Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Roy Claxton Acuff (15 September 1903–23
November 1992) was an USA|American country
music|country musician.

He was born in Maynardville,
Tennessee|Maynardville, Tennessee, 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. He then turned his attention to his
father's fiddle and began playing traveling
medicine show.  He toured the Southern United
States. He eventually formed a band "The Crazy
Tennesseans".

In 1936, he recorded a cover of the traditional
song "The Great Speckled Bird (song)|The Great
Speckled Bird". His performance of it in his Grand
Ole Opry debut was not well received. Acuff became
a regular on the Grand Ole Opry in 1938, forming a
backing band called the Smoky Mountain Boys, led
by friend and Dobro player Bashful Brother Oswald.

Acuff released several singles in the 1940s such
as The Wreck on the Highway, Beneath That Lonely
Mound of Clay and The Precious Jewel. He later
formed a music publishing venture with Chicago
songwriter Fred Rose (musician)|Fred Rose. Hank
Williams, the Everly Brothers and Roy Orbison,
among others, all initially signed with Acuff-Rose
Music.

Acuff had a brief affair with politics, losing a
run for the office of Governor of Tennessee as a
Republican in 1948.  Acuff later campaigned in
1970 for his friend Tex Ritter in his campaign for
Republican Party (United States)|GOP nomination
for U.S. Senate in Tennessee.

Acuff spent most of the 1950s and 1960s touring
constantly, becoming one of the hottest tickets in
country music. By the 1970s Acuff performed almost
exclusively with the Grand Ole Opry, at Opryland
USA, greatly legitimizing it as the top
institution in country music. 

A popular legend is that Japanese troops during
World War II would enter battle yelling, "To hell
with Roy Acuff."

Roy Acuff is distantly related to Amy Acuff.

In 1962, Roy Acuff was inducted into the Country
Music Hall of Fame. For his contribution to the
recording industry, he has a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame located on 1541 Vine St.