"Bluegrass Roots And Branches"

Uncle Dave Macon was born in Smartt Station, Tennessee (about 5 miles south of McMinnville) on October 7, 1870. After spending his first 13 years on a farm, the Macon family relocated to Nashville in 1883, where Macon’s father, Confederate War Captain John Macon, purchased the Broadway Hotel, the unofficial headquarters of many Southern vaudeville entertainers and minstrels. His initial exposure to Appalachian folk and gospel was expanded during these years by the music of the artists passing through the hotel. By coincidence, the teenager Macon watched them as they rehearsed in the basement. He was especially entranced with the various trick banjo players then in vogue, especially Joel Davidson. Soon he had talked his mother into buying him a banjo, and he began to absorb as much as he could from the vaudeville entertainers. With the banjo as his instrument of choice and the varied musical talent he had learned from, the young Macon mastered musical sleight of hand. While picking and singing, he flipped his banjo in the air, caught it and continued without a break in the music. In another stunt he planted his banjo on the floor and strummed it with his Derby hat while walking around the banjo. Such showmanship was a staple of his performances. Following his father’s murder outside the hotel in 1885, which was witnessed by the fifteen-year-old Macon, his mother and the ten Macon children moved to Readyville, Tennessee, where she ran a country inn. Macon married Matilda Richardson in 1899 and founded a horse-drawn wagon company in the Kittrell community of Rutherford County, Tennessee, between Murfreesboro and Woodbury. It was called The Macon Midway Mule and Wagon Transportation Company. Often, when Macon was driving along with his mules, hauling freight and produce, he would entertain people by singing and playing the banjo at various stops along the way. For the next 18 years he reared his seven children, drove his wagon and provided ‘pass-the-hat’ entertainment, particularly at area schools. He made the school children at ease by introducing himself as ‘Uncle Dave,’ and the name stuck.



In 1918 Uncle Dave sought payment for his unique banjo playing and comedy. Finding automobiles too competitive for his wagons, Macon turned his music into his livelihood. It is generally acknowledged that after a performance at a Nashville barber shop a talent scout offered him a booking in Birmingham, Alabama. The event was a huge success and for the next seven years Uncle Dave barnstormed the South for, among others, the Loew’s Theater chain. He traveled to New York City in July 1924 with fiddler Sid Harkreader to record for the Vocalion label. In this first session, which was extended over several days, they recorded eighteen songs. On November 6, 1925, Macon and Harkreader performed at the Ryman Auditorium (later the home of the Grand Ole Opry) for the benefit of the Nashville police department. In late 1925, Macon met a blacksmith and flat-top guitarist named Sam McGee who was to become his regular recording and performance partner, sometimes employing the services of Sam's brother, Kirk, as well. In December 1925, radio announcer Judge George D. Hay asked Macon to join WSM’s Barn Dance (later renamed the Grand Ole Opry). On December 26th Macon debuted on the show with Uncle Jimmy Thompson. Hay introduced Macon as ‘The Dixie Dewdrop’, a nickname that was to become his signature alias. Macon was both the oldest in the troupe of performers and the only paid professional on the show. 


Uncle Dave Macon in 1900 (30 years old)

Macon’s live performances fueled his success and his popularity was instantaneous. His habit of a spoken introduction to his songs and his lyrical novelties contrasted nicely to the then largely instrumental presentations. His consummate showmanship excited the audiences. His unbridled energy was picked up on by the radio listeners who, in turn, attended his traveling act in even larger numbers. His career at WSM lasted over twenty-six years, but because he was constantly touring he wasn't a regular performer at the Grand Ole Opry.