Clyde Moody born 19 September 1915

Clyde Moody (September 19, 1915 – April 7, 1989), also known as the "Hillbilly Waltz King" and sometimes as "The Genial Gentleman of Country Music" was one of the great founders of American Bluegrass music. 

Best remembered as one of Bill Monroe's original Blue Grass Boys, singer/songwriter/string player Clyde Moody also played in almost every other subgenre of country music during his over fifty-year career, and even performed as a solo artist. During the '40s, he was known as the "Hillbilly Waltz King" after his song "Shenandoah Waltz" became a certified gold hit. 

Clyde Leonard Moody was born and raised in Cherokee, North Carolina, where he grew up hearing a lot of local string band music.  In the 1930s, Moody and Jay Hugh, sibling of Roy Hall, formed the Happy-Go-Lucky Boys and started playing on the radio in Spartanburg, South Carolina.  Later, they joined Mitchell County fiddler, Steve Ledford, and Buncombe County’s Wade Mainer to form The Sons of the Mountaineers.  The band also performed on regional radio stations and made recordings for Bluebird Records. 

Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys. Moody far right.

Moody joined Monroe in September 1940 and performed with the Blue Grass Boys at WSM and at the Grand Ole Opry. Moody's guitar style was unique, with him finger picking with his thumb and index finger. Moody also had a mellow voice that was a good contrast to Bill Monroe's voice. He appeared on Monroe's first solo recording session for RCA Victor's Bluebird label on October 7 of that year, playing guitar and singing lead vocals and bass on the Blue Grass Quartet's first recording ("Cryin' Holy Unto My Lord"). 

About this time, Monroe and his Boys were becoming a bluegrass band, and the changes can clearly be heard in Moody's mandolin playing on the classic "Six White Horses." He also has the rare distinction of having played mandolin on a Blue Grass Boys session, as he provided the rhythm chops on "Mule Skinner Blues" and "Dog House Blues", while Monroe played guitar - the only instance where a Blue Grass Boy other than Monroe played mandolin at a Bill Monroe recording session. A year later, Moody spent a few months in Burlington, North Carolina playing radio duets with Lester Flatt. He later returned to the Blue Grass Boys and remained with them until again attempting a solo career in 1945. 

                             

Upon his departure from the Blue Grass Boys in 1944, he remained at WSM and the Opry for several years as a solo artist.and then recorded for Columbia. He had his biggest hit, the sentimental "Shenandoah Waltz," in 1947, and followed it up with a series of similar tunes such as "Cherokee Waltz" and "I Waltz Alone." He had a few more hits through the end of the decade and then moved to Washington, D.C. to work for Connie B. Gay.  Beyond the waltzes, some of his more memorable recordings include:  “If I Had My Life To Live Over,” “Six White Horses,” “I Know What It Means To Be Lonesome,” “Too Young,” “Little Blossom,” “Rockin’ Alone In An Old Rocking Chair,” and “The Kind Of Love I Can’t Forget.”  One of Clyde Moody's biggest hits was "Next Sunday Darling, Is My Birthday." 

In 1952, Moody signed with Decca, but only had a few singles up through the mid-'50s. He sang with a young Elvis Presley in 1955 when Tom Parker paired them for a six-week tour. When his health began to fail in the late 50’s, he left music to become a mobile home salesman, but he returned to music n the early 1960s recording a solo album, followed by a more modern country album.  When the folk revival revved up in the mid 1960s, Moody played at festivals and became more active in the bluegrass scene. He played at the first Bluegrass Festival at Fincastle, Virginia, in 1965. His nephew, Bruce Moody (March 14, 1940 – February 21, 2009) was also a popular bluegrass musician and toured with him from 1962–1969. 

By 1972 Clyde had moved back to Nashville where he would remain and toured some as part of Tommy Scott’s Last Real Old Time Medicine Show.  He made three solo albums for Old Homestead, one bluegrass, one country, and one sacred In that decade and the one which followed, he made numerous guest appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, and recorded sporadically until his death. A wire service story reporting Clyde's passing noted that Aubrey Mayhew said Clyde was actually performing the night he went into the Nashville Memorial Hospital to treat complications from an aortic aneurysm that required surgery several weeks prior, but he never recovered and died there on April 7, 1989. 

In a musical career that spanned over fifty years, his robust baritone voice, authoritative rhythm guitar style, commanding stage presence, and engaging communication skills left a mark on those fortunate enough to have witnessed him in action. Some of his career highlights include appearing in the White House three times. He was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2011. 

(Edited from AllMusic, Wikipedia, Hillybilly Music.com  & Los Angeles Times)