Country Music Pioneer Pop Stoneman: An Overview
A Glimpse of the Hall of Famer's Life and Traditional Country Music
Nov 5, 2008
Born May 25, 1893, in Monarat, Va., to a lay preacher and his wife, Ernest "Pop" Stoneman’s mother, who was a singer, died when he was only 3 years old, leaving the toddler--a future Country Music Hall of Fame inductee--and his brothers to be reared by their father and three cousins.
The Stonemans were a family that bonded through music and the traditional songs of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Growing up, Stoneman mastered every instrument he had access to, from the mouth harp and clawhammer banjo, to the harmonica, guitar and autoharp—the latter of which he was best known for playing.
A Traditional Country Music History Steeped in Bluegress and Gospel
A lifelong songwriter/performer, music, especially gospel and bluegrass, was a vital part of "Pop" Stoneman’s daily life. And reportedly, when Stoneman—who survived the Depression and extreme poverty—couldn’t afford to buy an autoharp from the Montgomery Ward catalog, he designed and built his own with parts salvaged from an old piano.
The father of 23 children—13 of whom survived to adulthood—Stoneman’s love of music was something he shared with wife Hattie Frost Stoneman, a musician who played both banjo and fiddle. Married Nov. 10, the day before Armistice Day, in 1919, the couple’s children were immersed in music’s country, gospel and bluegrass traditions and performed as the Stoneman Family, ultimately becoming the inaugural recipients of the Country Music Association’s "Vocal Group of the Year Award" in 1967, just one year prior to Pop’s death in June 1968.
Studio Recordings Lead to Country Radio, Country Fans & Country Music Hits
The Stoneman Family’s success emerged from the foundation of country-music recording and country-radio solo career that Pop—who worked several odd jobs, including that of carpenter, farmhand and cotton-mill sweeper—was able to establish. It found its inception in 1914 when Stoneman cut a song on a home-recording machine owned by a friend, an experience that cemented his desire to succeed in music.
A decade later, Stoneman—who performed at local dances when he could—heard a record by Henry Whitter and was convinced he could deliver a better performance. Later that year, he went to New York City, where he recorded two songs on the Okeh label. In turn, his debut single, a self-penned number titled The Sinking of the Titanic, charted at No. 3 on the Billboard and Variety charts and remained there for 10 weeks. Impressively, the tune was one of the earliest country music records to sell more than a million copies and became one of the biggest hits of the 1920s.
Between 1924 and 1929, Stoneman recorded more than 200 songs in studio sessions for a number of record labels, including Okeh and Victor, with help from producer Ralph Peer. Then, in 1926, Stoneman added his wife and adult family members to his band, which afforded him a full string-band sound and established his family group, a tradition that lasted throughout his career.
First Family of Traditional Country Music: The Stoneman Family
Although Pop and Hattie's children had no formal musical training, like their parents, each was a born musician. For example, within country-music circles, each member of the legendary Stoneman family is associated with a particular instrument, such as Roni, banjo; Donna, mandolin; Jim, bass; Scott, fiddle; Gene, guitar; and John and Patty, autoharp, et cetera. Also, each of the Stoneman offspring made recordings for various record labels, including RCA Victor and MGM, as well as performing in the most prestigious venues of their time throughout Eurpoe and the U.S. Collectively, the family has made hundreds of professional recordings.
The Stoneman Family made the group's national television debut on The Jimmy Dean Show, and then on The Grand Ole Opry in 1962. Four years later, in '66, they were given their own syndicated-TV series called Those Stonemans. Following their 1967 CMA Award as "Vocal Group of the Year," the Stonemans were tapped to take part in two motion pictures and later nominated several times for the CMA's "Instrumental Group of the Year" prize. Additionally, because of the family's large membership and varied musical interest, the players often divided into "band segments," with as many as five or six family bands performing throughout the country at a given time.
Stoneman Initiates HIstoric Bristol Recording Sessions
The commercial viability of country music as we know it today was established In 1927 when Stoneman persuaded producer Peer, also a hall of fame member, to trek to Bristol, Tenn., and audition talent. That initial trip resulted in the historic Bristol recording sessions, which are known as country music's "Big Bang." According to historians, these sessions arguably were the most important event in country music’s history and featured future Country Music Hall of Famers Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, both of whom cut their debut commercial recordings there and launched their careers on a national scale. Stoneman and wife Hattie, however, were the first artists to be recorded at these sessions.
Forty years after his death and nearly 24 years after writing and recording one of country music's first million-selling singles, Pop Stoneman was inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame in the “Career Achieved National Prominence Between 1975 and the Present” category during a private ceremony on April 27, 2008, in the Nashville hall's Ford Theater.
Sources
CMA Announces Emmylou Harris, Tom T. Hall, Statler Brothers and Ernest “Pop" Stoneman as Newest Members of Country Music Hall of Fame, Feb. 12, 2008, press release from Country Music Hall of Fame. Reprinted in CMA World. Retrieved Oct. 31, 2008, at http://www.cmaworld.com/news_publications/pr_common/press_detail.asp?re=720
Ernest V. Pop Stoneman: American Country Music Pioneer, n.d. Retrieved Oct. 31, 2008, from ortheyinstruments.com.
Perseverance Rewarded: Pop Stoneman Enters Country Music Hall of Fame, BMI News, May 2, 2008. Retrieved Oct. 31, 2008 at http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/536551
Smith, Will. An Interview with Patsy Stoneman. The Authoharper magazine, spring 1991 issue. Accessed Nov. 5, 2008, at www.cowboyjackclement.com.
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