Ernest Van "Pop" Stoneman (May 25, 1893 – June 14, 1968) was an American musician, ranked among the prominent recording artists of country music's first commercial decade.

Biography Born in a log cabin in Monarat (Iron Ridge), Carroll County, Virginia, United States, near what would later become Galax, Virginia, Stoneman was left motherless at age three and was raised by his father and three musically inclined cousins, who taught him the instrumental and vocal traditions of Blue Ridge Mountains culture. He became a singer and songwriter, and proficient musician on the guitar, autoharp, harmonica, clawhammer banjo, and jaw harp.

When he married Hattie Frost in November 1918, he entered another musically involved family. Hattie and he had 23 children, 13 of whom survived to adulthood, including Calvin Scott (Scotty) (died 1973), and Veronica Loretta (Roni) (died 2024).

Stoneman worked at a variety of jobs, in mines, mills, but mostly carpentry, and played music for his own enjoyment and that of his neighbors, but when he heard a Henry Whitter record in 1924, he determined to better it and changed his life. Stoneman went to New York City in September 1924 and cut two songs for the Okeh Records label. The record was shelved and he had to return for another recording session in January 1925. The resultant debut single release, "Sinking of the Titanic", went on to become one of the biggest hits of the 1920s. One historian noted that the recording sold over two million copies. Ralph Peer directed him through several sessions for Okeh and Victor, and he freelanced on other labels such as Edison, Gennett, and Paramount Records. In 1926, he added family musicians to his group for a full string-band sound.

In July and August 1927, Stoneman helped Peer conduct the Bristol sessions that led to the discovery of the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers. He continued to be active in recording through 1929. Between 1925 and 1929, Stoneman recorded more than 200 songs.

Falling on hard times during the Depression, the Stonemans and their nine surviving children moved to the Washington, DC, area in 1932, after losing their home and most of their possessions. There, they had four more children and struggled through dire poverty, with Stoneman taking whatever work he could find and trying to revive his musical career.

In 1941, Stoneman bought a lot in Carmody Hills, Maryland, where he built a shack for the family, and eventually obtained a more-or-less regular job at the Naval Gun Factory. In 1947, the Stoneman Family won a talent contest at Constitution Hall that gave them six months' exposure on local television. In 1956, Pop won $10,000 on the NBC-TV quiz show The Big Surprise and sang on the show. That same year, the Blue Grass Champs, a group composed largely of his children, were winners on the CBS-TV program Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, and Mike Seeger recorded Pop and Hattie for Folkways.

Stoneman retired from labor and the Champs went full-time to become the Stonemans. They recorded albums for Starday in 1962 and 1963, and in 1964, went to Texas and California, cutting an album for World Pacific, playing at Disneyland, on some network shows and at several folk festivals. This included an appearance at the Monterey Folk Festival in 1964. Ernest appeared at the Second Annual UCLA Folk Music Festival in 1964. https://archives.etsu.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/130170M Interview with Ernest V. Stoneman at the Second UCLA Folk Festival in 1964

In 1965, the Stonemans went to Nashville, where they worked with Jack Clement, signing a contract with MGM Records and starting a syndicated TV show. They received CMA's "Vocal Group of the Year" in 1967. They appeared in the 1967 film Hell on Wheels and in The Road to Nashville (1967).

Death Pop Stoneman died in 1968 at age 75. He is interred in the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville.

Honors On February 12, 2008, Pop Stoneman was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and in 2009, his wife Hattie Frost Stoneman and he were enshrined in the Gennett Records Walk of Fame.

The first major retrospective of his musical career, Ernest Stoneman: The Unsung Father of Country Music 1925–1934 (5 String Productions) was issued in 2008 by the Grammy award-winning reissue team of Christopher C. King and Henry Sapoznik, and was nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award for Best Album Notes.

The Stonemans discography Albums Year Album US Country Label 1962 Bluegrass Champs — Starday 1964 Big Ball in Monterey — World Pacific 1966 Those Singin' Swingin' Stompin' Sensational Stonemans 39 MGM 1967 Stoneman's Country 13 1968 All in the Family 42 The Great Stonemans 45 Pop Stoneman Memorial Album — Stoneman Christmas — 1969 Dawn of the Stonemans' Age — RCA 1970 In All Honesty — California Blues — 1976 Cuttin' The Grass — CMH Records 1977 On The Road : A Live In-Studio Performance — 1981 The First Family Of Country Music —

Compilations Year Album US Country Label 1986 With Family And Friends Vol. I — Old Homestead 1985 With Family And Friends Vol. II — Old Homestead

Singles Year Single Chart Positions Album US Country CAN Country 1924 "The Face That Never Returned" — — The Face That Never Returned / The Sinking of the Titanic 1924 "The Sinking of the Titanic" — — The Face That Never Returned / The Sinking of the Titanic 1926 "When the Work's All Done This Fall" — — 5188: Edison Blue Amberol 11054: Edison Record 1926 "Wild Bill Jones" — — 5196: Edison Blue Amberol 11056: Edison Record 1927 "Two Little Orphans" — — 5338: Edison Blue Amberol 11464: Edison Record 1928 "The Old Maid and the Burgler" — — 5531: Edison Blue Amberol E18442: Edison Record 1962 "Talking Fiddle Blues" — — Bluegrass Champs 1964 "Ground Hog" — — Big Ball in Monterey 1966 "Tupelo County Jail" 40 — Those Singin' Swingin' Stompin' Sensational Stonemans "The Five Little Johnson Girls" 21 — Stoneman's Country 1967 "Back to Nashville, Tennessee" 40 — "West Canterbury Subdivision Blues" 49 — All in the Family 1968 "Cimarron" — — "Christopher Robin" 41 17 The Great Stonemans "Travelin' Man" — — single only 1969 "Tecumseh Valley" — — Dawn of the Stonemans' Age 1970 "Get Together" — — In All Honesty "Who Will Stop the Rain" — — "California Blues" — — California Blues

References

External links

Ernest V. Stoneman remembered – Patsy Stoneman Murphy interviewed by Jerry Fabris on Thomas Edison's Attic radio program, WFMU, November 15, 2005. Early recording (1926) of When the Work's All Done This Fall. Early recording of (1926) Wild Bill Jones. 1994 inductee in the Autoharp Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 5, 2015 2008 inductee in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 5, 2015 Ernest V. Stoneman cylinder recordings, from the UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library. Ernest V. Stoneman recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.