WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.540 Welcome to this custom -tailored deep dive. We're 00:00:05.540 --> 00:00:07.480 really thrilled to have you with us today as 00:00:07.480 --> 00:00:11.240 we open up our historical dossier on a man named 00:00:11.240 --> 00:00:14.869 Ernest Stoneman. Or, as he was known, Pop Stoneman. 00:00:14.970 --> 00:00:17.030 Yeah, glad you're here listening in because this 00:00:17.030 --> 00:00:19.850 one is, it's quite a journey. It really is. The 00:00:19.850 --> 00:00:22.850 mission today for you and us is to map out the 00:00:22.850 --> 00:00:26.230 completely wild, really just rollercoaster life 00:00:26.230 --> 00:00:29.089 of an unsung founding father of country music. 00:00:29.289 --> 00:00:31.030 Unsung is definitely the right word for him. 00:00:31.129 --> 00:00:33.670 Right. And when I say his career spanned eras, 00:00:33.670 --> 00:00:36.560 I mean... It quite literally bridged the massive 00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:39.880 technological gap between 1920s acoustic wax 00:00:39.880 --> 00:00:44.020 cylinders and 1960s syndicated broadcast television. 00:00:44.259 --> 00:00:46.740 It is a timeline that almost defies logic when 00:00:46.740 --> 00:00:49.079 you lay it all out. It does. But before we really 00:00:49.079 --> 00:00:50.200 get into the weeds, I want to throw a little 00:00:50.200 --> 00:00:52.619 teaser out there just to frame the sheer scale 00:00:52.619 --> 00:00:54.619 of the life we're looking at today. Lay it on 00:00:54.619 --> 00:00:57.119 us. Okay. Imagine, just for a second, having 00:00:57.119 --> 00:00:59.420 23 children. Which is a whole deep dive in itself. 00:00:59.700 --> 00:01:02.079 Right. But then imagine selling two million copies 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:06.420 of a record in the 1920s. Following that dizzying 00:01:06.420 --> 00:01:09.859 height, imagine losing absolutely every dime 00:01:09.859 --> 00:01:12.280 you have in the Great Depression. Descending 00:01:12.280 --> 00:01:14.980 into the kind of poverty where you are literally 00:01:14.980 --> 00:01:18.239 manually building a shack to keep your family 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:22.260 warm. Yeah. And then somehow clawing your way 00:01:22.260 --> 00:01:25.140 back to network television to win a Country Music 00:01:25.140 --> 00:01:28.409 Association Award decades later. It's I mean, 00:01:28.430 --> 00:01:30.390 it sounds like a fabricated Hollywood script. 00:01:30.530 --> 00:01:32.950 It totally does. But it is all drawn directly 00:01:32.950 --> 00:01:36.010 from the historical record of this one man. It 00:01:36.010 --> 00:01:38.489 does read like fiction. But if we pull back the 00:01:38.489 --> 00:01:41.150 lens, this deep dive is really about the mechanical 00:01:41.150 --> 00:01:43.730 evolution of the commercial music industry itself. 00:01:44.150 --> 00:01:45.709 Yeah, that's a good way to look at it. It is 00:01:45.709 --> 00:01:48.609 a study of extreme adaptation. When we trace 00:01:48.609 --> 00:01:51.450 Pop Stoneman's life, we are tracing the tectonic 00:01:51.450 --> 00:01:54.090 shifts of 20th century American entertainment. 00:01:54.230 --> 00:01:56.069 From the very beginning. Exactly. From early 00:01:56.069 --> 00:01:58.599 primitive phonographs. all the way to the golden 00:01:58.599 --> 00:02:00.819 age of television. Okay, let's unpack this by 00:02:00.819 --> 00:02:02.219 going right back to the roots. Where does he 00:02:02.219 --> 00:02:06.739 start? Stoneman was born in 1893 in a log cabin 00:02:06.739 --> 00:02:10.219 in Monterod, Virginia. This is right in the heart 00:02:10.219 --> 00:02:13.280 of the Blue Ridge Mountains. And his early life 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:16.120 is marked by, well, immediate tragedy. He was 00:02:16.120 --> 00:02:19.039 left motherless by the age of three. And that 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:21.520 early loss, it fundamentally shaped his environment. 00:02:21.780 --> 00:02:24.460 He was raised by his father and three cousins. 00:02:24.780 --> 00:02:27.259 Right. And the crucial element here is that these 00:02:27.259 --> 00:02:29.780 cousins were completely steeped in the regional 00:02:29.780 --> 00:02:32.879 music. They taught him the vocal and instrumental 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:35.500 traditions of the mountains. Which is so important 00:02:35.500 --> 00:02:37.520 because... Keep in mind, this wasn't formal sheet 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:39.759 music or conservatory training. No, not at all. 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:42.180 This was a strict oral tradition. Passed down 00:02:42.180 --> 00:02:44.620 face to face, instrument to instrument. right 00:02:44.620 --> 00:02:46.680 there in that cabin. And he wasn't just casually 00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:49.439 strumming a few chords either. He became a veritable 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:52.819 one -man band. He really did. He sang, he wrote 00:02:52.819 --> 00:02:56.099 songs, and he mastered the guitar, the auto harp, 00:02:56.280 --> 00:03:00.120 the harmonica, the claw hammer banjo, and the 00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:02.900 jaw harp. And mastering that specific array of 00:03:02.900 --> 00:03:05.680 instruments is significant. Well, he was essentially 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:08.699 absorbing the entire sonic landscape of Blue 00:03:08.699 --> 00:03:11.740 Ridge culture. He was becoming a living archive 00:03:11.740 --> 00:03:15.659 of a regional art form, you know, turning the 00:03:15.659 --> 00:03:17.699 sounds he heard around him into an incredibly 00:03:17.699 --> 00:03:20.400 versatile skill set that would eventually serve 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:23.240 as his golden ticket. Which brings us to his 00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:25.800 own family dynamic, which is where the logistics 00:03:25.800 --> 00:03:29.699 of this story just blow my mind. The 23 children. 00:03:30.039 --> 00:03:34.740 Yes. In 1918, he marries Hattie Frost, who also 00:03:34.740 --> 00:03:37.340 comes from a very musical family. They proceed 00:03:37.340 --> 00:03:39.699 to have 23 children. It's just hard to fathom. 00:03:39.759 --> 00:03:43.400 23. Now, 13 of them survive into adulthood, including 00:03:43.400 --> 00:03:45.620 two who become highly notable in their own right, 00:03:45.780 --> 00:03:49.000 Scotty and Roni. But you have to ask, how on 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:51.360 earth does a man support a family expanding at 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:54.840 that rate in the rural South in the early 1900s? 00:03:55.129 --> 00:03:57.990 He does it through relentless manual labor. Music 00:03:57.990 --> 00:04:00.009 was the passion, but it certainly wasn't paying 00:04:00.009 --> 00:04:02.229 the bills. Not yet. He worked in the mines, he 00:04:02.229 --> 00:04:04.110 worked in the mills, and he spent a lot of time 00:04:04.110 --> 00:04:07.469 working as a carpenter. Just grueling work. Exactly. 00:04:07.710 --> 00:04:09.990 Music was relegated to entertaining neighbors 00:04:09.990 --> 00:04:12.750 or just playing for his own sanity after a 12 00:04:12.750 --> 00:04:15.490 -hour shift. But then we hit this incredible 00:04:15.490 --> 00:04:20.509 catalyst in 1924. Yeah. Stoneman hears a record 00:04:20.509 --> 00:04:23.519 by an artist named Henry Witter. Ah, yes. He 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:25.459 doesn't just listen to it and tap his foot. He 00:04:25.459 --> 00:04:28.540 listens to this scratchy, early commercial country 00:04:28.540 --> 00:04:30.920 record. And his immediate reaction is essentially, 00:04:31.139 --> 00:04:33.639 I can do better than this. Exactly. I can do 00:04:33.639 --> 00:04:36.889 better. And the crazy thing is. He acts on it. 00:04:36.970 --> 00:04:40.029 Which is such a brilliant display of audacity. 00:04:40.089 --> 00:04:42.769 Yeah. You have to remember the landscape of the 00:04:42.769 --> 00:04:45.589 early 1920s for a second. The recording industry 00:04:45.589 --> 00:04:48.389 was in its absolute infancy. It was the Wild 00:04:48.389 --> 00:04:50.670 West. Right. There weren't massive corporate 00:04:50.670 --> 00:04:53.509 gatekeepers with global A &R departments in the 00:04:53.509 --> 00:04:55.709 way we think of them today. Here is a carpenter 00:04:55.709 --> 00:04:58.939 covered in sawdust who hears a record. analyzes 00:04:58.939 --> 00:05:01.759 it, and decides his own skill set is superior. 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:04.000 He leverages that Blue Ridge Cabin education. 00:05:04.339 --> 00:05:06.920 Yes. And he decides to challenge the market directly. 00:05:07.180 --> 00:05:11.500 He really does. In September of 1924, this carpenter 00:05:11.500 --> 00:05:14.019 traveled all the way to New York City to get 00:05:14.019 --> 00:05:16.819 a meeting with Okie Records. That's a huge trip 00:05:16.819 --> 00:05:19.139 back then. Massive. And he actually manages to 00:05:19.139 --> 00:05:23.220 cut two songs. But in a classic showbiz twist, 00:05:23.620 --> 00:05:27.579 the label shelves the record. Ouch. It goes absolutely 00:05:27.579 --> 00:05:29.519 nowhere. I mean, a lot of people would have packed 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:31.439 it in and gone back to the lumberyard right then. 00:05:31.540 --> 00:05:33.680 Most people would have. Traveling to New York 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:36.920 from rural Virginia in 1924 was not cheap and 00:05:36.920 --> 00:05:40.000 it was not easy. To make that investment, get 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:42.100 in the room, record the tracks, and then have 00:05:42.100 --> 00:05:44.800 them discarded is a massive blow. Soul crushing. 00:05:45.370 --> 00:05:47.990 But his refusal to accept that rejection is what 00:05:47.990 --> 00:05:50.230 defines his entire career. He stubbornly goes 00:05:50.230 --> 00:05:53.389 right back to New York in January of 1925 for 00:05:53.389 --> 00:05:55.470 another session. He wasn't giving up. And this 00:05:55.470 --> 00:05:58.430 time, it catches fire. He releases a song called 00:05:58.430 --> 00:06:01.430 Sinking of the Titanic. And it doesn't just do 00:06:01.430 --> 00:06:03.910 well, it becomes a monster hit. A phenomenon. 00:06:04.189 --> 00:06:06.970 We are talking about sales of over 2 million 00:06:06.970 --> 00:06:09.930 copies. What does 2 million copies even look 00:06:09.930 --> 00:06:13.430 like in the context of the 1920s? It is a staggering 00:06:13.430 --> 00:06:15.810 figure. You have to consider that phonographs 00:06:15.810 --> 00:06:18.850 were still a relatively new household luxury. 00:06:19.209 --> 00:06:21.529 They weren't in every home. Not at all. And the 00:06:21.529 --> 00:06:24.029 actual technology of the time often involved 00:06:24.029 --> 00:06:27.040 acoustic recording. Which means what? Exactly. 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:29.899 For the artist. It means literally singing as 00:06:29.899 --> 00:06:32.560 loudly as you could into a large conical horn. 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:36.860 Wow. Yeah. And that horn vibrated a stylus to 00:06:36.860 --> 00:06:39.920 etch sound waves onto a wax cylinder or a flat 00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:42.660 disc. Microphones weren't standard yet. So no 00:06:42.660 --> 00:06:46.480 amplification. None. To move 2 million physical 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:49.180 units under those technological and economic 00:06:49.180 --> 00:06:52.079 conditions meant his music was resonating on 00:06:52.079 --> 00:06:54.959 a massive national scale. It crossed regional 00:06:54.959 --> 00:06:57.879 boundaries. That massive success launches a truly 00:06:57.879 --> 00:07:01.379 prolific era for him. Between 1925 and 1929, 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:03.899 he records over 200 songs. He was incredibly 00:07:03.899 --> 00:07:06.319 busy. He bounces between major labels of the 00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:08.639 era like Victor, Edison, Janet, and Paramount. 00:07:08.860 --> 00:07:11.379 And by 1926, he starts pulling his family members 00:07:11.379 --> 00:07:13.899 into the studio to create a full string band 00:07:13.899 --> 00:07:16.360 sound. Right. The family dynamic comes into play. 00:07:16.500 --> 00:07:20.259 And he is working extensively with a highly influential 00:07:20.259 --> 00:07:24.160 producer named Ralph Peer. A legendary name in 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:26.720 the industry. Here's where it gets really interesting. 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:31.069 In the summer of 1927. Stoneman isn't just in 00:07:31.069 --> 00:07:33.490 the recording booth playing his own songs. He 00:07:33.490 --> 00:07:36.430 actually helps Ralph Peer conduct what become 00:07:36.430 --> 00:07:39.470 known as the Bristol Sessions. Yes, the Bristol 00:07:39.470 --> 00:07:41.610 Sessions. For anyone listening who knows country 00:07:41.610 --> 00:07:44.029 music history, the Bristol Sessions are often 00:07:44.029 --> 00:07:47.310 called the Big Bang of the genre. What's fascinating 00:07:47.310 --> 00:07:50.470 here is Stoneman's transition from talent to 00:07:50.470 --> 00:07:52.910 tastemaker. Okay, tell me more about that. While 00:07:52.910 --> 00:07:54.790 he isn't just churning out his own product anymore, 00:07:54.990 --> 00:07:57.829 he is actively scouting. By helping to facilitate 00:07:57.829 --> 00:08:00.129 those Bristol sessions, he is instrumental in 00:08:00.129 --> 00:08:02.050 the discovery of the Carter family and Jimmy 00:08:02.050 --> 00:08:04.709 Rogers. Two absolute titans of the genre. Exactly. 00:08:05.420 --> 00:08:08.720 He had a keen ear for the raw, authentic sounds 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:11.139 that the burgeoning commercial market was hungry 00:08:11.139 --> 00:08:14.360 for. He was acting as a vital architect, laying 00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:16.399 the very foundation for what commercial country 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:18.579 music would become. So we have this absolute 00:08:18.579 --> 00:08:22.199 peak. He is a pioneer. He is an A and R scout 00:08:22.199 --> 00:08:25.680 before the term really existed. And he is a star 00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:28.600 selling millions of records. He's at the top 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:31.639 of the world. He is highly active right up through 00:08:31.639 --> 00:08:35.039 1929. And then... The bottom falls out of the 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:37.039 world. The Great Depression. The Great Depression 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:40.120 hits and the Stoneman family is devastated. They 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:42.279 lose their home. They lose their wealth. They 00:08:42.279 --> 00:08:45.879 lose their possessions. I want you listening 00:08:45.879 --> 00:08:49.340 right now to try to put yourself in his shoes. 00:08:49.620 --> 00:08:51.840 It's a terrifying thought. Going from selling 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:53.980 two million records, being the king of the mountain, 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:57.620 to utter destitution. The music industry essentially 00:08:57.620 --> 00:09:00.200 collapsed overnight. Just like that. Just like 00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:02.480 that. Discretionary income vanished, which meant 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:04.320 no one was buying records. If you couldn't afford 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:06.659 bread, you certainly weren't buying a wax cylinder. 00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:09.120 But wait, how does a guy who sold two million 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:12.200 records just a few years prior end up with absolutely 00:09:12.200 --> 00:09:15.019 nothing? Wouldn't he have royalties coming in 00:09:15.019 --> 00:09:17.340 from those massive hits to cushion the blow? 00:09:17.639 --> 00:09:20.399 That is the tragic reality of early commercial 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:24.120 music. Today, an artist with a two million selling 00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:27.500 single has a vast web of mechanical royalties. 00:09:27.620 --> 00:09:30.039 Right. Performance rights organizations. Like 00:09:30.039 --> 00:09:33.980 ASCAP or BMI, plus union protections. In the 00:09:33.980 --> 00:09:37.269 1920s, the model was often a flat fee. A flat 00:09:37.269 --> 00:09:39.809 fee? Yeah. You went into the studio, you got 00:09:39.809 --> 00:09:42.389 paid $50 to record the song, and you relinquished 00:09:42.389 --> 00:09:45.110 the rights. That is insane. Even if the producer 00:09:45.110 --> 00:09:47.789 offered a rudimentary royalty, the enforcement 00:09:47.789 --> 00:09:50.110 and tracking were virtually non -existent for 00:09:50.110 --> 00:09:52.789 rural artists. So the money just dried up. Completely. 00:09:52.870 --> 00:09:55.230 When the economy crashed, the cash flow simply 00:09:55.230 --> 00:09:58.009 stopped. That is brutal. So we have this stark 00:09:58.009 --> 00:10:01.370 contrast. You go from the absolute high of shaping 00:10:01.370 --> 00:10:04.230 a new music industry in New York City to utter 00:10:04.230 --> 00:10:08.500 destitution. Survival mode. By 1932, the Stonemans 00:10:08.500 --> 00:10:10.899 have nine surviving children, and they are forced 00:10:10.899 --> 00:10:13.500 to leave the mountains. They move to the Washington, 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:15.840 D .C. area, where they eventually have four more 00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:18.600 kids. So 13 kids total living under his roof 00:10:18.600 --> 00:10:21.259 during the Depression. Stoneman is taking whatever 00:10:21.259 --> 00:10:23.960 manual labor work he can find just to keep them 00:10:23.960 --> 00:10:26.500 from starving, while still trying to hustle for 00:10:26.500 --> 00:10:29.309 whatever meager music gigs exist. It creates 00:10:29.309 --> 00:10:32.350 an incredibly dark valley in his timeline. The 00:10:32.350 --> 00:10:35.250 1930s for the Stoneman family are defined purely 00:10:35.250 --> 00:10:38.429 by survival. He is no longer the hotshot recording 00:10:38.429 --> 00:10:41.549 artist. He is a desperate father trying to feed 00:10:41.549 --> 00:10:44.210 over a dozen people during the worst economic 00:10:44.210 --> 00:10:47.330 crisis in American history. The reality of that 00:10:47.330 --> 00:10:51.570 struggle really crystallizes in 1941. He buys 00:10:51.570 --> 00:10:53.850 a cheap plot of land in Carmody Hills, Maryland. 00:10:54.679 --> 00:10:57.080 And he uses his carpentry skills to physically 00:10:57.080 --> 00:10:59.620 build a shack from scratch for his massive family. 00:10:59.720 --> 00:11:02.399 He built it himself. Yes. And he eventually lands 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:04.860 a regular job working at the naval gun factory. 00:11:05.320 --> 00:11:08.039 I want you to visualize that contrast. A decade 00:11:08.039 --> 00:11:12.080 prior, he was a nationwide star. Now... He is 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:14.080 holding a hammer at a gun factory and living 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:16.179 in a self -built shack. If we connect this to 00:11:16.179 --> 00:11:18.539 the bigger picture, it highlights the extreme 00:11:18.539 --> 00:11:21.399 vulnerability of industry pioneers. That take 00:11:21.399 --> 00:11:23.720 all risks? Exactly. The folks who hack through 00:11:23.720 --> 00:11:25.879 the jungle and build the first roads rarely get 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:28.139 to drive the luxury cars on them later. That's 00:11:28.139 --> 00:11:29.960 a great analogy. Stoneman built the commercial 00:11:29.960 --> 00:11:32.620 country music road, but the economic structures 00:11:32.620 --> 00:11:34.659 weren't in place to protect him when the storms 00:11:34.659 --> 00:11:37.639 came. Yet, despite that grueling reality, the 00:11:37.639 --> 00:11:40.100 music didn't stop. They kept playing. They never 00:11:40.100 --> 00:11:42.259 stopped playing. And that brings us to the most 00:11:42.259 --> 00:11:44.879 triumphant pivot in this entire narrative. The 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:47.919 family transitions to a brand new disruptive 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:51.340 technology. Television. Television. The comeback 00:11:51.340 --> 00:11:55.659 really sparks in 1947. The Stoneman family enters 00:11:55.659 --> 00:11:58.679 a talent contest at Constitution Hall in Washington, 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:01.980 D .C., and they win. And the prize for that was 00:12:01.980 --> 00:12:04.879 huge. The prize is six months of exposure on 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:07.259 local television. Which is an incredibly strategic 00:12:07.259 --> 00:12:10.659 medium to conquer in 1947. Television was in 00:12:10.659 --> 00:12:13.299 its absolute infancy. Much like the commercial 00:12:13.299 --> 00:12:15.840 phonograph industry was when he dominated it 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:18.990 in the 20s. Precisely. Once again, Pop Stoneman 00:12:18.990 --> 00:12:22.250 recognizes a new technological frontier and he 00:12:22.250 --> 00:12:24.230 gets his family in on the ground floor. And they 00:12:24.230 --> 00:12:27.090 ride that wave brilliantly into the 1950s. The 00:12:27.090 --> 00:12:30.210 milestones they hit in 1956 are just phenomenal. 00:12:30.649 --> 00:12:33.690 1956 was a massive year for them. First, Pop 00:12:33.690 --> 00:12:36.210 Stoneman goes on the NBC television quiz show 00:12:36.210 --> 00:12:39.750 called The Big Surprise. He sings, he charms 00:12:39.750 --> 00:12:42.850 the audience, and he wins $10 ,000. A fortune 00:12:42.850 --> 00:12:46.090 back then. That same year, a group made up largely 00:12:46.090 --> 00:12:48.350 of his children, calling themselves the Bluegrass 00:12:48.350 --> 00:12:51.590 Champs, go on the massive CBS television program 00:12:51.590 --> 00:12:54.350 Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. Which was the 00:12:54.350 --> 00:12:57.169 American Idol of its day. And they win that too. 00:12:57.750 --> 00:13:01.669 Also in 1956, Mike Seeger, who is a huge figure 00:13:01.669 --> 00:13:04.450 in the folk revival, records Pop and his wife 00:13:04.450 --> 00:13:08.679 Hattie for the Folkways label. 1956 is the undeniable 00:13:08.679 --> 00:13:11.379 tipping point of the resurgence. The momentum 00:13:11.379 --> 00:13:14.279 is finally permanently back. He finally gets 00:13:14.279 --> 00:13:16.639 a break. Pop is able to retire from the manual 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:19.419 labor that had broken his back for decades. The 00:13:19.419 --> 00:13:21.620 children's group, the Champs, transition into 00:13:21.620 --> 00:13:23.500 a full -time professional outfit and officially 00:13:23.500 --> 00:13:25.940 become known as the Stonemans. And their trajectory 00:13:25.940 --> 00:13:28.679 from that point is a steady, relentless climb 00:13:28.679 --> 00:13:32.080 upward. They start conquering the 1960s. They 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:35.340 record albums for the Starday label. By 1964, 00:13:35.700 --> 00:13:37.679 they are touring through Texas and California. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:40.559 They cut a record for World Pacific. They are 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:43.620 playing major venues like Disneyland. Disneyland. 00:13:43.700 --> 00:13:48.000 Yeah. They tap into the massive 1960s folk revival, 00:13:48.159 --> 00:13:51.360 playing the Monterey Folk Festival in 1964, and 00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:55.000 Pop himself appears at the UCLA Folk Music Festival. 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:57.820 They manage to bridge the generational gap perfectly. 00:13:58.649 --> 00:14:01.470 The younger folk revival audience of the 1960s 00:14:01.470 --> 00:14:04.929 was desperate for authenticity, for real pioneers 00:14:04.929 --> 00:14:07.769 of American roots music. And Pop Stoneman was 00:14:07.769 --> 00:14:10.250 the genuine article. He really was standing right 00:14:10.250 --> 00:14:13.110 there on stage with his incredibly talented children. 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:16.340 That momentum drives them right into the absolute 00:14:16.340 --> 00:14:20.039 climax of the story. In 1965, the Stoneman's 00:14:20.039 --> 00:14:22.279 moved to Nashville. The undisputed capital of 00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:24.340 the industry he helped create. They start working 00:14:24.340 --> 00:14:26.580 with legendary producer Jack Clement. They sign 00:14:26.580 --> 00:14:28.980 a major contract with MGM Records. They launch 00:14:28.980 --> 00:14:31.440 their own syndicated TV show. They even start 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:34.000 appearing in feature films like the 1967 movie 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:35.960 Hell on Wheels and The Road to Nashville. It 00:14:35.960 --> 00:14:38.860 just kept building. And then the ultimate validation 00:14:38.860 --> 00:14:40.679 from the industry that had forgotten him for 00:14:40.679 --> 00:14:45.379 20 years. In 1967, the Stonemans win the Country 00:14:45.379 --> 00:14:47.720 Music Association's Award for Vocal Group of 00:14:47.720 --> 00:14:50.389 the Year. It is an unparalleled vindication. 00:14:50.669 --> 00:14:53.409 Truly. To hold that award, standing next to the 00:14:53.409 --> 00:14:55.590 children he raised in a self -built shack during 00:14:55.590 --> 00:14:57.950 the Depression, must have been an unimaginably 00:14:57.950 --> 00:15:00.490 powerful moment. I get chills just thinking about 00:15:00.490 --> 00:15:03.210 it. Sadly, Pop Stoneman passes away the following 00:15:03.210 --> 00:15:07.629 year, in 1968, at the age of 75. But what a way 00:15:07.629 --> 00:15:10.429 to go out. He is interred in Mount Olivet Cemetery 00:15:10.429 --> 00:15:13.429 in Nashville, finally at rest in the city built 00:15:13.429 --> 00:15:16.549 on the music he pioneered. It is an awe -inspiring 00:15:16.549 --> 00:15:19.419 arc. From a motherless toddler in a Virginia 00:15:19.419 --> 00:15:22.259 log cabin learning the jaw harp, to a forgotten 00:15:22.259 --> 00:15:24.559 carpenter building a shack to survive the Depression, 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:28.480 to a patriarch holding a CMA award on national 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:31.080 television. It's an incredible American story. 00:15:31.399 --> 00:15:34.179 It's a story of profound musical genius, but 00:15:34.179 --> 00:15:37.659 far more than that, it is a masterclass in extreme, 00:15:37.659 --> 00:15:40.700 unyielding human resilience. His legacy has only 00:15:40.700 --> 00:15:43.120 solidified since his passing. It certainly has. 00:15:43.480 --> 00:15:46.279 The historical recognition finally caught up 00:15:46.279 --> 00:15:49.830 to him. In 2008, Pop Stoneman was officially 00:15:49.830 --> 00:15:52.169 inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. 00:15:52.230 --> 00:15:56.570 Long overdue. Very. In 2009, he and Hattie were 00:15:56.570 --> 00:15:59.190 enshrined in the Janet Records Walk of Fame. 00:15:59.370 --> 00:16:02.250 And a massive retrospective of his early work, 00:16:02.409 --> 00:16:04.889 put together by a Grammy -winning reissue team, 00:16:05.110 --> 00:16:07.830 was released in 2008. I remember that release. 00:16:08.190 --> 00:16:11.600 The album, titled Ernest Stoneman. The unsung 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:15.899 father of country music, 1925 to 1934, was even 00:16:15.899 --> 00:16:18.519 nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album Notes. 00:16:18.740 --> 00:16:21.279 A perfect capstone. So what does this all mean? 00:16:21.519 --> 00:16:23.519 This raises an important question about the true 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:26.759 nature of longevity in any creative field. Pop 00:16:26.759 --> 00:16:29.120 Stoneman demonstrated the incredible value of 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:31.179 aggressive adaptation. He never stopped moving 00:16:31.179 --> 00:16:33.940 forward. He evolved his delivery mechanism, moving 00:16:33.940 --> 00:16:38.299 from acoustic cylinders to radio to local television 00:16:38.299 --> 00:16:41.409 to syndicated culture. broadcasts, but he never 00:16:41.409 --> 00:16:43.809 fundamentally altered the authentic roots of 00:16:43.809 --> 00:16:46.350 his art. He never stopped being that musician 00:16:46.350 --> 00:16:49.029 from the Blue Ridge Mountains. He just kept finding 00:16:49.029 --> 00:16:51.929 new technologies to project that mountain music 00:16:51.929 --> 00:16:54.169 to the world. That's exactly it. And I'll leave 00:16:54.169 --> 00:16:57.000 you with a final thought to mull over. The Stoneman 00:16:57.000 --> 00:16:59.179 family managed to sustain a cultural dynasty 00:16:59.179 --> 00:17:03.059 across 50 years and multiple technological revolutions 00:17:03.059 --> 00:17:06.019 that wiped out thousands of their peers. So many 00:17:06.019 --> 00:17:08.720 others faded away. Right. So if you look at the 00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:12.140 landscape today with the chaotic shift from streams, 00:17:12.140 --> 00:17:15.900 algorithms to short form video and AI, what emerging 00:17:15.900 --> 00:17:19.039 platforms might a family use today to spark the 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:21.700 next 50 year dynasty? Why? And more importantly, 00:17:21.819 --> 00:17:23.759 how would they build their foundation to ensure 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:26.299 they survive the next? predictable technological 00:17:26.299 --> 00:17:29.279 crash? That is a phenomenal question to leave 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:31.400 off on. Thank you so much for joining us on this 00:17:31.400 --> 00:17:33.700 deep dive today. We hope this incredible story 00:17:33.700 --> 00:17:36.039 of resilience and reinvention sticks with you, 00:17:36.099 --> 00:17:37.960 and we encourage you to keep looking for the 00:17:37.960 --> 00:17:40.099 hidden histories behind the media you consume 00:17:40.099 --> 00:17:41.839 every day. Until next time.