Faith, Folklore, and Friends

For 35 years, the Uncle Dave Macon Days board has selected an annual Heritage Award Winner, someone who continues to carry on traditional music. Past winners include Roy Acuff, John Hartford, Bill Monroe, Mac Wiseman, Ricky Skaggs , and others. This year, the winner was Dr. Ralph Stanley. Dr. Stanley is 88 years old.  Most people who live to that age have been retired and resting many years. While the others are rocking on their porches,  Dr. Stanley stands on the stage with his son and grandson and sings the songs he was singing when I was born, and still sings them well. I'm pictured with him  here  at the Museum of Appalachia's Homecoming in the early nineties. We both have changed a little. I'm happy he received this well-deserved recognition, and that we were able to be there for this concert.  

Since 1980, the Uncle Dave Macon Days board has presented a Heritage Award to individuals whose careers have preserved and promoted  old-time music. Some winners in the past have been Roy Acuff, John Hartford, Bill Monroe, Grandpa and Ramona Jones, Mac Wiseman, Marty Stewart, Kitty Wells, Rhonda Vincent, Bobby and Sonny Osborne, and many more.  This year's winners were Ricky Skaggs and Sharon White. Ricky Skaggs has been performing for more than 50 years, and he just turned 59 years old. Sharon White has performed with her family on the Grand Ole Opry for many years.  It was Sharon who sang Sunny Side of Life in the movie, O, Brother, where art Thou. Sharon and Ricky Skaggs have been married for almost 32 years. Together, they put on a fine concert for us and several thousand others after the award had been presented. So good, in fact, most of us sat through a heavy rain storm which turned out to be a rather large adventure. ...

  Every year, on the second weekend in July, Uncle Dave Macon's life and legacy are celebrated in Cannonsburgh Village, Murfreesboro, Tennessee.     I can't think of a better way to spend a sweet, sultry, summer Saturday.