Uncle Dave Macon: Newspaper Highlights (1922 – 1952)

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Uncle Dave Macon: Newspaper Highlights (1922 – 1952)
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Before he was “Uncle”: Dave Macon in Nashville, November 1922 (top left), September 1923 (top right), and January 1923 (bottom)

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Macon’s earliest releases (left, 1924) were solo efforts, accompanied by his own banjo. In May 1927 (right), he traveled to New York for a series of marathon sessions that netted multiple takes of thirty-eight titles in five days — considerably more than the twenty-five reported in this Nashville Tennessean article, which misidentifies the McGee brothers as “Mack D. Brothers.”

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Dayton, Ohio (December 1926, left), and Atlanta, Georgia
(March 1925)

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Madison, Wisconsin (July 1931)

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Zanesville, Ohio (December 1937)

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Waynesboro, Virginia (July 1938)

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Gaffney, South Carolina, with son Dorris (July 1939)

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Tallahassee, Florida (January 1938, left), and Lincoln, Nebraska,
December 1937

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Macon had a starring role in Paramount Pictures’ Grand Ole Opry, which had its premier in Nashville. (June 1940)

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Cullman, Alabama (August 1940). Macon was a well-known figure in and around Cullman, where he often performed at E. C. Wheeler’s farm auctions.

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Ashland, Alabama (July 1940, left), and McComb, Mississippi
(April 1944)

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Troy, Alabama (February 1942). The Grand Ole Opry continued to feature stereotypical “blackface” fare long after it had fallen out of favor with much of the American public.

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Tampa, Florida (March 1943)

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Shreveport, Louisiana (July 1943)

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Bryan, Texas (April 1947)

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Macon’s “retirement” was short-lived, and he was soon on the road again. (Nashville, May 30, 1950)

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Murfreesboro, Tennessee (March 22, 1952)

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Murfreesboro, Tennessee (March 23, 1952)

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And a few favorites from the Fruit Jar Drinkers sessions:

 

UNCLE DAVE MACON & HIS FRUIT JAR DRINKERS:
Sail Away Ladies

New York (Brunswick studio, room #1): May 7, 1927
Vocalion 5155 (mx. E 4936)
Personnel per Brunswick files: Uncle Dave Macon (vocal/banjo); Sam McGee (guitar); Kirk McGee, Mazy Todd (fiddles, the latter listed as “Maize”)

 

UNCLE DAVE MACON & HIS FRUIT JAR DRINKERS:
Rock About My Sara Jane

New York (Brunswick studio, room #1): May 7, 1927
Vocalion 5152 (mx. E 4925)
Same personnel as above

 

UNCLE DAVE MACON & HIS FRUIT JAR DRINKERS: Tom and Jerry

New York (Brunswick studio, room #1): May 9, 1927
Vocalion 5165 (mx. E 4959)
Same personnel as above

 

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