Marion Try Slaughter (April 6, 1883 – September 14, 1948), better known by his stage name Vernon Dalhart, was an American country music singer and songwriter who recorded music prolifically from 1917 into the 1930s. He aspired to be an opera singer, and began his career this way, but soon began recording country music inspired by his roots in farming and ranching.
Biography
Dalhart was born in Jefferson, Texas, on April 6, 1883. He took his stage name from two towns, Vernon and Dalhart in Texas, between which he
herding as a teenager in the 1890s.
[ When Dalhart was 12 or 13, the family moved from Jefferson to Dallas, Texas.
]
He sang and played harmonica and Jew's harp at local community events and attended the Dallas Conservatory of Music.
Music career
Dalhart's education was in classical music. He had aspirations of being an opera singer, and in 1913 was cast in Madame Butterfly and H.M.S. Pinafore.
Between 1927 and 1929 he also recorded with the Vernon Dalhart Trio, composed of Vernon Dalhart, Adelyne Hood, and Carson Robison.
In the 1920s and 1930s, he sang on more than 5000 singles (78s) for many labels, employing more than 100 pseudonyms, such as Al Craver, Vernon Dale, Frank Evans, Hugh Lattimer, Sid Turner, George White (with original Memphis Five) and Bob White.
Dalhart stated in a 1918 interview amidst criticism of his accent seeming artificial, "When you are born and brought up in the South your only trouble is to talk any other way ...the 'sure 'nough Southerner' talks almost like a Negro, even when he's white. I've broken myself of the habit, more or less, in ordinary conversation, but it still comes pretty easy."[ Country Music Originals - The Legends and the Lost. Tony Russell. Oxford University Press. 2007. p. 15. ]
Hits
Dalhart had a hit single with his 1924 recording of "The Wreck of the Old 97", a classic American ballad about the derailment of Fast Mail train No. 97 near Danville, Virginia, in 1903. Recorded for the Victor Talking Machine Company, the song alerted the national record companies to the existence of a sizable market for country-music vocals. It became the first Southern song to become a national success. With "The Prisoner's Song" as the b-side, the single eventually sold as many as seven million copies, a huge number for recording in the 1920s. It was awarded a gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
Wanting to repeat the success of the single, the Victor Company sent Ralph Peer to the southern mountains in 1927 to facilitate the Bristol Sessions. These sessions led to the discovery of singer Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, after which Peer's royalty model would become the standard of the music industry.
Later life and death
By the late 1930s, Dalhart's popularity declined and he had lost much of his income in the Great Depression. He produced one final recording for Bluebird Records in 1939
He died on September 14, 1948 of a coronary occlusion at the age of 65. He is buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery in Bridgeport.
Posthumous Events
In November 1955, conversations surround Dalhart and Jimmie Rodgers began to stir. Ralph Peer felt compelled to make a few comments about Dalhart's career. He made the fine distinction that Dalhart was not a "Hillbilly Artist" but merely a "popular artist who sang hillbilly songs." He categorized Dalhart as someone who "had the peculiar ability to adapt hillbilly music to suit the taste of the non-hillbilly population and labeled him as "a profitable substitute for a real hillbilly."
Discography
Albums
| +
!Title
!Year
!Recording Date
!Label |
| Old Time Songs: Original 1925-1930 Recordings | 1976 | 1930 | Davis Unlimited |
| 1921-1927 | 1977 | 1927 | Golden Olden Classics |
| The First Singing Cowboy On Records | 1978 | | Mark56 Records |
| First Recorded Railroad Songs | |
| Ballads and Railroad Songs | 1980 | | Old Homestead Records |
| On The Lighter Side | 1985 | |
| "The Wreck Of The Old 97" And Other Early Country Hits - Vol. III | |
| Inducted Into The Hall Of Fame 1981 | 1999 | | King Records |
| Puttin' On The Style | 2007 | | Document Records |
Awards and honors
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Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, 1970
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Country Music Hall of Fame, 1981
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Grammy Hall of Fame Award, "The Prisoner's Song", 1998
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Gennett Records Walk of Fame, 2007
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Songs of the Century, "The Prisoner's Song"
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Grammy Hall of Fame Award, "Wreck Of The Old 97", 2021
External links
