Uncle Dave Macon

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

David Harrison Macon, better known as Uncle Dave Macon, was born in Tennessee in 1870. At fifteen he learned to play the banjo from a circus comedian. In his youth his family ran a hotel in Nashville, where travelling performers stayed, and later he hauled freight with mules and entertained people along the way with singing and banjo playing. He did not become a professional musician until around the age of fifty. As a vaudeville performer he appeared in the Loew's theatres, and in 1924 he made his first recordings, for Vocalion in New York, with fiddler Sid Harkreader.

Music and breakthrough

In 1925 Macon became one of the first performers on the radio station WSM in Nashville. He is considered the first star of the Grand Ole Opry. With guitarist Sam McGee he formed a regular duo, and in 1927 he started the Fruit Jar Drinkers. His repertoire consisted of traditional songs, jokes and new pieces, delivered with a generous dose of showmanship. His distinctive appearance, with hat, gold teeth and high collar, made him recognisable. He performed until shortly before his death in 1952.

Influence

Macon is seen as the bridge between nineteenth-century folk music and vaudeville on the one hand and the gramophone and radio of the twentieth century on the other. The historian Charles Wolfe called him the grandfather of country music.

Listening

• 
  Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy · Uncle Dave Macon, 1924
  Apple Music ↗

Discography

Studio albums

• 1972Go Long Mule
• 2001Early Recordings

See also

• Minstrel shows