Roy Acuff

Roy Acuff

Roy Claxton Acuff (born September 15, 1903 in Maynardville , Tennessee , † November 23, 1992 in Nashville , Tennessee) was an American country singer and music publisher . He was one of the biggest and most influential country music stars in the period between the death of Jimmie Rodgers in 1933 and the rise of Hank Williams in the late 1940s. It sold more than thirty million records and received the greatest honors in its genre.

Life

Beginnings

Roy Acuff was at the start of a promising career as a professional baseball player when he was bedridden for several months after a sunstroke while fishing . Out of necessity he gave up his sporting ambitions and tried his hand at music. First, he joined one of the medicine shows that were typical of those years, which went from fair to fair and brought health products to the man through music and show interludes.

In 1933 he joined the Tennessee Crackerjacks , who appeared regularly on the radio. Three years later he recorded some records. Among them were the songs that made him famous a little later: The Great Speckled Bird and Wabash Cannonball . Two years later he got the chance to appear in the Grand Ole Opry . His performance was so successful that he was signed for other concerts.

Opry star and music publisher

Roy Acuff quickly became the Grand Ole Opry's favorite star. Even today, his name is almost inextricably linked with this institution. Its popularity also grew steadily outside of the country scene. After the USA entered World War II, he became a national symbol. From 1944 he applied several times for the post of governor of Tennessee.

In 1942, together with the songwriter Fred Rose , he founded the Acuff Rose music publishing company in Nashville , which signed stars such as Hank Williams , The Everly Brothers and Roy Orbison .

Waning success

In 1948, Acuff had its last top 20 hit on the C&W charts. After that, his record sales dropped noticeably, and he concentrated on appearances in the Grand Ole Opry. It wasn't until 1958 that he had another hit with Once More and in 1959 he was in the C&W charts for the last time. He supported the GIs fighting there with several concerts in Vietnam. In 1972, the conservative Acuff surprised C&W fans when he participated in the album Will the Circle Be Unbroken by the comparatively unconventional Nitty Gritty Dirt Band . The record was very successful and went platinum .

Honors and death

Acuff received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his service to the record industry and was the first to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1962. In the foyer of the Ryman Auditorium (which until 1974 was the home of the Grand Ole Opry) is a bronze sculpture showing Roy Acuff and his colleague and good friend Minnie Pearl sitting on a bench.

Roy Acuff died of heart failure in 1992 at the age of 89.

Private

Since 1936 Roy Acuff was married to Mildred Douglas († 1981). The marriage has two children, a son and a daughter.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		US	Country
1974	Back in the country	US44 (12 weeks) US	-

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		US	Country
1944	The Prodigal Son	US13 (1 week) US	Country4 (... weeks) Country
	I'll Forgive You but I Can't Forget	US21 (1 week) US	Country3 (... weeks) Country
	Write me sweetheart	-	Country6 (... weeks) Country
1947	(Our Own) Jole Blon	-	Country4 (... weeks) Country
1948	The Waltz of the Wind	-	Country8 (... weeks) Country
	Unloved and Unclaimed	-	Country14 (... weeks) Country
	This World Can't Stand Long	-	Country12 (... weeks) Country
	Tennessee Waltz	-	Country12 (... weeks) Country
	A Sinner's Death	-	Country14 (... weeks) Country
1958	Once more	-	Country8 (... weeks) Country
	So many times	-	Country16 (11 weeks) Country
1959	Come and Knock (On the Door of My Heart)	-	Country20 (3 weeks) Country
1965	Freight Train Blues	-	Country45 (5 weeks) Country
1971	I saw the light	-	Country56 (6 weeks) Country	with Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
1974	Back in the Country Back in the Country	-	Country51 (11 weeks) Country
	Old Time Sunshine Song Back in the Country	-	Country97 (3 weeks) Country
1989	The Precious Jewel	-	Country87 (2 weeks) Country	with Charlie Louvin

Remarks

1. ^ Whitburn, Joel: The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits. 1944-2006 . 2nd Edition. New York, NY: Billboard Books, 2006, p. 17
2. ↑ RolandNote.com: The Ultimate Country Music Database . Retrieved October 30, 2015.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: US US before 1958
4. ^ Billboard Pop Hits Singles & Albums 1940-1954 by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2002, ISBN 978-0-89820-198-7

literature

• Pareles, Jon / Romanowski, Patricia (Eds.): The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia Of Rock & Roll . London: Rolling Stone Press / Michael Joseph, 1983, pp. 2f
• Dellar, Fred / Thompson, Roy: The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Country Music . Foreword by Roy Acuff. London: Salamander Books, 1977, pp. 8-10
• Jeier, Thomas: Das neue Lexikon der Country Music , Munich: Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, 1992, pp. 82–85
• Fuchs, Walter: History of Country Music. Centers, styles, resumes . Bergisch Gladbach: Gustav Lübbe Verlag, 1980, p. 182
• Stambler, Irwin / Landon, Grelun: Encyclopedia Of Folk, Country And Western Music . New York / London: St. Martin's Press, 1969, pp. 4-6
• Erlewine, Michael u. a .: All Music Guide to Country Music . San Francisco, Cal .: Miller Freemann Books, 1997, pp. 1f

Web links

Commons : Roy Acuff  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Sound carrier by Roy Acuff in the catalog of the German National Library
• Roy Acuff on Hillbilly-Music.com (English)