R.I.P. Mac Wiseman

[Dobe]

Don't know if this has been posted yet:
"Very sad news in the bluegrass and entire music world today. Mac Wiseman has passed away. The "Voice With a Heart" was 93 years old. He was a musical treasure, prolific storyteller, and instant friend to all who met him. Mac will be greatly missed."http://<a href="https://youtu.be/vcl...clbwGvupW8</a>

[William Smith]

Sad news for sure, Mac was still going strong last I knew anyway. I met him once at the Station Inn with my Uncle Gene who's band the II Generation backed him up in the 70's whenever they could, he was a superb person and tops in the musicians world!

[allenhopkins]

I loved his SOP at bluegrass festivals: he'd just grab the members of the band that had played the set before his, ask them to stay on stage and back him up. Luckily, the songs he did were generally so well-known that it worked most of the time. His stage personality was so genial and humorous, and everyone was glad that he did a "greatest hits" set.

I remember him mentioning the duet LP he and Lester Flatt had just released. He said, "Buy a copy at my table over there, take it home and listen to it; if you don't like it, see Lester at the next festival and he'll give you your money back."

[MikeEdgerton]

...if you don't like it, see Lester at the next festival and he'll give you your money back...

OK, that's funny. I'm trying to figure out where I can work that concept in.

[jim simpson]

I loved his SOP at bluegrass festivals: he'd just grab the members of the band that had played the set before his, ask them to stay on stage and back him up. Luckily, the songs he did were generally so well-known that it worked most of the time. His stage personality was so genial and humorous, and everyone was glad that he did a "greatest hits" set.

I remember him mentioning the duet LP he and Lester Flatt had just released. He said, "Buy a copy at my table over there, take it home and listen to it; if you don't like it, see Lester at the next festival and he'll give you your money back."

Allen, I recently converted a vhs tape to dvd that a friend made of Mac performing with friends of mine at the only Bluegrass In The Hills festival that was held in 1991 near Wheeling, WV. This was broadcast locally on Friday night only. Wheeling had "Jamboree In The Hills" at the same site for many years till recently. I arrived for the festival on Sat. and missed Friday night's entertainment. I really enjoyed Mac's set. He excused the band for a medley of his tunes then brought them back to finish. I don't believe there was a rehearsal, lol! Mac and his pickup band did a great job!

[DHopkins]

Really sad. He was one of the most respected and distinctive musicians ever.

I saw him perhaps 25-30 years ago at, of all things, a chili festival. He wasn't scheduled to play but someone recognized him at (I think) a gas station and asked him to stop by. He did. It was just him and his guitar sitting on stool. He did about 8-10 songs. His fee? a bowl of chili. Probably not the first time in his career that that was how he got paid for a performance.

Nuthin' better.

[MikeZito]

A great talent . . . and one of the last of an era.

[Timbofood]

What a way to end this weekend. Now I’m sad!

[bgpete]

Well - that is sad news, indeed. Mac W. saw the entire lifespan of bluegrass, pretty much from the very beginnings until the present, and performed on some of the greatest classic songs. There are so few left now who go back that far.
He was a fine singer and guitarist, and always performed with energy and good humor.
Just irreplaceable.
Rest in peace, Mac.

[Gina Willis]

I miss him already.

Oddly, -- I'd found myself thinking of him more in recent days, and woke up the other morning humming "Shackles and Chains" as I remembered how he used to sing it.

What a totally distinctive sound and style his singing brought to bluegrass.

[pops1]

I am starting my radio show on Wednesday with a few of Mac's songs as a tribute. He will be missed.

[marbelizer]

I saw Billy Strings play at Wintergrass on Friday night and he dedicated "Shackles and Chains" to Mac during his set. He said mack was in hospice at the time. The band played it straight up and strong.

Rest in Peace Mac Wiseman.

[Mandoplumb]

Mac never carried a band. 30+ years ago he was booked at a bar a friend owned and requested that my friend find a Back up band. He called on us and of course we jumped at the chance. After one mandolin break I took, Mac looked at me and said I liked that, bet you can't do it again, which I tried my best to do the same thing. I don't know why but my hat wouldn't fit when we were done.
Rest in peace Mac

[William Smith]

I heard last night from my Dad as my Uncle Gene Johnson told him Mac was having bad troubles and his kidneys shut down. Such sad news as all our heroes from the first Generation will be playing in heaven above. Before I knew about Mac's passing yesterday morning I was showing my 6 year old little girl some old you tube video's of Mac with Uncle Gene and the rest of the II Generation backing him up on an old TV show clip from the mid 7o's-GREAT stuff!

[BradKlein]

Well I produced a news spot for NPR News yesterday, but it looks like it got bumped for Oscar news. It's hard to squeeze arts news into a 5 minute newscast at any time. Maybe now that the NYTimes has published an obit, they'll squeeze it in tonight.

It seems as if Mac's passing leaves Jesse McReynolds as the last of the 'first generation' bluegrass headliners. Who am I overlooking? (I guess I consider Del McCoury and Frank Wakefield as 'second gen')

[allenhopkins]

...It seems as if Mac's passing leaves Jesse McReynolds as the last of the 'first generation' bluegrass headliners. Who am I overlooking? (I guess I consider Del McCoury and Frank Wakefield as 'second gen')

Bobby Osborne's still going, right? I don't think Paul Williams (Jimmy Martin's mandolinist) is still performing, but I guess he's still around, as is fellow Sunny Mountain Boy J. D. Crowe. I'd consider Eddy Adcock as "first generation," since he started playing in 1953, according to his Wikipedia article. I'd also put Ronnie and Donna Stoneman in the "first generation," playing since the early '50's.

How many still perform? Osborne for sure, and I think Adcock. Williams and Crowe apparently "hung 'em up" recently. And I'm not sure that all the above qualify as "headliners," though Adcock, Crowe, Williams, and the Stonemans have fronted bands.

[grassrootphilosopher]

Bobby Osborne's still going, right? I don't think Paul Williams (Jimmy Martin's mandolinist) is still performing, but I guess he's still around, as is fellow Sunny Mountain Boy J. D. Crowe. I'd consider Eddy Adcock as "first generation," since he started playing in 1953, according to his Wikipedia article. I'd also put Ronnie and Donna Stoneman in the "first generation," playing since the early '50's.

How many still perform? Osborne for sure, and I think Adcock. Williams and Crowe apparently "hung 'em up" recently. And I'm not sure that all the above qualify as "headliners," though Adcock, Crowe, Williams, and the Stonemans have fronted bands.

Except for maybe Jesse McReynolds they are all second generation bluegrassers. Sonny started with Bill Monroe when Sonny was 14 (about 7 years after BM hired Earl Scruggs), the same age J.D.Crowe (at the time 16 years old and about 10 years after BM hired Earl Scruggs) started with Jimmy Martin (1st generation BG). Eddy Adcock is IInd Generation (per definition of his band name) for sure, as are the Stonemans. If you also count Jim & Jesse as IInd generation there´s no 1st generation bluegrasser left, I think.

On a side note:
I get a kick out of Big Mac´s guitar technique. He has sort of a "dancing" guitar rythm. I like the treatment of his bass runs on the guitar. But the rythmical thing, the "dancing" or "bouncing" for lack of better terminology is certainly interesting. I think it needs a tight backup band, to tie it all together. You can see the "bouncing" by his hand movement in the following videos. At the end of a line (verse or chorus) you can see sort of a sweeping movement of the pick hand that gives the rythm the "bounce". Compare that with Del McCoury, Jimmy Martin, Tony Rice, Lester Flatt et. al and you will see a very different rythm playing.

The epitome of Mac Wiseman for me is "Travelling Down This Lonesome Road" (listen to the original version of the Blue Grass Boys on the 50ies recording... awesome).












And of course for those who are "Martin-centric": Listen to that fine 50ies Gibson Southern Jumbo and some nice tunefull guitar solos.

[allenhopkins]

Except for maybe Jesse McReynolds they are all second generation bluegrassers.

I guess this raises the question of what constitutes "first" vs. "second generation." Leaving aside Bill Monroe's and Flatt & Scruggs well-known timelines, the Stanley Brothers started recording around 1948, the Osborne Brothers perhaps four years later. Jim & Jesse signed with Capitol in 1952; their Cincinnati (I believe) recordings reissued as Sacred Songs of the Virginia Trio probably preceded the Capitol signing by at least a couple years. Jimmy Martin recorded with Monroe in 1950, and with the Osbornes around 1954 or so. When he started the Sunny Mountain Boys, he had Crowe and Williams playing with him in 1956. Donna and the late Scotty Stoneman won the Talent Scouts TV competition, as the Bluegrass Champs, in 1956. Eddy Adcock was playing banjo with a VA band in 1953.

Wiseman had played in Molly O'Day's band, and broadcast as a solo, before joining the Foggy Mountain Boys, and later the Blue Grass Boys, in the late 1940's. If we stipulate 1950 as a dividing line between the bluegrass generations, you find that the Osbornes were playing before 1950, as were the Stanleys, Wiseman, Flatt & Scruggs, Jimmy Martin, the McReynolds brothers, and a bunch of lesser-known bluegrass and pre-bluegrass musicians (do we remember Ezra, Charlie, and Curly Ray Cline in the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers? That band organized in 1938.) By the mid-1950's, Adcock, Crowe, Williams, the Stoneman sisters, and many others were active -- did you know Don Reno started playing banjo professionally in 1939?

To me, calling Jesse McReynolds "first generation" and Bobby Osborne "second," seems arbitrary. Their debuts as "lead" performers, and their initial recordings, may only have been two or three years separated. My own definition of "first generation" is anyone who was playing within the first decade after Monroe organized the Flatt/Scruggs/Wise version of the Blue Grass Boys, and who adopted and adapted Monroe's bluegrass style and approach to acoustic hillbilly music. I'd put Adcock, Crowe, Williams, Osborne, the Stonemans,, and others of that era that don't come to mind, into that category.

Good, stimulating discussion -- but we shouldn't forget the thread's about the great Mac Wiseman. No doubt of his "first generation" creds, of of his talent and influence.

[jimmy powells]

I thought Mac Wiseman's version of Barbara Allen was just brilliant. Such a distinctive voice and I never tired of it.

RIP

[re simmers]

I remember seeing Mac on Ralph Emery’s show about 20+ years ago. He did Letter Edged In Black. Just MAC and his guitar. I remember thinking how pure and flawless, and emotional his performance. Voice with heart.
Bob

[Timbofood]

I agree with you Allen, the 1950 line is a fair guideline, for 1st and 2nd. But, it’s a guideline not a firm, set in stone kind of thing.
And I also agree that this thread is more abot Mac going to the larger life. I have a picture of my guitar player shaking hands with Mac at a show in Midland over Bill Monroe’s birthday in the 80’s, I’ll look for that!!

[BradKlein]

THANKS for weighing in on the first/second generation question. It doesn't have to be a digression from celebrating Mac's life, in fact it came up as I was writing an obit for him, and I appreciate the thoughtful replies.

One of the last interviews with Mac was conducted for the ArtistWorks instruction platform, part of Michael Daves's bluegrass vocals channel. You can find video of them talking and singing HERE at the AW blog post about Mac. I found it touching how hard Michael is listening to the words of the master, and generously supporting him with his guitar work.

[f5loar]

A sad loss in bluegrass music. Mac remained active and had scheduled a new all gospel album with Opry legend guitarist Jimmy Capps in a few months. Hard to beat Mac and his contributions to both bluegrass and country. If you have an Alexia, ask her too play songs by Mac Wiseman in tribute to his memory. Last time I went to see Mac a few years ago at his home outside of Nashville I saw him reunited with the Epiphone mandolin that Monroe used while Mac was in the Band. It was a gift to Monroe from the Blue Grass Boys in Sept, 1948 and Monroe is holding it in the 2nd Song Book on the cover and several photos inside.

[Br1ck]

Sang 'Tis Sweet to be Remembered" at an open mic last night to a room full of people who had never heard it.