Carl Story

Title

Carl Story

Description

Musician

birthday

29 May 1916

Birthplace

Lenoir, North Carolina

Death Date

31 March 1995

Biographical Text

Carl Story was born and reared in Lenoir, North Carolina, and came to Greer's WCKI Radio in May 1964. In 1934, he formed his own band the Rambling Mountaineers and had a 60-year career with 66 albums. Called the "Father of Bluegrass Gospel Music" by the governor of Oklahoma, he performed on the Grand Ole Opry, Tennessee Barn Dance, and at Greer's own Greer Opry House. He is a member of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Bluegrass Hall of Fame.

Story was born into a musical family; he grew up hearing his father play fiddle and his mother play guitar. Story himself played fiddle, guitar and clawhammer banjo; by the time he was a teenager he was performing on local radio. Story won a fiddling contest in the early 1930s, after which he joined J. E. Clark and the Lonesome Mountaineers to perform at WLVA in Lynchburg, Virginia. He led a band in his early twenties that included a three-finger banjo player, helping pioneer the bluegrass sound. In 1934, he formed the Lonesome Mountaineers and Rambling Mountaineers with banjo player Johnny Whisnant and guitarists Dudley Watson and Ed McMahan; they played on WHKY in Hickory, North Carolina. This led to performances at WSPA in Spartanburg, South Carolina and WWNC in Asheville, North Carolina. They recorded for ARC in 1939 and Okeh Records in 1940; however, these recordings were never issued. Story joined Bill Monroe's band in 1942, playing fiddle (replacing Howdy Forrester, who had been drafted). Story himself was drafted in October 1943.

After his discharge in 1945, Story helped shape the bluegrass gospel style and led a band that served as a training ground for many musicians. He regathered the Rambling Mountaineers and performed on the Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round show at WNOX in Knoxville, Tennessee. His group included Jack and Curley Shelton, Hoke Jenkins, and Claude Boone. They performed both secular and sacred music, but most of their repertoire was gospel. Other musicians who played in Story’s band include Bobby Thompson, Bud and Willie Brewster, Tater Tate, Red Rector, Fred Smith, and Ray Atkins.

Story’s band recorded with Mercury for five years from 1947-1952. At the recording sessions of 1947, Story temporarily labelled his band the Melody Four Quartet. During the 1950s, Carl Story's Rambling Mountaineers performed on the Farm and Fun Time Show at WCYB in Bristol, Virginia and on the Cas Walker Show over WBIR-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee. His Mountaineers also appeared on radio stations WAYS in Charlotte, North Carolina, WEAS in Decatur, Georgia, and WLOS in Asheville, North Carolina. He had a new recording contract on Columbia Records in 1953, but two years later was back with Mercury Records. In 1957, he switched label to Starday Records, where he stayed for eighteen years. In 1960, Story began working as a deejay for WFLW in Monticello, Kentucky. Beginning in the 1960s, and for the next 20 years, Story toured extensively throughout the US and Europe. During the peak years of his career, Carl Story and his Rambling Mountaineers hosted radio and television shows in several Southeastern states, and had a 10-year affiliation with WNOX’s Tennessee Barn Dance program in Knoxville. He signed another recording contract with CMH Records in the mid-1970s. His band was a fixture at bluegrass festivals throughout the 1970s, ’80s, and early ’90s.

Story spent the last thirty years of his life in Greer, South Carolina, where he headquartered the Rambling Mountaineers. As he had done throughout the earlier portions of his career, he supplemented his touring schedule by working during the week as a disc jockey. His last DJ work was a five-year stint on WESC in nearby Greenville, South Carolina. Carl passed away in March of 1995 from complications of heart bypass surgery.

Over the course of his entertainment career, Carl Story recorded more than 2,000 songs and 55 albums. A section of NC Highway 18 that passes through his hometown of Lenoir is named in his honor.

Bibliography

Belcher, Ray, and Joada P. Hiatt.
Legendary Locals of Greer, South Carolina.
Arcadia Publishing, 2012.

Colin Larkin, ed. (1993). The Guinness Who's Who of Country Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 397. ISBN 0-85112-726-6.

Carl Story; Bluegrass Star. April 3, 1995.

Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide to Country: The Definitive Guide to Country Music, 2003, ISBN 978-0879307608

W. K. McNeil, Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music, 2005, ISBN 978-0415941792

Kurt Wolff, Orla Duane, Country Music: The Rough Guide, 2000, ISBN 978-1858285344

https://www.bluegrasshall.org/inductees/carl-story/

Relation

Picture of Carl Story

Picture of Carl's Band

Carl Story history

Carl Story CD

Carl Story CD

Carl Story Audiotape

Carl Story Audiotape

Carl Story Record

Carl Story Sheet Music

From The Manger To The Cross

The Old Country Preacher

You're A Prisoner In My Heart

I Wanna Be A Railroad Man

You Can't Believe Everything You Hear

No End To Heaven

If You Don't Love Your Neighbor

Four Books In The Bible

Faded Love

Every Time Somebody Calls Your Name

Who's That Man (I Saw You With Last Night?)

She's A Two-Timin' Woman

Step It Up And Go

Have You Come To Say Goodbye

Sacred Songs of Life and the Hereafter

There's Nothing On Earth That Heaven Can't Cure