jim henson

Louis Marshall "Grandpa" Jones (1913 - 1998) had been using that 'Grandpa' persona for decades before he truly aged into the role, and a huge chunk of those years were prior to the existence of the syndicated TV phenomena 'Hee Haw'.

He began performing country music, bluegrass, old-time rural ballads and gospel tunes live on regional radio in the mid-1930's, when he was in his early twenties.

His character of the ornery old cuss with a funny tale to tell and a song to play developed soon after.

Jones' career-long association with Nashville's Grand Ole Opry began
in 1946. He was a regular on 'Hee Haw' from its inception in 1969, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1978.

Though often known for his hot-pickin' rompin' & stompin' numbers like 'Mountain Dew' and 'Old Rattler', it's my personal opinion that Grandpa Jones was truly at his best performing sweet and sentimental tunes like 1958's 'Falling Leaves' (my favorite of his thus far), or the 78 side presented here, the B-side of 'Alimony Trouble'.





(click on images to ENLARGE)



Above ⬆ two images are from 'The Hee Haw Family Scrapbook', published in 1979.

Listen to:
Grandpa Jones -
Call Me Darling Once Again
(King 78, circa 1947)

(click for audio)










Below: ⬇ A 1950's performance of 'Eight More Miles To Louisville'

For more Grandpa Jones, see also:

- Bio Page entries at AllMusic.Com and CMT.Com

- Discography at Hillbilly Music.Com

- 'Search results' reveal several other archived musical performance video clips over at YouTube