Veterans Era Artist
Mac Wiseman – Malcolm B. “Mac” Wiseman was born May 23, 1925, in Crimora, Va. At
six-months old, Wiseman contracted polio, which he felt was a blessing. Because of his illness,
he was kept inside and was not subjected to the field work that most children of the rural
Shenandoah Valley were expected to do. His father would set the phonograph up by the wood
stove and Wiseman would listen to old records over and over. His mother would write the lyrics
from songs she heard on the radio into composition books for young Mac.
In 1943, Wiseman applied for a job at the Merck and Co. chemical plant, but because of
the polio damage to his leg, he was turned down. That was when he made the decision to
pursue his music.
Wiseman attended the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music in Virginia with help from
the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which would later become the March of Dimes.
There Wiseman excelled in a radio course and accepted a job offer from WSVA in Harrisonburg,
Va., where he read the news and farm reports and spun pop and Country records.
In 1946, Wiseman joined Molly O’Day’s band, where he developed a love of classic
Country.
In 1948, Wiseman made his first foray into what would become known as bluegrass
music. He joined Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs as a member of the Foggy Mountain Boys, singing
high harmonies and booking the band’s first concert dates. And in 1949, he joined Bill Monroe’s
Bluegrass Boys where he played the Grand Ole Opry for the first time. He also recorded the
classics “Traveling This Lonesome Road” and “Can’t You Hear Me Callin’” with Monroe. He left
the band in 1949 to set out on his own.
Wiseman soon attracted the attention of the independent label Dot Records and was
offered a recording contract. In 1951, Dot released Wiseman’s first single, “Tis Sweet To Be
Remembered,” which became a career-making song and earned him the nickname the “voice
with a heart.” Wiseman went on to record other classics including “Love Letters in the Sand,”
“Jimmy Brown, the Newsboy,” “Ballad of Davy Crockett,” and “Shackles and Chains.”
Wiseman became a record executive in 1957 when he was tapped to head the Country
Division of Dot Records. And in 1958, Wiseman was instrumental in the founding of the Country
Music Association, becoming the organization’s first Secretary/Treasurer, demonstrating the
respect he had earned as both an artist and a record executive.
During the 1960s Wiseman was a staple on the folk festival circuit and on college
campuses. But he also played Carnegie Hall in 1962 on a bill headlined by Johnny Cash, which
garnered him rave reviews in The New York Times.
From 1966 to 1971, Wiseman was Program Producer and Talent Director for the WWVA
Wheeling Jamboree. During his tenure he stabilized the cast of performers and gave bluegrass
prominence.
Most recently, Wiseman has released his music on his own Wise Records including a sixdisc boxed set entitled The Mac Wiseman Story, featuring songs he recorded in the 1970s and a
DVD collection called Mac Wiseman – An American Treasure. In 2007 he recorded a duet album
with John Prine, Standard Songs for Average People, which was released by Oh Boy Records. He
has also just completed an album with Merle Haggard, Vince Gill, and The Isaacs that will be
release in 2014 and is also being interviewed for inclusion in the upcoming Ken Burns PBS
documentary on Country Music. Wiseman will also be the first inductee into the Shenandoah
Conservatory of Music Hall of Fame later this month.