Description Winner of the Ralph J.
Wolfe traces the unsure beginnings of the Opry through its many incarnations, through cast tours of the South, the Great Depression, commercial sponsorship by compan.
Both a detailed history and a group biography of the Opry\'s early years, A Good-Natured Riot provides the first comprehensive and thoroughly researched account of the personalities, the music, and the social and cultural conditions that were such fertile ground for the growth of a radio show that was to become an essential part of American culture.
The story that he has reconstructed is fascinating.
Wolfe has spent countless hours recording the oral history of the principals and their families and mining archival materials from the Country Music Foundation and elsewhere to understand just what those early days were like.
The veteran performers of that era are all gone now, but since the 1970s pioneering country music historian Charles K.
In truth, the birth of the Opry was a far more complicated event than even Hay, "the solemn old Judge," remembered.
Or so the story goes.
And, thus, the Opry was born. "We soon had a Good-Natured riot on our hands," Hay later recalled.
Hay was besieged by pickers and fiddlers of every variety, as well as hoedown bands, singers, and comedians--all wanting their shot at the Saturday night airwaves.
It was not long before station manager George D.
Back in Nashville the response at the offices of National Life Insurance Company, which owned radio station WSM ("We Shield Millions"), was dramatic; phone calls and telegrams poured into the station, many of them making special requests.
Uncle Jimmy Thompson played on the air for an hour that night, and throughout the region listeners at their old crystal sets suddenly perked up.
Gleason Music Book Award Winner of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award On November 28, 1925, a white-bearded man sat before one of Nashville radio station WSM\'s newfangled carbon microphones to play a few old-time fiddle tunes.
Description Winner of the Ralph J
