Marion Try Slaughter (April 6, 1883 – September 14, 1948), better known by his stage name Vernon Dalhart, was an American
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, ...
singer and songwriter. His recording of the classic ballad "
Wreck of the Old 97
Wreck or The Wreck may refer to: Common uses
* Wreck, a collision of an automobile, aircraft or other vehicle
* Shipwreck, the remains of a ship after a crisis at sea
Places
* The Wreck (surf spot), a surf spot at Byron Bay, New South Wales, Aus ...
" was the first country song to sell one million copies.
Biography
Dalhart was born in
Jefferson, Texas
Jefferson is a city in Marion County, Texas, Marion County, in the U.S. state of Texas's Northeast Texas, northeastern region. With a population of 1,875 at the 2020 United States census, it is the county seat of Marion.
History
Almost every comm ...
, on April 6, 1883. He took his stage name from two towns,
Vernon and
Dalhart
Dalhart is a city in Dallam and Hartley counties in the U.S. state of Texas, and the county seat of Dallam County. The population was 7,930 at the 2010 census.
History
Founded in 1901, Dalhart is named for its location on the border of Dalla ...
in Texas, between which he
punched cattle as a teenager in the 1890s. Dalhart's father, Robert Marion Slaughter, was killed by his brother-in-law, Bob Castleberry, when Vernon was age 10.
[ 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.] He married Sadie Lee Moore-Livingston in 1901 and had two children, a son and a daughter. In 1910, he moved the family to New York City, where he worked in a piano warehouse and took occasional singing jobs.
Music career
Dalhart's education was rooted in classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
. He wanted to be an opera singer, and in 1913 he got parts in ''Madame Butterfly
''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.
It is based on the short story " Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Lut ...
'' and ''H.M.S. Pinafore
''H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, whic ...
''. He saw an advertisement in the local newspaper for singers and applied. He was auditioned by Thomas Alva Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These invention ...
and went on to record for Edison Records
Edison Records was one of the early record labels that pioneered sound recording and reproduction, and was an important player in the early recording industry.
The first phonograph cylinders were manufactured in 1888, followed by Edison's found ...
. From 1916 until 1923, he made over 400 recordings of light classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
and early dance band vocals for various record labels.
In the 1920s and 1930s, he sang on more than 5000 singles (78s
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...
) 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. On Grey Gull Records
Grey Gull Records was a record company and label founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1919. The company was started by Theodore Lyman Shaw, a member of a wealthy and prominent family from Wellesley, Massachusetts whose ancestors included Civil Wa ...
, he often used the name "Vel Veteran", which was also used by other singers, including Arthur Fields
Arthur Fields (August 6, 1884 – March 29, 1953) was an American singer (baritone) and songwriter.
Biography
He was born Abraham Finkelstein in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but grew up mainly in Utica, New York. He became a professional ...
. He was already an established singer when he made his first 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, ...
recordings.
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."
Hits
Dalhart had a hit single with his 1924 recording of " The Wreck of the Old 97", a classic American ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
about the derailment of '' Fast Mail'' train No. 97 near Danville, Virginia
Danville is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, located in the Southside Virginia region and on the fall line of the Dan River. It was a center of tobacco production and was an area of Confederate activity ...
, in 1903. Recorded for the Victor Talking Machine Company
The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidia ...
, 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
"The Prisoner's Song" is a song copyrighted by Vernon Dalhart in 1924 in the name of Dalhart's cousin Guy Massey, who had sung it while staying at Dalhart's home and had in turn heard it from his brother Robert Massey, who may have heard it whi ...
" 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
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
) and was the biggest-selling, non-holiday record in the first 70 years of recorded music. Joel Whitburn
Joel Carver Whitburn (November 29, 1939 – June 14, 2022) was an American author and music historian, responsible for setting up the Record Research, Inc. series of books on record chart placings.
Early life
Joel Carver Whitburn was born in Wau ...
, a statistician for ''Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' magazine, determined that "The Prisoner's Song" was No. 1 hit for twelve weeks in 1925–26.
One of the recordings most associated with Vernon Dalhart, especially in the United Kingdom, is his 1925 track "The Runaway Train" (Talking Machine Co., Camden, New Jersey, Victor 19685-A, Shellac). This was played on BBC Radio's 'Children's Favourites' between 1954 and 1982, and even now almost every compilation of children's records in the UK includes this timeless favourite.
Wanting to repeat the success of the single, the Victor Company sent Ralph Peer
Ralph Sylvester Peer (May 22, 1892 – January 19, 1960) was an American talent scout, recording engineer, record producer and music publisher in the 1920s and 1930s. Peer pioneered field recording of music when in June 1923 he took remote rec ...
to the southern mountains in 1927 to facilitate the Bristol Sessions. These sessions led to the discovery of singer Jimmie Rodgers
James Charles Rodgers (September 8, 1897 – May 26, 1933) was an American singer-songwriter and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s. Widely regarded as "the Father of Country Music", he is best known for his distinctive rhythmi ...
and the Carter Family
Carter Family was a traditional American folk music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound impact on bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock musicians as well as on the U.S. folk revival of the 1960s. ...
, after which Peer's royalty model would become the standard of the music industry.
Death
Dalhart died in Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the List of cities by population in New England, fifth-most populous ...
, on September 14, 1948.
Discography
Albums
Awards and honors
* Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1970 by the Nashville Songwriters Foundation, Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. A non-profit organization, its objective is to honor and preserve the songwriting legacy that is u ...
, 1970
* Country Music Hall of Fame
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amass ...
, 1981
* Grammy Hall of Fame Award
The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...
, "The Prisoner's Song", 1998
* Gennett Records
Gennett (pronounced "jennett") was an American record company and label in Richmond, Indiana, United States, which flourished in the 1920s. Gennett produced some of the earliest recordings by Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Bix Beiderbecke, and H ...
Walk of Fame, 2007
* Songs of the Century
The "Songs of the Century" list is part of an education project by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc. that aims to "promote a better understanding of America's musical and ...
, "The Prisoner's Song"
* Grammy Hall of Fame Award
The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...
, "Wreck Of The Old 97", 2021
References
External links
Partial discography
Vernon Dalhart, Victor Library
Dalhart in the Country Music Hall of Fame
Vernon Dalhart cylinder recordings
from the UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive The Cylinder Audio Archive is a free digital collection maintained by the University of California, Santa Barbara Library with streaming and downloadable versions of over 10,000 phonograph cylinders manufactured between 1893 and the mid-1920s. The ...
at the University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...
Library.
Vernon Dalhart recordings
at the Discography of American Historical Recordings
The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along with ...
.
''Vernon Dalhart: from opera to country recordings'' - by Jack Palmer
on ''Thomas Edison's Attic'' radio program, WFMU, February 7, 2006.
About The Artist
Vernon Dalhart, By Jack Palmer, from Hillbilly Music Dawt Com.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalhart, Vernon
1883 births
1948 deaths
American male singer-songwriters
American male pop singers
American country singer-songwriters
Country Music Hall of Fame inductees
People from Jefferson, Texas
People from Dallas
Gennett Records artists
Vocalion Records artists
Burials at Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport
RCA Victor artists
Edison Records artists
Columbia Records artists
Old-time musicians
Singer-songwriters from Texas
20th-century American singers
Country musicians from Texas
20th-century American male singers