It’s nauseatingly hot outside, Bonnaroo is over and the blackberries are ripe; that means it’s July and time for Murfreesboro’s annual homage to “Rutherford County’s Elvis” through Uncle Dave Macon Days.
The Murfreesboro Pulse has provided almost yearly coverage of the weekend festival, which celebrates the banjo-plucking Opry star Uncle Dave Macon with banjo, clogging and buckdancing competitions and showcases. July 13-15 will be Uncle Dave Macon Days’ 35th year of celebrating not only the artist who was a legend in Rutherford County before he became a legend elsewhere, but also the community of Murfreesboro and its historic downtown Square.
The first Uncle Dave Macon Days took place in 1978, the brainchild of Jesse Messick, who owned the former Rexall Drugs on the Square, and Dave’s grandson David, nicknamed Ramsey. Over a drugstore sandwich, the two created a vision for the first festival.
“Jesse wanted to have something on the Square that would draw people back to that area as it had done in the past on Saturdays. Traditionally, people would come downtown on Saturday to do their business, to get their goods and to socialize, and he really wanted to capture that spirit of humanity and draw the crowd back,” says public relations rep Patsy Weiler, who has been affiliated with Uncle Dave Macon Days since 1981.
Messick and Ramsey longed for a crowd in Murfreesboro; Uncle Dave could always draw one. More than a musician, he was an entertainer in the days when he called Rutherford County home. When he worked as a freight hauler and made deliveries to grocery stores on the square, he signaled his arrival by singing a tune. His style was not only to play, but to perform onstage (with multiple picking styles), and his hodgepodge musical influences captured his freewheeling nature.
The festival was held on the east side of the courthouse until 1989. Having outgrown the area (approximately 40,000 attend each year), UDMD relocated to the historic Cannonsburgh Village, which has been its home ever since.
In addition to contests and showcases, Uncle Dave Macon Days offers a yearly scholarship to promote education in old-time music and dance, and a yearly presentation of the Heritage Award and the Trailblazer Award. These two accolades honor those who work to preserve grassroots music and those who pave the way in old-time music, respectively.
J.D. Crowe
The 2012 Heritage Award was presented to Gleason, Tenn., banjo picker Mike Snider, and renowned-in-the-bluegrass-world Kentucky banjoist J.D. Crowe was named the 2012 Trailblazer.
“We have a committee of performers, musicians and people involved in some form of traditional music who constantly update and review a file of individuals deserving of the awards. This year, the Uncle Dave Macon Days committee asked the nominee committee to focus on banjo players, because J.D. Crowe has announced his retirement at the end of 2012. He’ll do occasional special shows, but he’s going off the road full-time. He’s one of the most well respected figures in bluegrass music today and he has a long and celebrated history,” Weiler says.
“We are very blessed to present these awards to two significant individuals,” she adds.
As for Mike Snider, he’s a true entertainer, like The Dixie Dewdrop himself. Known to incorporate comedy and silliness into his performance (and interviews), he can’t tell showgoers what to expect from his festival performance, which will be his first time at Uncle Dave Macon Days.
Mike Snider
“I don’t know, it’ll be a surprise to me, too. No two of them’s the same. I just get up there and feel ’em out and go from there. Each show is unique, just like each audience is unique,” Snider says.
A fan of Earl Scruggs, Snider started playing when he was 16 years old, “at that time when a young fella’s looking for an identity, and I couldn’t find one running around doing the things that other people my age were.”
He spent 25 years playing with the three-finger picking style before, bored with it, turning to the “flailing” style. As for Uncle Dave Macon, Snider hardly knows him.
“I never heard much of Uncle Dave, playing his banjo and singing and carrying on. I’d like to say that I did, because I’m getting a Heritage Award, but I don’t know much about the old boy. I’ve heard stories that he was a real jovial guy and entertainer,” he laughs.
For this year, the festival committee has worked to provide access to a wider audience. There is a new parking lot located at the old silk factory off Old Salem Road, and a free shuttle will run between it and the festival. This is in addition to the shuttle that will run between the city parking garage and Cannonsburgh Village.
Additionally, the main stage will be angled so more attendees will be able to see the platform.
The Gallinippers will be bringing the truck back to this year's festival
July 14 will be the festival’s sort of heyday, what with the weekly farmer’s market on three sides of the square, and the east side occupied by the 150th anniversary reenactment of the courthouse liberation during the Civil War.
At 10 a.m., the Uncle Dave Macon Days parade will proceed down East Main Street, circle the courthouse and head to Cannonsburgh, with the mounted Civil War actors falling in behind.
In 35 years, UDMD memorabilia has accumulated. The festival committee is working with Rutherford County Archivist John Lodl to sort through photographs, old press releases, notes on past festivals and more. To contribute to the archives, the committee encourages individuals to post on the festival’s Facebook page.
Uncle Dave Macon Days likely has many birthdays to come as a high-ranking tourist attraction in the southeast and a cheap one ($8 buys a two-day pass; Sunday admission is free). But more than that, the festival is a place to convene and bridge generation gaps.
“I think the festival provides people with a touchstone,” Weiler says. “We often have three generations coming together there. I think as we’ve become so technologically connected, we are often not out spending face-to-face time with our friends and neighbors, and it’s important to get out in the fresh air. Uncle Dave Macon Days has been committed to those bedrock principles.”
2012 Uncle Dave Macon Days Schedule
Friday, July 13
1 p.m. Gates Open
4 p.m. Registration, Opening Ceremonies
5 p.m. Competition begins –
Linnel Gentry Old Time Singing Contest (Songs from the WWII era or earlier)
Beginning Instrumental (12-years-old and younger)
Uncle Dave Free Wheelin’ (This category is not an Uncle Dave Macon look alike or a sound alike contest. The performance should capture the fun, free wheelin’ sense of showmanship Uncle Dave embodied)
Freestyle Dance – Junior (35 & younger), Senior (36 & older)
7 p.m. Trailblazer Award Presentation & Show: J.D. Crowe
8 p.m. Blues Singing w/acoustic instruments
DeFord Bailey Harmonica
Dobro
Saturday, July 14
8:30 a.m. Gates Open, Registration
9 a.m. Competition Begins –
Guitar
Mandolin
Fiddle (one waltz & one breakdown)
10 a.m. Motorless Parade
Following Parade Competition Resumes –
Dulcimer
Traditional Fiddle
12:15 p.m. Buckdancing Workshop With Thomas Maupin and Jay Bland (In the covered Gazebo, center of historic village. FREE. No tap shoes necessary.)
Competitions –
Old-Time Buckdancing: Junior (17 & younger), Adult (18-40), Senior (41+)
Old-Time Clogging: Junior, Adult, Senior
Old-Time Banjo
4 p.m. Square Dance Exhibition with Tommy Jackson and The Rocky Top Review
5 p.m. Competitions –
Old-Time Band
Bobby Thompson Bluegrass Banjo
Bluegrass Band
7 p.m. Heritage Award Presentation & Show: Mike Snider
8 p.m. Final Competitions –
Old-Time Buckdancing: Junior, Adult, Senior
Old-Time Clogging: Junior, Adult, Senior
Old-Time Banjo
Old-Time Band
Bobby Thompson Bluegrass Banjo
Bluegrass Band
Sunday, July 15
10:30 a.m. Worship Hour
1 p.m. Gospel music, shaped-note singing and Community Service Fair
To learn more about the festival, visit uncledavemacondays.com.
John Balch (left) and David Emery right perform at the first Uncle Dave Macon Days Festival in 1978 (Courtesy John Balch)
