I'm Using My Bible For a Roadmap by lazarus57

lazarus57 - I'm Using My Bible For a Roadmap

lazarus57

Jun 28, 2025 10:01pm

COUNTRY GOSPEL AND BLUEGRASS<img src="https://singsnap-cdn.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/message-board/threads/UPR1/bd279c7c03_K96A_media.gif?w=700"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/OBHRHR6.gif"> Malcolm Bell Wiseman (May 23, 1925 – February 24, 2019) was an American <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluegrass_music" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">bluegrass</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_music" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">country</a> singer active for seven decades in the twentieth century. He was part of Bluegrass music's earliest generation, though bluegrass never defined him. He helped found the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_Music_Association" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">CMA</a>, headed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_Records" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Dot Records</a>' country division, and, in 1993, he was inducted into the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Bluegrass_Music_Hall_of_Honor" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor</a>. In his early career he was the guitarist for Flatt and Scruggs' band, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foggy_Mountain_Boys" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Foggy Mountain Boys</a>. His biggest hits included "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ballad_of_Davy_Crockett" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">The Ballad of Davy Crockett</a>" (1955) and "Jimmy Brown the Newsboy" (1959).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[a]</a> Wiseman was a recipient of a 2008 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Heritage_Fellowship" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">National Heritage Fellowship</a> awarded by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Endowment_for_the_Arts" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">National Endowment for the Arts</a>, which is the United States' highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. In 2014 he became part of the Veteran Era category of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_Music_Hall_of_Fame" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Country Music Hall of Fame</a>, as "an artist who achieved national prominence more than 45 years ago".Early life[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mac_Wiseman&action=edit&section=1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">edit</a>]He was born on May 23, 1925, in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimora,_Virginia" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Crimora, Virginia</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-RollingstoneDeath-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[3]</a> He attended school in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hope,_Augusta_County,_Virginia" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">New Hope, Virginia</a>, and graduated from high school there in 1943. He had <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polio" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">polio</a> from the age of six months;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-rollingstoneHall-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[4]</a> due to his disabilities, he could not do field work and spent his time in childhood listening to old records.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-rollingstoneHall-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[4]</a> He studied at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenandoah_University" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Shenandoah Conservatory</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton,_Virginia" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Dayton, Virginia</a>, before it moved to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester,_Virginia" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Winchester, Virginia</a>, in 1960 and started his career as a disc jockey at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSVA" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">WSVA-AM</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrisonburg,_Virginia" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Harrisonburg, Virginia</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-TheTennessean2019-6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[5]</a>Music career<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mac_Wiseman_2008.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Mac_Wiseman_2008.jpg/250px-Mac_Wiseman_2008.jpg" height="166" width="250"></a>Wiseman in 2008His musical career began as upright bass player in the Cumberland Mountain Folks, the band of country singer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_O%27Day_(singer)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Molly O'Day</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-RollingstoneDeath-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[3]</a> When <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_Flatt" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Lester Flatt</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Scruggs" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Earl Scruggs</a> left Bill Monroe's band, Wiseman became the guitarist for their new band, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foggy_Mountain_Boys" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Foggy Mountain Boys</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-RollingstoneDeath-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[3]</a> Later he played with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Monroe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Bill Monroe</a>'s Bluegrass Boys.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-RollingstoneDeath-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[3]</a>In 1951, his first solo single, "'Tis Sweet to Be Remembered", was released. According to Rolling Stone this song "catapulted him to solo stardom".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-rollingstoneHall-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[4]</a>In 1958, Wiseman helped co-found the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_Music_Association" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Country Music Association</a> (CMA) to save the popularity of country music from rock & roll, and served as the organization's first secretary, eventually becoming its last living co-founder.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-RollingstoneDeath-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[3]</a>From 1966 to 1970, Wiseman served as director of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWVA_Jamboree" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">WWVA Jamboree</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-RollingstoneDeath-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[3]</a>In 1986 he co-founded the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Bluegrass_Music_Association" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">International Bluegrass Music Association</a> (IBMA) which was another influential bluegrass music body.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-RollingstoneDeath-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[3]</a>Wiseman was referred to by a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_jockey" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">disc jockey</a> as "The Voice with a Heart", a title which became popular among his fans.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-TheTennessean2019-6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[5]</a> He was popular for his interpretations of songs on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_Records" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Dot Records</a> such as "Shackles and Chains", "I'll Be All Smiles Tonight", "Jimmy Brown the Newsboy", and "Love Letters in the Sand".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-WSMV-7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[6]</a>In 2014, he released an album of songs inspired by his mother's handwritten notebooks of songs she heard on the radio when Wiseman was a child: Songs From My Mother's Hand.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-RollingstoneDeath-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[3]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[7]</a>He died in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Nashville</a> on February 24, 2019, at the age of 93.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-RollingstoneDeath-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[3]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-NYT-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[1]</a> The cause of death was kidney failure.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-NYT-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[1]</a><blockquote>Mac Wiseman recorded splendid and often groundbreaking music for more than seventy years, remaining relevant and productive even in his nineties. He was a titan of bluegrass music's first generation, though bluegrass never defined him. He helped found the CMA, he headed Dot Records' country division, and he recorded with everyone from big band legend Woody Herman to Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Duane Eddy to Americana poet laureate John Prine.</blockquote><blockquote>— Kyle Young, CEO, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Wiseman#cite_note-WSMV-7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[6]</a></blockquote><blockquote> </blockquote><blockquote><img src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-62eaa-wzO8/maxresdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCIAKENAF8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-CYAC0AWKAgwIABABGHIgQihRMA8=&rs=AOn4CLD7kCKv-YiHSxGI-waY-BQH6HhReA" alt="Mac Wiseman singing I'm Using My Bible For A Road Map on Music City ..."></blockquote>