1. Wade Eckhart Mainer was an American country singer and banjoist.
17 Facts About Wade Mainer
1. 2.
Wade Mainer was born near Weaverville, North Carolina, on a mountain farm in Buncombe County on April 21,1907.
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Wade Mainer's family was poor during his childhood and they lived in a log cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
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Wade Mainer grew up listening to traditional mountain music and was largely influenced by his brother-in-law Roscoe Banks.
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Wade Mainer first learned to play the banjo at square dances, where he would pick up instruments left by performers and practice on them.
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Wade Mainer married Julia Mae Brown at the end of 1937, shortly after forming his own band.
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Wade Mainer had performed from 1935 until 1937 at WSJS Radio in Winston-Salem.
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Wade Mainer took jobs at local radio stations to increase the visibility of his relative's ensemble, recording classics such as "Take Me in the Lifeboat".
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Wade Mainer performed in a series of live radio shows with The Mountaineers, sponsored by Crazy Water Crystals laxatives.
10.
From 1935 through 1941, Wade Mainer recorded over 165 songs for the record label RCA Victor in various lineups, ranking him among the most prolifically recorded country music artists of that period.
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In 1953, after having renewed his commitment to Christianity, Wade Mainer left the group and exited the industry for a time.
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Wade Mainer began to record and tour with his wife.
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Wade Mainer has been credited with bridging the gap between old-time mountain music and Bluegrass.
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Wade Mainer's influence was not limited to the United States.
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Wade Mainer continued to live with his wife in Flint, where he celebrated his centenary in 2007 and performed at a concert for his 101st birthday in 2008.
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Wade Mainer is a recipient of a 1987 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.
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In 1998 both he and his wife were inducted into the Michigan Country Music Hall of Fame, while Wade Mainer received North Carolina's Surry Arts Council Lifetime Achievement.