Cybergrass Bluegrass Music News: Mac Wiseman to Receive National Endowment for the Arts Award Friday

BMNN wrote: on Sep. 15, 2008:

On September 19th, bluegrass muisician Mac Wiseman is to receive his National Endowment for the Arts Award in Washington, D.C. The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Arts Endowment is the largest annual national funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases.

Mac Wiseman was born in Crimora, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley. Both of his parents sang old ballads around the house and would play recordings of early country musicians for entertainment. Wiseman began to sing in public at the age of 12, but he was stricken with polio in his youth and that curtailed his performances for a time.

With the help of the National Foundation of Polio, he attended music school in Dayton, Virginia. Soon he was singing on a local radio station in Harrisonburg, and in 1946 he joined the band of Molly O'Day who taught him songs, singing style, and a love of the classic country repertoire.

Wiseman became an original member of Lester Flatt's and Earl Scruggs' Foggy Mountain Boys, recording his first Mercury session with them in 1948, and in 1949 he joined Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys at the Grand Ole Opry. In 1951, he began his solo career, gaining fame as having the "voice with a heart," and recording such classics as "Tis Sweet to Be Remembered," "Love Letters in the Sand," "Jimmie Brown, the Newsboy," and "Shackles and Chains."

Wiseman went to Hollywood in 1957 to head the country music section of Dot Records. Along with other music industry leaders, in 1958 he co-founded the Country Music Association for which he was the first Secretary Treasurer.

During the 1960s he often opened for Johnny Cash at folk festivals such as Newport and Mariposa, as well as opening for Cash at venues such as the Hollywood Bowl.

Still known for his soulful high tenor singing, in 2007 Mac Wiseman and songwriter John Prine released a well-received duet album entitled Standard Songs for Average People. Wiseman recorded three still unreleased numbers with Johnny Cash in what turned out to be Cash's final sessions.

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