Roy Acuff

Description

Roy Claxton Acuff (15 September 1903 &ndash; 23 November 1992) was an American country musician known around the world as the "King of Country Music". <p>He was born in Maynardville, Tennessee to Ida Carr and Simon E. Neil Acuff , the third of five children. He played semi-professional baseball, but a sunstroke in 1929 and a nervous breakdown in 1930 ended his aspirations to play for the New York Yankees.[1]<p>He then turned his attention to his father's fiddle and began playing in a traveling medicine show, often performing in blackface. He toured the Southern United States and eventually formed a band called "The Crazy Tennesseans". <p>In 1936, he recorded his two most enduring songs, the traditional The Great Speckled Bird and The Wabash Cannonball. He debuted at the Grand Ole Opry two years later. He was booked as a fiddler, and he should have played the Turkey Buzzard for a square dancin' segment, but he decided to try and sing The Great Speckled Bird. His decision was not well received,...