associated_acts death_date years_active birth_place name background birth_date instrument genre article_title birth_name
theron hale and daughters january 29 , 1954 c. 1926 -- 1948 pikeville , tennessee , usa . theron hale non_vocal_instrumentalist 1883 fiddle , banjo old-time music theron hale
 theron hale
theron hale

theron hale -lrb- 1883 -- january 29 , 1954 -rrb- was an american old-time fiddle and banjo player .
he was a member of the grand ole opry in the late 1920s and 1930s , and is often remembered as a more laid back and sedate alternative to the raucous dance and `` hoedown '' music that dominated the opry in its early days .
hale continued playing and recording until the late 1940s , often accompanied by opry guitarist sam mcgee .
hale was born in pikeville , tennessee in 1883 .
he lived in iowa for several years before moving to nashville to work as a farmer and salesman .
hale first gained regional fame as a banjo player in the early 1900s , and taught the instrument to chattanooga banjoist homer davenport .
he joined the grand ole opry -lrb- then called the wsm `` barn dance '' -rrb- in 1926 .
while he played both banjo and fiddle throughout his career , he only made recordings as a fiddle player .
hale 's group `` theron hale and daughters '' -- which consisted of hale on fiddle , hale 's daughter elizabeth on piano , and daughter mamie ruth on either second fiddle or mandolin -- recorded several tracks in 1928 and played regularly throughout the 1930s .
the group dissolved after mamie ruth left in the late 1930s , although theron continued playing informally throughout the following decade .
around 1948 , hale paired up with opry guitarist sam mcgee to make several recordings for the tennessee state extension project , which was promoting traditional square dancing music .
unlike most opry acts of the day , hale preferred slow , traditional `` twin fiddle '' sets rather than dance music .
perhaps hale 's most well-known recording is `` hale 's rag , '' which was derived from a charles l. johnson composition .
his repertoire also included `` jolly blacksmith , '' which he recorded with his daughters in 1928 , and `` fire in the mountain , '' which he recorded with sam mcgee in the late 1940s .
