MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — A local tradition has been running for close to 50 years. It's a musical celebration of a truly unique Tennessee story. It's going to take young people to carry it on, but it looks like that's exactly what's happening.
It was at Hop Springs in Murfreesboro, I found a crowd pickin' and grinnin'. Some had been playing for a while like banjoist James Elliott.
"It's all about the tradition and the history," he said.
Some were a bit newer to it, like 13-year-old Alex Davis.
"My dad got me a banjo when I was about seven-years-old," Davis said.
Everyone was there for the Uncle Dave Macon Days Festival.
"Well, Uncle Dave was everybody's uncle, but specifically, Uncle Dave is my great-grandfather," said Michael Doubler. "I had the pleasure of writing Uncle Dave's biography, Dixie Dewdrop: The Uncle Dave Macon Story. I was really raised, as the rest of my family was, on Uncle Dave Macon stories."
Let's go way back to around 1900.
"[Uncle Dave] ran a freight hauling company here in Rutherford County, and that taught him how to run a business," Doubler said. "After WWI, the trucks showed up. He used a mule. That put the mule out of business, and he said, 'I'm going to try to make music.' He started out busking in Nashville on Broadway. His immediate family didn't know what to think of it, not everybody was positive about Uncle Dave's career."
The busking led to a gig at Loew's Theatres. That led to something even better.
"The original star of the Grand Ole Opry!" said Elliott.
"He didn't become an Opry star until he was 50," Doubler added.
Macon had this certain style.
"You have your hand kinda like this, you have your palm anchored like that," Davis said, demonstrating Macon's playing style on his banjo.
"There was this young guy named Roy Acuff who was his opening act in the early days," Elliott continued. "I know everybody has an opinion. Mine is he was the greatest banjoist who ever lived."
Uncle Dave Macon died in 1952. His pallbearers included Roy Acuff and Bill Monroe. Uncle Dave Macon Days started in 1978 and here it still is.
"It's about the old time-music," Elliott said. "It's about a rare breed of old-time country music. If we don't get up and play it, practice it, it's going to die out."
New generations are learning it.
Davis took the stage for the National Banjo Pickin' Contest. It was the first time since 2019 the Uncle Dave Macon Days festival hosted the contest.
I had to ask Macon's family. Do they have any idea what he would think of people still celebrating his name 100 years after he started playing on the Opry?
"Uncle Dave would love this," Doubler nodded. "His goal, when he went out to shows, he would not quit until everybody was smiling and laughing and stomping their feet having a good time. If he came here today, he'd be thrilled by what we're doing. As I am. That's quite a tribute to him."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
Every night, Forrest Sanders brings us stories showcasing the best of humanity. This story profiles, perhaps, Tennessee's most eccentric resident who made an impact on an aspiring journalist. I'm always in awe of Forrest's storytelling; I truly appreciated his vulnerability with this one.
- Carrie Sharp
