"Everybody's Grandpa" Dead at 84 By Chris Skinker Grandpa Jones, one of country music's most beloved figures, died Thursday, February 19, 1998, at a Nashville area long-term care facility due to complications resulting from a series of strokes. Jones suffered a massive stroke January 3 shortly after an appearance on the Grand Ole Opry, where he had been an icon for more than fifty years. With his knee-high boots, wire-rimmed eyeglasses and suspenders, Jones has entertained millions of fans throughout the U.S. and abroad since his radio debut in 1929. Noted country music scholar Charles K. Wolfe wrote in his 1982 book Kentucky Country, "Grandpa's career shows that it is possible to be a major influence on country music and never have a million seller. In many ways, Grandpa's career has paralleled the growth of country music and mirrored its changes and moods." Grandpa was born Louis Marshall Jones on October 20, 1913, in Niagra, Kentucky. The youngest of ten children, both of Jones' parents were musically inclined. His father was a fine old-time fiddler, and his mother sang and played the concertina. Throughout his recording career, which began in 1944, Jones cut many of the old sentimental songs he had learned from his mother. Jones' brother, Aubrey, bought him a 75 cent guitar, > and the young boy set about the task of learning the instrument. Young Louis spent countless hours wood-shedding on the old guitar, and by age 11, he was sitting in with the band at local dances. In the late '20s, Jones fell under the spell of country music's first bona fide recording star, Jimmie Rodgers, and he'd often slip off by himself to practice his singing and yodeling. While a student at West High School in Akron, Ohio, Jones won a talent contest with a performance of a pair of Rodgers' songs. The grand prize was fifty dollars in gold pieces, which Jones promptly used to purchase a Gibson guitar -- his first good instrument. The talent contest also landed him a local radio spot. Performing over WJW in Akron, Jones was dubbed "The Young Singer of Old Songs." A year after his > radio debut, Jones teamed up with comedian and harmonica player Joe Troyan, and the duo soon joined the house band of the popular Lum and Abner Show, beamed out of Cleveland. When that program moved its base of operation to Chicago, Jones and Troyan moved on to Boston, where they worked with Bradley Kincaid. Working with Kentucky native Kincaid was a critical era in Jones' career and musical education. Then at the height of his popularity, Kincaid's radio show garnered wide exposure throughout the Eastern U.S. for the young musician. Jones learned much at the hand of Kincaid, who was a seasoned performer -- stage techniques, repertoire and general music business fundamentals. It was also Kincaid who gave Jones his now-signature boots and bestowed the stage name of Grandpa on Jones at age 22. (He was so named Grandpa because he sounded like a grouchy old man on their early morning radio shows.) With the help of a friend, Jones further developed his Grandpa character by adding the wire-rimmed specs, fake moustache and painting lines on his face. In 1937 Jones published his first song, "An Answer to the Maple on the Hill," for the M.M. Cole Company out of New York. Grandpa would go on to write numerous songs during his career including "Eight More Miles to Louisville," which is now a staple in the bluegrass canon. After his tenure with Kincaid, Jones moved around from station to station, with stops in Charleston, Fairmont and the highly popular WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling, West Virginia. During this time, Jones picked up the banjo and began to develop his now-popular frailing style. A student of the late Cousin Emmy (born Cynthia May Carver), who was also a Kentucky native, Jones would not play banjo regularly until the 1940s. Cincinnati, Ohio, was Grandpa's next stop -- in 1942 -- and it proved to be an extremely important one for the young entertainer. In addition to developing life-long friendships with legendary entertainers Merle Travis and the Delmore Brothers, it was here that Jones began his commercial recording career. Above all else, however, it was in Cincinnati that Jones met his musical partner and the love of his life, young fiddler and mandolin player Ramona Riggins. Settled in at WLW's Boone County Jamboree, Jones made his recording debut for Syd Nathan's King Records. "It's Raining Here This Morning," accompanied by Merle Travis on electric guitar, was released under the pseudonym the Shepard Brothers. That disc also marked the first release on Nathan's label, which would blossom into the most important independent country label of the 1950s. World War II soon beckoned Jones and he was eventually stationed in Germany. While serving in the U.S. Army, he formed a group called the Munich Mountaineers, which broadcast a morning program over the Armed Forces Network in 1945. Having completed his Army hitch, Jones returned to Cincinnati in 1946 and set about to re-establish his career. Achieving a fair amount of success with his first record, Jones resumed his recording activity. He released several fine gospel efforts as a member of the Brown's Ferry Four, which also included Travis and the Delmores, and he recorded several popular numbers including "Eight More Miles to Louisville" and "East Bound Freight Train." Sales were brisk on these titles and garnered Jones national attention. In 1947, he was called up to the big leagues -- the Grand Ole Opry invited him to join its cast. Jones accepted the invitation, and shortly after his move to Nashville, he and Ramona were married. The following year Grandpa recorded two of his most popular numbers for King , "Old Rattler" and "Mountain Dew." These two songs marked Jones' recording debut accompanying himself on the banjo, thus prompting a stylistic change from mainstream country to older, more roots-oriented music. Ramona, who had a deep love and appreciation for traditional music, encouraged Grandpa's change in direction. Until his death, he remained a solid supporter of traditional music and worked the folk music circuit. At the invitation of country music promoter and disc jockey Connie B. Gay, Grandpa and Ramona left Nashville for WARL Radio in Arlington, Virginia. From there Jones traveled to Richmond, where he was a headliner on the Old Dominion Barn Dance, but by 1952 he returned to Nashville and the Grand Ole Opry. During the late 1950s, Jones switched record labels often, first signing with RCA, then Decca, where he scored a Top 25 single with "All American Boy." Jones pulled up stakes for a second stint for Gay (this time he was hosting a television program) before returning to Nashville permanently in 1959. In 1963 he enjoyed his first and only Top Five single with a cover of Jimmie Rodgers' "T for Texas" for Fred Foster's Monument Label. When casting was done in 1968 for CBS' network country comedy program, Hee Haw, Grandpa was among those enlisted for the show. During that show's lengthy run, Jones was a key member of the cast, be it performing comedy skits with Minnie Pearl, singing in the Hee Haw Gospel Quartet, or playing his distinctive style of country music on his beloved banjo. Hee Haw also introduced the nation to Grandpa's "what's for supper" routine. In 1978 Jones was awarded the highest accolade in the country music industry -- induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 1984, he penned his autobiography, Everybody's Grandpa (with Charles K. Wolfe) for the University of Tennessee Press and continued to make personal appearances. In recent years, Jones continued to work the road and appear on the Grand Ole Opry, and record on a limited basis. Jones is survived by Ramona, his wife of more than 50 years, three children, Mark, Eloise and Alisa and a number of grandchildren. A daughter, Marsha, preceded him in death. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that contributions be made to the Grand Ole Opry Trust Fund, 2804 Opryland Drive, Nashville, TN 37214. Visitation for Grandpa Jones will be held Sunday, February 22, and Monday, February 23, from 3-9 p.m. CT at Cole and Garrett Funeral Home in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. His funeral will be held Tuesday, February 24, at 1 p.m CT at the Grand Ole Opry and is open to the public. The staff of country.com wishes to extend its sympathies to Grandpa's family and his Grand Ole Opry family.