PIECES OF OUR PAST - THE GRAND OLE OPRY - IT'S TOE TAPPPIN' TIME

GRAND OLE OPRY NIGHTS

    It's Toe Tappin' Time

During the years of World War II, Franklin Roosevelt declared that it was imperative that the lives of American citizens should go on as much as was practical under the circumstances.  Roosevelt balked at the proposal to suspend professional sporting activities.  At the beginning of the 1940's, movies and music were an integral part of keeping up the morale on the home front.  The Ritz, Rose, and Dublin theaters entertained the home folks and kept them informed about the war through the newsreels. Swing music was at its peak.  Another form of music, much older than swing, was beginning to reach the height of its popularity - which would last for another quarter of a century.  In 1925, radio station WSM began a program called "Barn Dance." By the end of 1928, the show became known as "The Grand Ole Opry."

The Grand Ole Opry found a permanent home in Ryman Auditorium in 1941, then promptly hit the road for a series of tours in October.  Bob Hope headlined the national tours.  A somewhat smaller tour headed for Georgia.  On October 15, 1941, the tour pulled into Dublin.  The concert was held in a tent with a capacity of three thousand seats.  The tent was placed on the Jernigan lot on the block bounded on the east by North Jefferson Street, north by Gaines Street, and west by Lawrence Street, known to old Dubliners as the old Piggly Wiggly parking lot, and to newcomers as Pitts' Car World. The lot was the site of many traveling shows during the first forty years of the century.

The headlining performer was Roy Acuff and his "Smoky Mountain Boys."  Roy Acuff had already gained nationwide popularity with his hits, "Wabash Cannon Ball" and "Great Speckled Bird."  Acuff in his sixty-year career rose to the title of "The King of Country Music" and was the undisputed leader of the Grand Ole Opry.

Acuff was joined by Grand Ole Opry founder, Uncle Dave Macon and one of the newest members, Brother Oswald, who was inducted into the Opry after 57 years in country music.  Macon was a link to the hillbilly music of the 19th century and was a popular Opry star with such songs as "Carve That Possum" for most of the last 25 years of his life.  Comedy was an essential part of the tour.

The country's most popular comedy team of Jam Up and Honey, "The Assassins of Grief," kept the crowd in stitches.  The tour returned in 1942 in a somewhat scaled down version. Roy Acuff returned with a compliment of minor stars for a performance on April 20, 1942.

With resounding successes in Dublin, another show was scheduled for April 20, 1943, with an all new cast.  Jam Up and Honey returned with their black-faced comedy routines.

The tour was headlined this time by the newest Opry member, Ernest Tubb.  Tubb had risen to national prominence with his "Walking the Floor Over You" in 1941.  Tubb was one of the most, if not the most,  popular artists in "Hillbilly Music" in the 1940's.  His honky-tonk blues style led to the change of the term "Hillbilly Music"  to "Country Music" in 1949.

Also providing comedy on the tour was a young comedienne, Sarah Colley Cannon.  She built her act on her memories of her childhood.  With her $1.98 straw hat, she came to be known as "Minnie Pearl," the queen of country music comedy and one of the most beloved stars of the Grand Ole Opry.

Joining Ernest Tubb was the most popular band in country music, Pee Wee King and his Golden West Cowboys.  In 1937, they were the first modern big band to join the Grand Ole Opry.  Pee Wee King penned the lyrics for "Tennessee Waltz," one of the most popular country and pop standards of the 1950's.

Eddie Arnold was in his last year with the Golden West Cowboys.  Arnold's biggest hit came in 1945 with "Cattle Call."  Arnold was the most dominating  country singer from 1945 to 1955.  Rounding out the cast was San Antonio Rose, Tex Summey, Cherokee Slim, Chuck Wiggins, and Jimmy Wilson.  

The Opry tour returned on April 3, 1944, with another cast.  That year's show was headed by Bill Monroe.  Monroe,  universally honored as the "King of Bluegrass Music," would be a top bluegrass act  in country music for more than sixty years.  Monroe's band was made up of many great bluegrass musicians.  Before going on tour in 1944, Monroe hired a young guitarist by the name of Lester Flatt to play in his band.  Flatt and Monroe offered a young banjoist a job at the beginning of the tour.  He turned the offer down but joined the band in December of 1944.  Lester Flatt and the young banjo player, Earl Scruggs, left the band in 1946 and became the greatest bluegrass duo in country music history.   David Akerman, a tall lanky banjo player, was a member of Monroe's band.  Akerman was probably best known to most audiences as "String Bean," a humorist and charter member of the cast of "Hee Haw."  Bill Monroe was joined by several minor stars of the Opry.  Curley Bradshaw played the harmonica and was joined by Chubby Wise, Clyde Moody, and Mary Ann, "The Kentucky Songbird."  Lonnie and Tommie Thompson, "The Singing Range Riders" rounded out the cast.  Another minor touring company, headed by Pete Pyle and Cousin Wilbur,  stopped for a performance three weeks later.

The Opry tour returned for its final wartime performance on June 13, 1945. Old time favorite, Uncle Dave Macon, led the cast on his final tour.  He was joined by minor stars Gabriel Tucker, champion fiddler Curley Fox, and Texas Ruby, the cow girl yodeler.  Roy Acuff returned to Dublin for a third appearance on April 26, 1946.  His troupe consisted of Velma, Bashful Brother Oswald, Pap and his Jug Band, Tommie Magness, and Joe, Jess, and Sonny.

So ended the Grand Ole Opry tours of the World War II era.  During the war the most famous stars in country music thrilled thousands on the old Jernigan lot on North Jefferson Street.  Over the next forty years, other Opry stars would perform in Dublin.  The modern Martin Theatre became a more appropriate setting for concerts.  Cowboy and country music star Tex Ritter performed twice for large crowds.  Eddy Arnold returned in May of 1951.  Cowboy Copas, who had hits with "Tennessee Waltz" and "Alabam," played at the Martin.  He was killed in a plane crash while touring  with Patsy Cline in 1963.  Curley Fox's wife, Texas Ruby, was killed in a fire that same year.  On May 1, 1953 George Morgan performed his hits, including "Candy Kisses," on stage at the Martin.  His career was cut short by a heart attack in 1975.  He is also well known as the father of current country music star, Loretta Lynn "Lorrie" Morgan.  

During the fifties, sixties and seventies,  there were occasional performances by country stars.  Hank Snow, Brenda Lee, Mel Tillis, Kitty Wells, Ernest Tubb, Don Gibson, Stonewall Jackson, Ray Price, Jean Shepard, Skeeter Davis, Leroy Van Dyke, Billy Walker, Danny Davis, Stella Parton, and Sawyer Brown performed in the public auditoriums and football fields of Laurens County.  Bill Monroe made a return visit with a concert at the Condor High School gym in 1954.  With a the opening of Theatre Dublin,  country music has returned to Dublin with old and new favorites.   

Country music is an important and permanent part of our heritage.   County music, the music of the people, is more popular than ever before.   Its songwriters and performers seem to capture the  hopes, joys, and fears of many Americans, especially millions of us in the South.    During the arduous  years of World War II, if only for a few wonderful moments, country music  made us smile, brought us to tears, and gave us a good laugh -  just when we needed it most.