He was also known for playing with yo-yos onstage. I remember seeing him circa age 11, sitting right at the foot of the stage. There were a couple of times there in the path where I would have had a bad day if the string had broke.
In retrospect, he made some outstanding music, but purely on the basis of record making he was not up with Jimmie Rodgers or the Carter family. Bottom line, you can reasonably get by with one good Roy Acuff hits album, unlike Rodgers or the Carters.
Acuff, however, was the top symbol of the music. He was the first living person inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He spent a lot of time as goodwill ambassador, greeting the people at Opryland. He was probably the most beloved figure in country music at the time of his death in 1992.
He was also one of the richest. He was never a big songwriter personally, but he was co-owner of Acuff Rose Publishing, the biggest country music song publishers probably to this day. Among many thousands of titles, they control the publishing of Hank Williams' songs.
Article comments
1 - LorettaChristina
hi,i was very interested reading all about Roy Acuff,i saw him on tv,Grand Ole Opery and went to the Opery several times, love Nashville,deep love for country,can u tell me,is Roys son called Neil, and did Neil have children, if so what are their names and how old would they be,are they singers also,i have Roys cd, love to hear his son or grandson sing ,learn about Roys family,thanks from Ontario Canada