November 28, 1925

95 years ago tonight, Saturday November 28, 1925. it all started at 8:00 p.m. when George D. Hay introduced Uncle Jimmy Thompson on WSM radio and what became known as the Grand Ole Opry was underway. 

Jesse Donald "Uncle Jimmy" Thompson was born in Smith County, Tennessee (near the town of Baxter) in 1848. Around 1860, his family moved to Texas, and he began playing fiddle shortly thereafter. In the 1880s, Thompson moved back to Smith County, where he married his first wife. They stayed in Tennessee for about 20 years before they moved again to Texas. In 1907, Thompson gained regional fame as a fiddler when he won an eight-day fiddle contest in Dallas.

A few years later, he returned to the Nashville area. His first wife died shortly afterward, however, and around 1912 he married his second wife, Ella Manners. Being too old to farm, Thompson purchased a Ford truck which he outfitted with a makeshift camper, and he and Ella spent the next several years travelling around the state, performing at various fairs and other gatherings. In 1923, Thompson drove all the way to Dallas, where he again captured first prize in the city's eight-day fiddle contest.

In 1925, the National Life and Accident Insurance Company established WSM, the first radio station in Nashville that could reach a regional audience. In September of that year, WSM began airing rural musicians from the Nashville area, namely Humphrey Bate, Sid Harkreader, and Uncle Dave Macon. Realizing the popularity of old-time music, WSM hired George D. Hay, a Chicago radio announcer and host of the National Barn Dance on Chicago's WLS. Hay adapted his show's format to WSM, where it was to be called the WSM Barn Dance. For the show's initial airing on November 28, Thompson's niece, Eva Thompson Jones, who worked as piano accompanist for WSM at the time, suggested her uncle to Hay as his first guest.

Thompson's performance began at 8 P.M. that night, with Hay introducing Thompson and stating that Thompson would take requests from listeners. Phone calls and telegrams immediately began pouring into the station. At the end of the hour, Hay asked Thompson if he had done enough fiddling, to which Thompson replied, "a man don't get warmed up in an hour," and showed Hay the blue ribbon he had recently won at the eight-day fiddle contest in Dallas.

Thompson's performance on November 28 and his follow-up performances on WSM in subsequent weeks made him an instant celebrity. He continued making appearances on Barn Dance (renamed the Grand Ole Opry in 1927) throughout 1926 and 1927, but as the show became more structured, Thompson's role was minimized. Hay grew impatient with Thompson's general unreliability, and the two bickered over such things as Thompson's penchant for drinking a jug of whiskey before each program to "lubricate" his playing arm, and Thompson's tendency to play well over his allotted time. In 1928, Thompson made only two appearances on the program.

Thompson died of pneumonia on February 17, 1931. Music historian Charles Wolfe notes that while Thompson's active career (1925–1931) was relatively short, it was "one of the most potent" in the history and development of country music, and that the photographs of Thompson seated with his fiddle before a WSM microphone are among the Grand Ole Opry's most enduring images.

I am sure tonight there will be some mention of Uncle Jimmy Thompson and the actual 95th anniversary of the Grand Ole Opry.