About Grandpa Jones

Louis Marshall Jones, better known as "Grandpa" of Grand Ole Opry and "Hee Haw" fame, died at the McKendree Health Care Center in Nashville Thursday from complications of a stroke suffered Jan. 3. He was 84.

Jones is survived by his wife,Ramona, two daughters, Eloise and Alisa and a son, Mark. His funeral is February 23 at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

Jones, who played the guitar and banjo on the leading U.S. country music showcase for 46 years, picked up the nickname at the age of 22 at a radio station in Boston because of his bushy eyebrows and a voice that made him sound older, supposedly by hillbilly crooner Bradley Kincaid.

A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Jones was born in Niagra, Ky., the youngest of 10 children in the family of a sharecropper.

His family was constantly on the move and he got his first break in Akron, Ohio, when his guitar earned him a talent competition victory over 450 other amateurs.

He played guitar regularly on Station WJW in Akron, then teamed up with harmonica player Joe Troyan. The two played in the house band for the popular "Lum and Abner" radio show, and then joined another troupe as "Zeke and Harve".

After the act broke up, Jones served as a Military Police officer during World War II. He organized a band called the "Munich Mountaineers" playing daily on the Armed Forces Radio Network.

When the war ended, Jones moved to Nashville in 1946 where he worked with Pee Wee King on a tent show and appeared on the Grand Ole Opry. He was made an Opry member the following year. During this period, Jones turned to banjo playing, using the "drop-thumb technique" which he interspersed with humorous remarks to his audience.

In 1969 he joined the immensely popular TV series "Hee Haw". He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1978.

During his lengthy career, Jones recorded numerous albums and toured extensively with his wife, Ramona, an accomplished fiddler. Jones was associated with such songs as "Old Rattler," "Good Ole Mountain Dew," and his version of the Lonzo and Oscar hit "I'm My Own Grandpa".