Ambrose Gaines "Uncle Am" Stuart (1853–1926) was an American Old-time fiddle player. After winning various fiddle contests across the Southern Appalachian region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Stuart made several recordings in June 1924 that would later prove influential in the development of early

Country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

.Uncle Am Records
Uncle Am Stuart – Biography
2005. Retrieved: 1 August 2009. Stuart was born near Morristown, Tennessee in 1853. He learned to play fiddle at a young age, picking up a number of tunes from

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

soldiers who passed through the area in the 1860s, and learning techniques while wandering through post-Civil War

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

camps. His later style represented a fusion of Civil War tunes and

Appalachian folk music Appalachian music is the music of the region of Appalachia in the Eastern United States. Traditional Appalachian music is derived from various influences, including the ballads, hymns and fiddle music of the British Isles (particularly Scotland), ...

. By the time he had gained regional fame as a fiddle player in the early 1900s, Stuart was working as a safe and vault salesman. Noting the success of the

Okeh Okeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Ott ...

recordings of

Fiddlin' John Carson "Fiddlin'" John Carson (March 23, 1868 – December 11, 1949) was an American old-time fiddler and singer who recorded what is widely considered to be the first country music song featuring vocals and lyrics. Early life Carson was born near M ...

in 1923,

Vocalion Records Vocalion Records is an American record company and label. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...

sought to recruit its own Southern mountain musicians, and the following year invited several Southern Appalachian musicians to New York to record, among them Uncle Am Stuart. The 14 sides Stuart recorded included the first known recordings of the Appalachian folk songs

Cumberland Gap The Cumberland Gap is a pass through the long ridge of the Cumberland Mountains, within the Appalachian Mountains, near the junction of the U.S. states of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. It is famous in American colonial history for its r ...

Robert Waltz and David Engle
Cumberland Gap
''The Ballad Index''. Retrieved: 8 June 2009. and "Forked Deer," early renditions of the oft-played fiddle tunes "Grey Eagle" and "Old Granny Rattletrap," and early renderings of later bluegrass staples "Sallie Gooden" and "Old Liza Jane." In 1925, Stuart attended the Fiddlers' Convention in

Mountain City, Tennessee Mountain City is a town in and the county seat of Johnson County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,383 at the 2000 census and 2,531 at the 2010 census. It is the northeasternmost county seat in Tennessee. In addition, at an elevati ...

, where he competed in a now-legendary fiddle contest against rival fiddlers such as

Charlie Bowman Charles Thomas Bowman (July 30, 1889 – May 20, 1962) was an American old-time fiddle player and string band leader. He was a major influence on the distinctive fiddle sound that helped shape and develop early Country music in the 1920s and 19 ...

, G. B. Grayson, Dudley Vance, and

. Accounts vary as to the contest's results, although at least one account placed Stuart in third place.Mark Freed,
The Johnson County Fiddlers' Convention at Laurel Bloomery, Tennessee
" ''The Old-Time Herald'', Vol. 10, no. 10 (c. 2006). Retrieved: 9 June 2009.Bob Cox and James Bowman,

Retrieved: 11 December 2008. In the early 1930s, Stuart's Vocalion recordings were among those a young Roy Acuff sought to emulate while learning to play the fiddle.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stuart, Uncle Am Musicians from Tennessee Southern old-time fiddlers People from Morristown, Tennessee Vocalion Records artists 1853 births 1926 deaths Appalachian music