Roni Stoneman, ‘Hee Haw’ Star & Stoneman Family Musician, Dies at 85

Veronica Loretta “Roni” Stoneman, banjo participant, comic and forged member on the long-running tv present Hee Haw, died Thursday (Feb. 22) at age 85.

Stoneman, often known as “The First Girl of Banjo,” was born Might 5, 1938, because the second-youngest of 23 kids born to Hattie Stoneman and pioneering bluegrass musician Ernest V. “Pop” Stoneman, recognized for his 1925 recording of “The Sinking of the Titanic.” In accordance to the Nation Music Corridor of Fame and Museum, Ernest’s recordings later led govt Ralph Peer to set studio dates in Bristol, Tennessee to document Stoneman and different artists in 1927 — which would come with the landmark first recording classes for The Carter Household and Jimmie Rodgers.

Roni Stoneman was additionally a part of the household band The Stoneman Household, which advanced from the band The Bluegrass Champs, which included relations Scott Stoneman and Donna Stoneman. The group received a contest as a part of Arthur Godfrey’s Expertise Scouts in 1956. By the Sixties, Roni had joined the group on banjo. In accordance with the Nation Music Corridor of Fame, the group recorded two initiatives for Starday Information in 1962 and 1963, after which recorded for MGM and World-Pacific. She additionally carried out as a part of the group on their syndicated Sixties tv present These Stonemans.

Within the Sixties, The Stoneman Household earned Billboard Sizzling Nation Singles chart hits together with “Tupelo County Jail” and “The 5 Little Johnson Women.”

In 1967, the primary 12 months the Nation Music Affiliation (CMA) Awards have been held, the Stoneman Household was named vocal group of the 12 months. Roni departed the group in 1971, and shortly joined the forged of Hee Haw, engaged on the nation selection progtam for twenty years as a comic and banjo participant, and recognized for portraying Ida-Lee Nagger, the “Ironing Board Girl.” There, she labored alongside artists and comedians together with Minnie Pearl, Buck Owens and Roy Clark. In 2007, Stoneman recounted her life story within the e book Urgent On.

Nation Music Corridor of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Younger known as Stoneman “a terrific expertise and a powerful girl,” commending her legacy within the style. “For Roni Stoneman, often known as ‘The First Girl of the Banjo,’ nation music was a birthright and her life’s work,” he wrote. “The second youngest of 23 kids born to Hattie and Ernest ‘Pop’ Stoneman, Roni was an integral a part of a bedrock nation music household, who have been longtime fixtures within the nation music scene of Washington, DC. For 18 years on ‘Hee Haw,’ she stole scenes as each a skillful banjo participant and as a comical, gap-toothed nation character.”