Since ancient times, entertainment has been an important part of daily life in virtually every culture. In America during the 1920s, advances in technology created the record and radio industries. This vital need for citizens to be entertained flourished throughout the country. As the professional entertainer became a more prevalent part of the American landscape, the demand for musical entertainment would increase. Musical range and influence widened from the self-structured community barns, porches and parlors to public venues, creating the stage for such talent as Uncle Dave Macon and the first stars of the broadcasts that would become the Grand Ole Opry.

In Rutherford County, life was simple in 1926. Inside their rustic cabin dwelling, complete with dirty wooden floors, windowless walls, and a stony fireplace shaping their one-room domicile, each huddled around one of two radio sets in Rutherford County. They had come from miles around swarming into the house as the word got around that one of their own, Uncle Dave Macon, featured star of the Grand Ole Opry, “King of the Hillbillies!” was about to perform.

He began with a playful song, one they had heard at every barn dance: a play-party song, “Sail Away Ladies,” a familiar and lively tune passed on from their immigrant ancestors. Moreover, the drama continued as the syncopated rhythm ensued. The congregated crowd laughed, danced and clapped loudly, stomping their feet to the nonsensical rhythmic phrases don’t she rock . . . die-dee-oh, don’t she rock . . . die-dee-oh!

Uncle Dave Macon was one of their own who was preserving an elusive and rare heritage. He had popularized the old square-dance tune, “Sail Away Ladies,” carrying it successfully from oral tradition to a mainstream audience. Before the early 1920s and the birth of the Grand Ole Opry, with his claw-hammer style banjo and flamboyant stage presence, Macon had enjoyed popularity as a professional entertainer on the vaudeville circuit. Then it happened: The old-time phase was sweeping the nation and Macon, with his wealth of experience from vaudeville and burlesque, was at the right place at the right time. His wild, showy and comedic style of entertainment was something to behold. In those early days of the Opry and its predecessor, the WSM Barn Dance, he has come to symbolize its spirit. As an established entertainer on the circuit, the Opry needed Uncle Dave more than Uncle Dave needed the Opry.

Macon had become extraordinarily popular by word of mouth through his stage appearances and records (most recorded in New York City). So many early string-band artists like Kirk and Sam McGee and fiddlers Mazy Todd and Fiddlin’ Sid Harkreader would tour around the South with an old-fashioned “word of mouth” advertising approach. They would go into a town and put on a sample show, and let the grapevine do the rest. In a raucous fashion, Macon and his musical magicians created one of the most dynamic string bands ever, drawing hundreds in the audience to their feet dancing and stomping to the “Fruit Jar Drinkers.”

It was on Nov. 28, 1925, that a white-bearded man sat before a carbon microphone to play a few fiddle tunes on WSM radio. Uncle Jimmy Thompson played on the air for about an hour as listeners throughout Middle Tennessee perked up to hear the familiar tunes that had been played for generations at barnstorming events, church socials, and square dances. The response was dramatic. Phone calls began pouring into the radio station, as listeners demanded to hear more of that “hoe-down” music. The station was besieged by pickers and fiddlers wanting a shot at the airwaves. George D. Hay, creator and founder of the Grand Ole Opry, later recalled, “We soon had a good-natured riot on our hands.” And thus the Opry was born.

This was the environment in which Uncle Dave Macon began his musical career at the age of 50. Uncle Dave, known as the “Dixie Dew Drop,” was an established performer and recording artist before he joined the cast of WSM’s Barn Dance in 1926. It was then he became the first individual performer on the Opry, the status he maintained until his son, Dorris joined him in the early 1930s.

Uncle Dave Macon’s music was steeped in the rural tradition of the South. As with many performers of his day, his music celebrated the rural folk culture of the communities surrounding Nashville and Middle Tennessee. Until the 1920s, most contiguous communities around Nashville including Murfreesboro were remote and isolated. In the 1930s, a description from a local writer from Ashland City, James Aswell, described the area:

Here, where Paradise Ridge rots away into a series of high limestone knobs cut by trees and ravines, is a pocket of land and people which might have been lifted directly out of our East Tennessee hills. Sagging moss-green cabins, cascades and small waterfalls, barefooted washed out women and gaunt, hard faced men, stills, rutted winding hilltraces. Until the highway cut through, these folk were quite isolated as the people of the Smokies, though Nashville was 30 miles away.

Local artists were heading for popularity. The old-time traditional music played was finally being broadcast over the radio and being heard in these remote areas by the people who had loved the music for generations. This formula launched the successful career of Uncle Dave Macon. People would walk for miles to one house that had a headset just to listen to their local hero on the radio.

I remember one Saturday Night, in 1926, when Uncle Dave made his debut on WSM. We had read it in the paper, but we didn’t mention it in Lascassas. We were afraid that everybody in that end of the county would swarm our house to hear Uncle Dave and trample us. Nevertheless, the word got around and just about everybody did swarm into our house, except for a few local sages who didn’t believe in radio.

Around Middle Tennessee, Uncle Dave became a folk hero of sorts with his banjo antics, singing, dancing, and jokes. He recorded far more than anyone else in the early days of the Opry and became its first featured superstar. Modern folklorists have said this about Uncle Dave Macon:

With the exception of the Carter Family, Uncle Dave preserved more valuable American folklore through his recordings than any other folk or country music performer.

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.

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 no less discernible in the 21st century.

Uncle Dave proudly played from town to town, his instrument case denoting his notoriety. Sam McGee, who had once played the guitar with Uncle Dave recalled, “I will never forget what Uncle Dave had on his instrument case—“Uncle Dave Macon, the World’s Greatest Banjo Player.”

Macon’s musical magic continued until his death on March 22, 1952.

The musical heritage is celebrated every year at Uncle Dave Macon Days at Cannonsburgh Village in Murfreesboro. The 37rd annual celebration starts July 11, when gates open at 8 a.m. with the Matilda Macon Folk Arts Village, Dave Macon Artisan’s Court and Marketplace plus food by the Nashville Food Truck Association. The Old-time Musical and Dance Competitions begin at 1 p.m. on the Main Stage and the “newest” Dixie Dew Drop Stage. At 6 p.m., the festival will feature 2014 Trail Blazers Tennessee Mafia Jug Band and Leroy Troy with Roland White. The festival continues July 12th with the famed Motorless Parade Down Historic East Main to Cannonsburgh at 10 a.m., National Dance and Banjo Competitions and the presentation of the 2014 Heritage Award at 3 p.m. to the Grammy award-winning duo Dailey and Vincent. On July 13, the festival entertains with the Gospel Showcase, Wilson Bank and Trust Antique Car Show and Community Service Fair.

Uncle Dave Macon Days is a nationally recognized festival with national contests in old-time dance and banjo. Sanctioned by the U.S. Congress in 1986, the festival’s purpose is to not only honor the man who popularized America’s “roots” music, but also to preserve and perpetuate the history and culture of the era that made us who we are today. For more information about the 2014 Uncle Dave Macon Festival, visit uncledavemacondays.com

(Excerpts from A Good Natured Riot by Dr. Charles Wolfe, former board member of the Uncle Dave Days, English professor at Middle Tennessee State University, and one of the leading experts on the history of country music.)

Uncle Dave’s Performance in the Grand Ole Opry movie, 1940:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tFetm5mTQA