David Harrison Macon (October 7, 1870 – March 22, 1952), known professionally as Uncle Dave Macon, was an American old-time banjo player, singer, songwriter, and comedian. Known as "The Dixie Dewdrop", Macon was known for his chin whiskers, plug hat, gold teeth, and gates-ajar collar; he gained regional fame as a vaudeville performer in the early 1920s before becoming the first star of the Grand Ole Opry in the latter half of the decade.
Born in Smartt Station in middle Tennessee's Warren County, he was the son of a Confederate officer who owned a large farm. Macon heard the folk music of the area when he was young, but he was also a product of the urban South: After the family moved to Nashville and began operating a hotel, Macon hobnobbed with traveling vaudeville musicians who performed there. After his father was stabbed near the hotel, Macon left Nashville with the rest of his family. He worked on a farm and later operated a wagon freight line, performing music only at local parties and dances.
Macon's turn toward a musical second career was due partly to the advent of motorized trucks, for his wagon line fell on hard times in the early '20s after a competitor invested in the horseless novelties. In 1923, he struck up a few tunes in a Nashville barbershop with fiddler Sid Harkreader, and an agent from the Loew's theater chain happened to stop in. Soon Macon and Harkreader were touring as far afield as New England, and when George D. Hay began bringing together performers two years later for what would become the Opry, Macon was a natural choice.
The tour also brought Macon the first of his many recording dates, held in New York for the Vocalion label in 1924. Macon would record prolifically through the 1930s (and occasionally up to 1950) for various labels, accompanied at different times by Harkreader, the brother duo of Sam & Kirk McGee, the Delmore Brothers, the young Roy Acuff, and other string players including a then-unknown Bill Monroe. For secular material, his backing band took the name of the Fruit Jar Drinkers.
Macon's recordings are richly enjoyable in themselves and are priceless historical documents, both for the large variety of banjo styles they preserve and for the window they afford on American song of the late 19th century. Macon performed musical-comic routines such as the "Uncle Dave's Travels" series, topical songs, often of his own composition ("Governor Al Smith"), playful folk songs ("I'll Tickle Nancy"), gospel with his Dixie Sacred Singers, blackface minstrel songs, unique proto-blues pieces that Macon learned from African-American freight workers ("Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy"), and songs of other types.
“The Dixie Dewdrop" was loved most of all for his presence as a live musician, captured not only on the weekly Opry broadcasts (which were broadcast nationally for a time in the 1930s) but also in the 1940 film Grand Ole Opry. Macon delivered what an 1880s southern vaudeville audience would have demanded for its hard-earned dollar, which included showman, humor, political commentary (often of the incorrect variety by modern standards), and unflagging energy.
Macon continued to appear on the Opry almost until his death, gradually taking on the status of a great-hearted living link to country music's origins. He became the tenth member of the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1966, and the revival of old time music that flourished as part of the folk movement focused the attention of younger listeners on his music.
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. His funeral was visited by more than five thousand people and his pallbearers were George D. Hay, Kirk McGee, Roy Acuff, and Bill Monroe. He was inducted posthumously into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1966. A monument was erected near Woodbury. His son Dorris and several bandmates (often including Sam and Kirk McGee) made sporadic appearances on the Grand Ole Opry as the Fruit Jar Drinkers until the early 1980s.
Yet Macon remains less well understood, and less present in the musical minds of country listeners, than Jimmie Rodgers or the Carter Family, even though he was nearly as well-known in his own day. Perhaps that's because he represents an older layer of American music-making than almost any other performer known to country audiences: modern hearers can easily connect with Rodgers' blues or the Carters' homespun sentiment, but Macon may require greater effort. Such effort, in any case, is well repaid by an acquaintance with his musical legacy.
(Edited from AllMusic & Wikipedia)
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Today’s birthday banjoist and singer was suggested by Quot and whilst researching Uncle Dave I came across this definitive 10CD/DVD box set from Bear Family at Glenn's Country Music Cabinet, which you’ll find here:
https://glennscountrymusiccabinet.blogspot.com/2021/04/uncle-dave-macon-keep-my-skillet-good.html
If you do visit Glenn Eric’s marvelous blog, then please give him a big thank you. For those who just want a sample of Uncle Dave’s work here’s a few albums to begin with.
For “Uncle Dave Macon - The Country Music Hall Of Fame Series (1992 MCA)” go here:
https://pixeldrain.com/u/tBmZvxQv
01 – From Earth To Heaven
02 – Farm Relief
03 – Tom And Jerry
04 – I’m The Child To Fight
05 – Go Along Mule
06 – Governor Al Smith
07 – Late Last Night When My Willie Came Home
08 – Tell Her To Come Back Home
09 – Tennessee Jubilee
10 – The Cross-Eyed Butcher And The Cacklin’ Hen
11 – Sleepy Lou
12 – Sourwood Mountain Medley
13 – Uncle Dave’s Travels – Pt. 1 (Misery In Arkansas)
14 – I’m A Goin’ Away In The Morn
15 – Shall We Gather At The River
16 – When The Train Comes Along
For “Uncle Dave Macon – Early Recordings (1971 County)” go here:
https://pixeldrain.com/u/xS7ypdtK
1. Sail Away Ladies
2. Governor Al Smith
3. Grey Cat On The Tennessee Farm
4. Way Down The Old Plank Road
5. Take Me Home Poor Julia
6. Walking In Sunlight
7. Rabbit In The Pea Patch
8. Gwine Back To Dixie
9. Going Across The Sea
10. Worthy Of Estimation
11. Rock About My Sarah Jane
12. Just One Way To The Pearly Gates
For “Uncle Dave Macon – At Home: His Last Recordings, 1950 (2002 Spring Fed re-issue)” go here:
https://pixeldrain.com/u/srVDRRk8
1 Cumberland Mountain Deer Race
2 Rabbit in the Pea Patch
3 Bully of the Town
4 Mountain Dew
5 Old Maid's Love Song
6 Rock of Ages (fragment)
7 Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy
8 Death of John Henry
9 That's Where My Money Goes
10 Long John Green
11 Lady in the Car
12 Cotton Eyed Joe
13 Something's Sure to Tickle Me
14 Chewing Gum
15 All in Down and Out Blues
16 Hungry Hash House
17 Whoa Mule
18 No One to Welcome Me Home
19 Banjo Solo
20 Jenny Put the Kettle On
21 Kissing on the Sly
The music on At Home was recorded informally by pioneer folklorist, Charles Faulkner Bryan at Uncle Dave's home in Kittrell, Tennessee in 1950. Uncle Dave plays and sings some of his most popular numbers but nearly half of the pieces were never commercially recorded. This is old time music at it's best! Even though Uncle Dave was over 80 years old and a bit forgetful with some of the lyrics, he could still deliver a performance that would stop people dead in their tracks today.
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