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Beginning in the mid-1920s, radio stations that catered to rural audiences sponsored programs featuring country music, generically termed "barn dances." Ranking second in terms of longevity and perhaps in significance to the Grand Ole Opry from WSM Nashville came the Jamboree in Wheeling, West Virginia. It became the springboard for such country stars as Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper, Hawkshaw Hawkins, the Osborne Brothers, Doc and Chickie Williams, Lee Moore, Big Slim the Lone Cowboy, and most recently, Brad Paisley. Under slightly varying names, the Jamboree flourished from 1933 through 2005 over the airwaves of 50,000-watt WWVA 1170 AM and now airs on WWOV 101.1 FM.
About the author
The Jamboree in Wheeling is the product of Ivan M. Tribe and Jacob L. Bapst, two retired academics from the University of Rio Grande & Rio Grande Community College who coauthored the prior Arcadia book West Virginia's Traditional Country Music (2015). The images come from photograph collections of Ivan Tribe, the Doc and Chickie Williams family, Terrence McGill, David Heath, Richard Weize/Bear Archives, John Morris, and others. Foreword writer Barbara "Peeper Williams" Smik is the oldest daughter of the legendary Doc and Chickie Williams.
