1. Marion Try Slaughter, better known by his stage name Vernon Dalhart, was an American country music singer and songwriter.
15 Facts About Vernon Dalhart
1. 2.
Vernon Dalhart's recording of the classic ballad "Wreck of the Old 97" was the first country song reputed to have sold one million copies, although sales figures for pre-World War Two recordings are difficult to verify.
3.
Vernon Dalhart took his stage name from two towns, Vernon and Dalhart in Texas, between which he punched cattle as a teenager in the 1890s.
4.
Dalhart's father, Robert Marion Slaughter, was killed by his brother-in-law, Bob Castleberry, when Vernon was age 10.
5.
When Vernon Dalhart was 12 or 13, the family moved from Jefferson to Dallas, Texas.
6.
Vernon Dalhart sang and played harmonica and Jew's harp at local community events and attended the Dallas Conservatory of Music.
7.
Vernon Dalhart married Sadie Lee Moore-Livingston in 1901 and had two children, a son and a daughter.
8.
Vernon Dalhart saw an advertisement in the local newspaper for singers and applied.
9.
Vernon Dalhart was auditioned by Thomas Alva Edison and went on to record for Edison Records.
10.
Between 1927 and 1929 he recorded with the Vernon Dalhart Trio, composed of Vernon Dalhart, Adelyne Hood, and Carson Robison.
11.
Vernon Dalhart was already an established singer when he made his first country music recordings.
12.
Vernon Dalhart had a hit single with his 1924 recording of "The Wreck of the Old 97", a classic American ballad about the derailment of Fast Mail train No 97 near Danville, Virginia, in 1903.
13.
Vernon Dalhart eventually retired and relocated to Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1940 where he worked as a night clerk for the Hotel Barnum.
14.
Vernon Dalhart died on September 14,1948 of a coronary occlusion at the age of 65.
15.
Vernon Dalhart is buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery in Bridgeport.