|
THE DAYS OF UNCLE DAVE MACON
After spending his first 13 years
on a Highland Rim farm in Middle Tennessee, the Macon family relocated
to Nashville in 1883, where Macon’s father (Confederate
War Captain John Macon) Following his father’s murder in 1885, which was witnessed by young Macon, his mother and the ten Macon children moved to Readyville, Tennessee, where she ran a country inn. Macon married Matilda Richardson in 1899 and founded a horse drawn wagon company in the Kittrell community of Rutherford County, Tennessee, between Murfreesboro and Woodbury. For the next 18 years he reared his seven children, drove his wagon and provided ‘pass-the-hat’ entertainment, particularly at area schools. He made the school children at ease by introducing himself as ‘Uncle Dave,’ and the name stuck. In 1918 Uncle Dave sought payment for his unique banjo playing and comedy. Finding automobiles too competitive for his wagons, Macon turned his music into his livelihood. At his first paid performance, a talent scout offered him a booking in Birmingham. The next seven years found Uncle Dave barnstorming the South for—among others—the Lowe’s Theater chain. His first album was produced in April 1925. In December 1925, Judge George Hay asked him to join WSM’s Barn Dance and introduced him as ‘The Dixie Dewdrop,’ a name that never evaporated. Macon was both the oldest in the company and the only professional. 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. Highlights of his performances are assembled on the Country Music Hall of Fame Series issued by MCA, CD#10546. Uncle Dave’s hillbilly preeminence culminated in the movie ‘Grand Ole Opry’ in 1940, filmed when he was 70. He continued his Opry performances until three weeks before his death in 1952. His son, Dorris Macon, continued in his stead through 1982. Posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1966, the Dixie Dewdrop is survived by a legacy that will be discernible no less at the turn of the century than at his death.
"Uncle Dave Macon was probably the most successful entertainer to come out of Rutherford County, Tennessee. He lived from 1870 to 1952 and was an old time entertainer that was used to doing live shows--vaudeville stage or in an old country school house. 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...' "They say that when Uncle Dave got started he wasn't a musician; he was a freight hauler about the turn of the century. He was the one who hauled all of the freight from Woodbury to Murfreesboro and back again. He did it with mules and he had a mule driver. He was the boss of the outfit and about that time (about 1900 or so) 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 he would start singing. Everyone got such a kick out of it. "Then on the way home he kept a banjo under the seat of his wagon (this was long before the day of the automobile). As he would go back down Main Street ... he would pull out the banjo (now that his work was done) and he would pluck his tunes and sing at the top of his voice. It was almost like a parade. The little kids would come out and watch him and the gentlemen would tip their hats to him. They would always enjoy him coming to town. "Uncle Dave Macon was a locally known character even before he ever set foot on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry or made records. If you have to pick out the legends of Rutherford County then he's number one; he is like the Elvis of the Rutherford County. **Excerpted from the interview of Charles Wolfe, a Rutherford County Historian, for "Rutherford County: 200 Years of Our County." "Uncle Dave Macon was a locally known character even before he ever set foot on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry or made records. If you have to pick out the legends of Rutherford County then he's number one; he is like the Elvis of the Rutherford County. **Excerpted from the interview of Charles Wolfe, a Rutherford County Historian, for "Rutherford County: 200 Years of Our County." |
purchased the Broadway Hotel, the unofficial headquarters of southern
entertainers and minstrels. With the banjo as his instrument of
choice and the varied musical talent at hand to teach him, the
precocious Macon mastered musical sleight of hand. While picking
and singing, he flipped his banjo in the air, caught it and continued
without a break in the music. In another stunt he planted his
banjo on the floor and strummed it with his Derby hat while walking
around the banjo. Such showmanship was a staple of his performances.
His initial exposure to Appalachian folk and gospel was expanded
during these years by the music of the Cumberland River stevedores
and vaudeville acts passing through the hotel.