The legendary bluegrass musician Roni Stoneman has died at the age of 85.
She was known as the “First Lady of the Banjo” and was a beloved guest on the hit variety show Hee Haw.
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum said Stoneman, whose real name was Veronica Loretta Stoneman, died on Wednesday.
The famous country music group The Stoneman Family had Stoneman as a member.
Ernest “Pop” Stoneman, the head of the famous country music family, had three daughters. She was the youngest.
Country music was Roni Stoneman’s birthright and her life’s work, according to Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
“She was an integral part of a bedrock country music family, and for eighteen years on ‘Hew Haw,’ she stole scenes as a skillful banjo player and as a comical, gap-toothed country character.”
A cause of death was not given right away.
King Stoneman’s dad, Pop, was a pioneering country musician.
He moved to New York City from Galax, Virginia, which is about 11 miles north of North Carolina to try to make it as a musician.
An early 1920s hit, “The Sinking of the Titanic,” was first recorded by Stoneman’s dad.
Hattie, her mother, played the fiddle and had music in the house from a very young age.
By the mid-1950s, Hattie and Pop were playing with their own kids, and they were becoming more popular after being on several TV shows.
The family had a TV show called “Those Stonesmans” in the late 1960s. In 1967, they won the CMA Award for Vocal Group of the Year.
When Roni Stoneman joined the cast of Hee Haw in the 1970s, she became famous after her father died in 1968.
Stoneman was known as “The First Lady of the Banjo” because of her gap-toothed smile and comedic skills on the show.
During the 1980s, she kept performing with her sister Donna.
As a result, Donna was called “The First Lady of the Mandolin.”
A newsletter called Banjo says that the sister duo’s most recent performance was in 2020.
Donna, Stoneman’s sister, will miss her.
