in 1920.[4]
His brother, E. L. Macon, was a businessman who purchased the Brevard-Macon House in 1926.[8]
Professional career
Although Macon had long performed as an amateur and was well known for his showmanship, his first professional performance was in 1921 at a school in
In 1923 Macon began a tour of the south-eastern United States, joined by fiddler Sid Harkreader and five other acts. By now, the Sterchi Brothers Furniture Company, distributors of Vocalion Records, had noticed Macon and realised his potential as a recording artist. On July 8, 1924, Macon and Harkreader made their first recordings for Vocalion in New York City.[11] The session extended over several days and eighteen songs were recorded.[12] In 1925, Macon and Harkreader added "Dancing Bob" Bradford, a buck dancer to their act, Their tours on the Loew's circuit now included comedy, buck-dancing and old time music.[11] In late 1925, Macon met guitarist Sam McGee, who was to become Macon's regular recording and performance partner.[13] On November 6, 1925, Macon and Harkreader performed at the Ryman Auditorium—the future home of the Grand Ole Opry— in a benefit for the Nashville police force. The show was just three weeks before the WSM Grand Ole Opry was founded.[14]
Macon was one of the first performers at the new WSM radio station. On December 26, 1925, Macon and fiddler Uncle Jimmy Thompson appeared together on the WSM Saturday night program. Macon's career with WSM lasted twenty-six years, but as he continued touring, he wasn't a regular performer in the years of the Grand Ole Opry.[15] In early 1927, Macon formed the Fruit Jar Drinkers, composed of Macon, Sam McGee, Kirk McGee and Mazy Todd.[16] The Fruit Jar Drinkers recorded for the first time on May 7, 1927.[17] Although the group's repertoire was mainly traditional songs and fiddle numbers, they occasionally recorded religious songs, for which Macon would alter the group's name to the Dixie Sacred Singers.[16]
In December 1930, Macon recorded for
Death and legacy
Macon continued to perform until shortly before his death on March 22, 1952, at Rutherford County Hospital in Murfreesboro. He was buried at Coleman Cemetery near Murfreesboro.
During the second full weekend in July the city of Murfreesboro celebrates "Uncle Dave Macon Days." The event is held on the grounds of historic Cannonsburgh Village. This celebration hosts the national competitions for old-time clogging, buckdancing and old-time banjo.
Macon's house, Uncle Dave Macon House, still stands on Old Woodbury Pike in Kittrell, Tennessee, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[22]
In 2014, the bridge over Cripple Creek in Kittrell was renamed the Uncle Dave Macon Bridge.
Repertoire and style
While Uncle Dave Macon recorded over 170 songs between 1924 and 1938, in his day he was most notable for his polished and lively stage presence. Bandmate Kirk McGee later described Macon's personality as a never-ending performance— "All day long, from morning till midnight, it was a show."[23] While playing, Macon would often kick and stomp, and shout sporadically, taxing the skills of WSM's early volume-control engineers. His performance style can be discerned to some extent from his early recordings, in which he whoops and hollers amidst relatively aggressive vocal deliveries.[23]
Macon was famous for his outrageous and funny performances, whether playing on the Vaudeville stage, at school and community socials, or at the Grand Ole Opry. Macon peppered his performances with jokes and comedic monologues, and often engaged in witty repartee with sidemen such as Sam McGee and Sid Harkreader. Other country entertainers marveled at Uncle Dave's skill as a performer. Grand Ole Opry star Roy Acuff said of Macon, "There was never a person that I have come in contact with in the entertainment world that was more individual than Uncle Dave Macon. He was a self-made entertainer who seemed to copy nobody."[24]
Macon played an open-backed Gibson banjo on most of his recordings, and while contemporary musicians didn't consider him a particularly skillful banjo player, modern musicologists have identified no less than 19 picking styles on Macon's recordings.
Albums
- Uncle Dave Macon (1963) (Folkways)
- First Featured Star of the "Grand Ole Opry" (Decca DL-4760)
- Country Gospel Song (1971) (Folkways)
- Early Recordings (Uncle Dave Macon) – County Records(1971)
- Go Long Mule – County Records (1972)
- The Gayest Old Dude In Town – Folk Variety Records (1973)
- At Home – Bear Family Records (1976)
- Laugh Your Blues Away – Rounder Records (1979)
- Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy – Old Homestead Records (1979)
- Country Music Hall of Fame Series – MCA Records (1992)
- Travelin' Down the Road – County/BMG Records (1995)
- Anthology of American Folk Music (1997) (Folkways)
Notes
- ^ Heartaches By the Number, Cantwell, David & Friskics-Warren, Bill, Vanderbilt University Press, 2003, pg. 70
- ^ a b c d e f g h Wolfe, pp. 320–321.
- ISBN 9780252050695.
- ^ a b Malone, p. 42.
- ^ Bogdanov, p. 462.
- ^ Brunvand, p. 457.
- ^ Malone, p. 41.
- ^ "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Brevard-Macon House". National Park Service. United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
- ^ a b Malone, p. 43.
- ^ Although some sources like Bogdanov, p. 462 and Green, p.80 say that he was discovered by a talent agent of Loews Theatres when he and Harkreader were singing at a barbershop in Nashville.
- ^ a b Malone, p. 44.
- ^ Russell, Pinson, pp. 573.
- ^ Malone, p. 45.
- ^ Russell, p. 12.
- ^ Malone, p. 46.
- ^ a b Malone, p. 47.
- ^ Russell, Pinson, p. 575.
- ^ Russell, Pinson, p. 578.
- ^ Malone, p. 49.
- ISBN 9781476613420. Retrieved 27 September 2021 – via Google Books.
- ^ Malone, p. 50.
- ^ "Top 10 Facts About Uncle Dave Macon," Murfreesboro Post, 2007. Retrieved: 10 March 2014.
- ^ a b c Hurst, 94–99.
- ^ Roy Acuff, interview by Charles K. Wolfe, Sept 19, 1977 (no tape no.), Charles Wolfe Collection, Center for Popular Music, Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
- ^ a b Larkin, 418.
- ^ Lyle Lofgren, "Shut Up In the Coal Creek Mine." Originally published in March 2006 edition of Inside Bluegrass. Retrieved: 10 May 2009.
- ISBN 978-0313088100.
References
- Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide to Country: The Definitive Guide to Country Music, Backbeat Books, 2003
- Jan Harold Brunvand, American Folklore: An Encyclopedia, Taylor & Francis, 1996
- Douglas B. Green, Classic Country Singers, Gibbs Smith, 2008
- Jack Hurst, Nashville's Grand Ole Opry, H.N. Abrams Books, 1975.
- Colin Larkin (editor), "Uncle Dave Macon", The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Vol. 5, Oxford University Press, 2006.
- Bill C. Malone, Judith McCulloh, Stars of Country Music: Uncle Dave Macon to Johnny Rodriguez, University of Illinois Press, 1975
- Tony Russell, Country Music Originals: The Legends and the Lost, Oxford University Press, 2007
- Tony Russell, Bob Pinson, Country Music Records: A Discography, 1921–1942, Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum, 2004
- Charles Wolfe, "Uncle Dave Macon", The Encyclopedia of Country Music: The Ultimate Guide to the Music, 1998.