[dcab-l] Re: Roy Acuff playing Fiddle

Alton Delmore (of the famous Delmore Brothers) in his autobiography, "Truth Is Stranger Than Publicity" had a few brutally honest remarks about Roy Acuff's musicianship-- or lack thereof. He was not as brutally honest as Charlie Louvin's was in his autobiography, "The Devil Is Real," released this past year following Charlie's death, however.  Alton said it like it was about his fellow entertainers.  But Charlie REALLY told it like it was and in much saltier prose. Recommend both books, Ed.

On Monday, November 5, 2012 8:22:08 AM UTC-6, Ed Schaeffer wrote:

Bluegrassers:

 

I was searching YouTube for any films of Bashful Brother Oswald;

actually, there were plenty of Oswald on YouTube, playing dobro,

old time banjo, guitar, and singing.

Many of these were done with Roy Acuff and the Smokey Mountain boys.
It was not uncommon for Roy to play ukulele, as well as his omnipresent
fiddle. He had a way of holding both the bow and the fiddle, one in each hand

which appeared pleasing to my eye; he would also hold each end of the bow, tip

with left hand and frog with his right. Again, it was a pleasing look. Also, he would

begin the show by twirling the bow, like the blades of a fan, with one finger inside

the frog. On the great bluegrass DVD "Bluegrass Country Soul", the bow actually
flies out of his hand, and he must retrieve it!

 

However, I never heard him actually play the fiddle. I even read on the web.
that he filled in for a fiddler on the grand old Opry one time, but he said afterwards
that his bow was "in back the bridge as much as it was in front of the bridge", and that
the Opry folks were clearly not impressed with his fiddling, at least on that occasion.

Does anyone know: did Roy Acuff actually ever play is fiddle on stage, or was it
mostly a stage prop?

 

Thanks,

ed

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