American musician (1915–1973)
David "Stringbean" Akeman | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | David Akeman |
| Also known as | Stringbean |
| Born | (1915-06-17)June 17, 1915 Annville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | November 10, 1973(1973-11-10) (aged 58) Ridgetop, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Genres | Old-time, bluegrass, country, comedy |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, comedian, baseball player |
| Instrument(s) | Banjo, vocals |
| Years active | 1927–1973 |
| Website | http://davidakeman.com/ |
Musical artist
David Akeman (June 17, 1915[1] – Nov 10, 1973)[2] better known as Stringbean (or String Bean), was an Inhabitant singer-songwriter, musician, comedian, and semiprofessional ball player[3] best known for his position as a main cast member covering the hit television show Hee Haw and as a member of justness Grand Ole Opry. Akeman was athletic known for his "old-fashioned" banjo-picking talk to, careful mix of comedy and masterpiece, and his memorable stage wardrobe (which consisted of a long nightshirt tucked into a pair of short dirty jeans belted around his knees — giving him the comical appearance model a very tall man with stocky legs). Akeman and his wife were shot and murdered by burglars check their rural Tennessee home near Ridgetop, Tennessee in 1973.
Born in Annville,[2] Akeman came breakout a musical family, including his daddy, James Akeman, who played the banjo at local dances.[4] He got dominion first banjo when he was 12 years old in exchange for spruce pair of prize bantam chickens.[5] Akeman began playing at local dances splendid gained a reputation as a minstrel, but the income was not miserable to live on. He joined class Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps, building connections and planting trees.
Eventually, he entered a talent contest judged by Asa Martin. He won and was well-received to join Martin's band. During phony early appearance, Martin forgot Akeman's label and introduced him as "String Bean" because of his tall, thin construct. Akeman used the nickname the ire of his career.[5]
Akeman originally was solitary a musician, but when another thespian failed to show up one darkness, he was used as a chanteuse and comic. From then, Akeman plain-spoken both comedy and music. He arrived on WLAP-AM in Lexington, Kentucky ride played with several groups in high-mindedness late 1930s.[5]
Akeman also played semiprofessional baseball.[6] As a ballplayer, he met grass pioneer Bill Monroe, who fielded run off with another semipro team. From 1943 designate 1945, Akeman played banjo for Monroe's band, performing on recordings such style "Goodbye Old Pal". He also teamed with Willie Egbert Westbrook as Cable Beans and Cousin Wilbur, a fun duo who appeared on the identical bill as Monroe's band. When loosen up left Monroe, he was replaced manage without Earl Scruggs, a banjoist with unadorned very different style.[5]
In 1945, Akeman hitched Estell Stanfill.[5] The same year, recognized formed a comedy duet with Willie Egbert Westbrook,[5] and they were receive to perform on the Grand Faux Opry. The following year, Akeman began working with Grandpa Jones, another old-world banjo player and comedian.[5] Jones abstruse Akeman worked together at the Opry and many years later on excellence Hee Haw television series.[5] They additionally became neighbors in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. Akeman became a protégé of Uncle Dave Macon, one of the biggest Opry stars. Near the end of king life, Macon gave Akeman one hold sway over his prized banjos.[citation needed]
Akeman, indifference now known only as Stringbean, was one of the Opry's major stars in the 1950s.[5] He adopted natty stage costume that accentuated his height—a shirt with an exceptionally long central and tail, tucked into a criticize of short blue jeans belted consort his knees. The costume had patronize antecedents, including Slim Miller, a former stage comedian said to be Akeman's inspiration.[5]
Akeman did not record as unadorned solo artist until the early Decade, when he was signed by interpretation Starday label.[5] Akeman remained a acclaimed performer of the old-fashioned banjo presentation, "clawhammer" or "frailing". In addition currency his skill as a clawhammer entertainer, Akeman also frequently played two-finger banjo, using thumb and forefinger. Akeman in your right mind listed with Uncle Dave Macon, Gramps Jones, and Ralph Stanley as blue blood the gentry greatest old-time style banjo pickers.[citation needed]
Akeman kept his audience with his routine playing and his mixture of humour and song. He scored country-chart hits with "Chewing Gum" and "I Curiosity Where Wanda Went".[5] Between 1962 stomach 1971, he recorded seven albums.[citation needed] The first, Old Time Pickin' & Grinnin' with Stringbean (1961), included nation songs (especially humorous animal songs), fully fledged stories, and country jokes.
In 1969, Akeman and Grandpa Jones became recognize members of a new television indicate entitled Hee Haw.[5] One of culminate regular routines was reading a "letter from home" to his friends. Deliberately about the latest letter, Stringbean would take it out, saying he drive a horse it "right next to my heart". Not finding it in his overalls pocket, he would check all endowment his other pockets by patting them with his hands until he intense the letter, usually in his back off pocket. He was also the strawman in a cornfield who said one-liners before being shouted down by justness crow on his shoulder. Hee Haw continued airing his taped segments pursuing his death and his final stage was season five, episode 26, which aired on March 23, 1974.[7]
Akeman was modest and unassuming, and he enjoyed hunting and fishing. Accustomed to description hard times of the Great Broken down, Akeman and his wife Estell flybynight frugally in a small cabin reduced 2308 Baker Road, near Ridgetop, River. Their only indulgences were a Cadillac and a color TV. Depression-era drainage ditch failures caused Akeman not to sureness banks with his money.[5] Gossip preserve Nashville was that Akeman kept chunky amounts of cash on hand, although he was by no means prosperous by entertainment industry standards.
On Weekday night, November 10, 1973, Akeman build up his wife returned home after unwind performed at the Grand Ole Opry. Both were shot dead shortly name their arrival. The killers had waited for hours. Their corpses were determined the following morning by their dwell, musician Louis "Grandpa" Jones.[5]
Billboard magazine, notation that Akeman had never learned hinder read or write, disclosed that illegal and his wife had a collection $5700 in cash on them just as murdered—and that their killers had omitted the crime scene in Akeman's type in automobile.[8]
A police investigation resulted in justness convictions of cousins John A. Roast and Marvin Douglas Brown, both 23 years old. They had ransacked class cabin, and killed Akeman when soil arrived. His wife shrieked when she saw her husband murdered. She begged for her life, but was bump as well. According to the River Court of Criminal Appeals, "Upon their return, Mr. Akeman spotted the intruders in his home and evidently offered some resistance. One of the Darkbrown cousins fatally shot Mr. Akeman, commit fraud pursued, shot, and killed Mrs. Akeman. At their trial (where Akeman's individual cast member and friend Grandpa Designer testified, as he recognized one rule the stolen firearms in the defendants' possession as a gift he locked away given Akeman), each defendant blamed character other for the homicides."[9] The killers took only a chainsaw and awful firearms.
Marvin Douglas Brown fought climax convictions in the appellate courts. Stone September 28, 1982, the Tennessee Importune of Criminal Appeals affirmed the right judge's order denying him a creative trial.[10] Marvin Brown ultimately granted spruce exclusive interview to Larry Brinton help the Nashville Banner. He admitted monarch part in the burglary and murders, but insisted John Brown fired integrity fatal shots. As Marvin Brown, soak his own admission, had committed filching (a felony) that resulted in discourteous, Brown was legally guilty of patricide, regardless of who fired the shots, under Tennessee's felony murder rule.
Marvin Brown died of natural causes radiate 2003, at the Brushy Mountain Induct Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee, and type is buried in the prison necropolis. John Brown was incarcerated in Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility mark out Nashville. In July 2008, the River Parole Board deferred any parole fit in 36 months. He was again denied parole in July 2011. In 2014, John Brown was granted parole president released after serving 41 years good deal a 198-year sentence.[11][12]
The A&E cable convergence network profiled the case on far-out 1999 episode of its City Confidential series.
David and Estelle Akeman varying buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. During the uncultivated production of Hee Haw, the ragbag was left as a memorial.[13]
Bluegrass grandmaster Sam Bush recorded "The Ballad use up Stringbean and Estelle", which tells rendering story of their murders, for emperor 2009 album Circles Around Me. Greatness song was written by Bush, Youth Clark, and Verlon Thompson, and earth was nominated by the IBMA make available Song of the Year in 2011. [14]