|
Best remembered as one of Bill
Monroe’s original Blue Grass Boys, singer/songwriter/string
player Clyde Moody also played in almost every other subgenre
of country music during his over fifty-year career, and even
performed as a solo artist. During the ‘40s, he was known as
the “Hillbilly Waltz King” after his song “Shenandoah Waltz”
became a certified gold hit.
Moody was born and raised in Cherokee, North Carolina, on
September 19, 1915, and was very influenced by the traditional
mountain music he heard there. During the mid-‘30s, he and Jay
Hugh, the brother of Roy Hall, teamed up to appear as the
Happy-Go-Lucky Boys on the radio in Spartanburg, North
Carolina. They then joined Wade Mainer, and with fiddler Steve
Ledford they became the Sons of the Mountaineers. Moody joined
Monroe in 1940 and performed with the Blue Grass Boys at WSM
and at the Grand Ole Opry. About this time, Monroe and his
Boys were becoming a bluegrass band, and the changes can
clearly be heard in Moody’s mandolin playing on the classic
“Six White Horses.” A year later, Moody spent a few months in
Burlington, North Carolina playing radio duets with Lester
Flatt. He later returned to the Blue Grass Boys and remained
with them until again attempting a solo career in 1945.
He joined the Opry as a
featured artist for a few weeks and then recorded for
Columbia. He had his biggest hit, the sentimental “Shenandoah
Waltz,” in 1947, and followed it up with a series of similar
tunes such as “Cherokee Waltz” and “I Waltz Alone.” He had a
few more hits through the end of the decade and then moved to
Washington, D.C. to work for Connie B. Gay. In 1952, Moody
signed with Decca, but only had a few singles up through the
mid-‘50s, when his health began to fail. He left music to
become a mobile home salesman, but returned in 1962 with a
solo album. He then tried a modern country album. During the
folk revival, he played at bluegrass festivals and moved back
to Nashville in 1972, where he performed both bluegrass and
country music until his death in 1989.
Sandra Brennan
All Music Guide
|
