Pressing On: The Roni Stoneman Story

13. Opry

K ? @ I K < < E Opry So we Stonemans were in Washington, playing regularly at the Famous Bar and Grill and around town. And in 1962 a man named Billy Barton, who was always trying to help us, managed to get us a guest spot on the Grand Ole Opry. Wow, were we excited! This was our big chance. We practiced and practiced. Don Dixon, the man who married Patsy and was killed a year later in a car accident, drove us down in a bus. When we got to the parking lot, we were supposed to pay for the parking, but we didn’t have any money. Daddy said, “Dadblame it, I’m Pop Stoneman. We came all the way down from Washington, and we don’t . . . we barely have gas and food to get here. We ain’t got any money for no parking ticket.” The parking attendant said, “Right over here, Mr. Stoneman.” So we parked, and we all got backstage at the Opry. We’re standing around, and I was holding my banjo. I’m several months pregnant with Opry 82 / pressing on my fourth child, Bobby, but I don’t show it because I only weighed 118 pounds. Me and Donna had these full skirts on, made of the material of a red handkerchief, and little white cowboy boots. I was getting real nervous because we were going to do “Orange Blossom Special,” and that was Scott’s showpiece number. I was thinking, Oh, God, I hope I can kick it off good. Oh, God, I hope my fingers go fast enough to keep up with Scott. Then Billy Barton came over and took us aside—Daddy, Donna, Jimmy, Van, me, and Scott. He’d been talking to the big boys backstage . “Let me tell you something,” he said. “And I want you to remember this. Don’t play too good tonight.” We all stared at him. “What do you mean, don’t play too good?” said Scott. “You can’t play too good because you can’t make the stars on this show jealous of you. You make them jealous, you won’t be asked back. Just don’t play too fast. Just play normal.” “You’re saying we’re not supposed to play good?” “I mean it, Scott. Don’t do all those extra things. Don’t play like you usually do. I mean it.” And Billy Barton walked away. Daddy was just standing there. He had his old cane and he looked so sad. I was thinking and I was worried. I was really perplexed about what I was going to do. “How do you not play good? How do you not play what you been working on?” I said. “I don’t know how we’re gonna do that.” “We’re not,” says Scott. We all looked at him. “We’re gonna make a stompin’ contest out of this,” says Scott. “We’re gonna play better than we ever played in our lives—just for them telling us that. We’re gonna get out there and we’re gonna show them what Stonemans’ music is really like. We’re gonna leave our blood on the stage!” Then he said, “Now, Donna, when I hit that floor with ‘Orange Blossom Special,’ playing that fiddle behind my back, don’t try to hold the mike down like you usually do, just keep that shuffle going. And, Roni, pressing on / 83 keep that banjo ringing. ’Cause there’s a live audience out there. We’re gonna play for that audience.And when the people out there in radioland hear the audience screaming for us, they’re gonna say, ‘What is going on there?’ Then they’re gonna know who that bunch is!” Well, we were to be the guests on Hank Snow’s portion of the show. And he announced us, “Here they are, ladies and gentlemen, the Stoneman Family.” I get a chill, real goose bumps popping out on my skin, just thinking about it, how it was when I walked out on that stage and kicked off “The Orange Blossom Special.” We were playing so fast and clear. And then Scott dropped the bow from his hands to his knees. Played the fiddle upside down on it. Dropped the bow again, perfectly, landed it right between his feet. Again played with the fiddle upside down against the bow. Grabbed the fiddle up, bent down on his knees, and played behind his back. Got back up, then jumped in the air, about two or three feet, and just kicked out, right with the music! I mean he flat out put it down the road. I was thinking, We’re going to town, Dear God in Jesus’ name, let my fingers keep up. Poor ol’ Daddy just played as fast as he could go, that old-fashioned guitar lick, “boom chuck chuck chuck.” Donna was really picking good. And Jimmy beat that bass. We were afraid that he was going to have a seizure because he would have seizures at the worst times. When it came time not to have a seizure, Jimmy would have one, and then he’d start walking around the stage like a zombie, or sit down on the floor, or drop his bass. But when we played that night, he was fine. And after “Orange Blossom Special” we did “White Lightning No. 2,” which has impersonations of the top country stars. People started screaming. They gave us twenty minutes in applause, a standing ovation. We came off the stage, wild-eyed. Hank Snow went out and he said, “Let’s hear it for them, ladies and gentlemen, the Stoneman Family!” But as he passed us, he muttered, “You won’t hear from them again.” He didn’t get to sing another song on his half hour of the show because the twenty minutes of applause took up his time. So we didn’t get asked back for many years. But it was worth it. ...