| Sources |
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 30 Jul 2012.
Upland Chronicles: Jim Ball carved his niche making music
by JO HARRIS
In 1916, the year Andy Huff opened Gatlinburg’s first hotel, the Mountain View, Houston Ball and wife, Mary Etter Maples Ball, welcomed a son into the world.
James Norman “Jim” Ball, one of Sevier County’s music pioneers, was born July 10 in the Copeland section of Big Greenbrier, now part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Glenn Cardwell’s book, “A Dream Fulfilled, The Story of Pittman Center,” describes Copeland as having some of the poorest families, but that “moonshine flowed as freely as water from the mountain springs.”
Jim was still a baby when Houston moved the family from Copeland to Elkmont, where he worked for the Little River Lumber Company. Jim spent his childhood and was educated there. After the government took over that property for the national park, they moved into Gatlinburg where, like many other mountain families, they eked out a living by subsistence farming.
When Jim was 22, the family was devastated over the tragic deaths of six family members. Jim’s first cousin, Alfred Ball and wife Lona McCarter Ball, and their four children, ages 11 to a few months, were killed in the midnight flash flood of election day, Aug. 4, 1938.
Two neighbors, Jesse and Eula Evans, were also killed. They had accompanied the Ball family home from the polling place. It was late and they decided to stay the night at the Ball home — about five miles from Pittman Center. Had they not stayed, their lives would have been spared.
They were buried in the Schultz/Whaley cemetery. All six members of the Ball family were buried in a common grave in the Clear Springs Cemetery.
Some five years after the flood, in January 1943, Jim married Lottie Myers, daughter of Mel V. and Roxie Blalock Myers of Little Cove, a small community a few miles from Pigeon Forge. Lottie’s parents divorced when she was young, and if not for that, she might never have met Jim. When she was 13, she moved to Gatlinburg, where she lived and worked for business owners Rush and Martha Rawlings.
After their marriage, Jim and Lottie lived in Gatlinburg, where he held various jobs playing music. In the 1950s, he was a regular on “The Cas Walker Show”, which aired on local radio and television stations for over five decades. The time Jim was in Knoxville, and when he was in the Army during WWII — nine months spent at Walter Reed Hospital — were the only times he lived anywhere other than his beloved mountains.
When they returned to Gatlinburg, Jim and Lottie operated the soda shop at Steele Drug Store downtown. They moved to the Glades community in the early 1960s and raised four sons: Norman, a retired educator and current owner of Blue Mountain Mist B&B; Roger, a Nashville musician and employee of Gibson Guitars; Larry, a park employee; and Rick, local musician and employee of the Sevier County school system.
Over the years, Jim continued to pursue his music career while holding other jobs to supplement the family’s income. A favorite job was tramcar operator for the ski resort where he got to entertain tourists with his stories, instead of music. Lottie was cook and kitchen manager at Tommy’s Restaurant in Gatlinburg for over 30 years.
Jim was a gifted, self-taught musician. He never had an official music lesson, unless you count the time spent at the knee of his father, who played banjo and fiddle. The fiddle was Jim’s primary instrument, but among others, he played banjo, guitar and bass.
Jim’s son Rick said recently, “Dad could play any instrument he picked up, and my brother Roger has those same genes.” Roger appeared on stage with his dad from the time he was about 5. With ukulele in hand, Roger first joined his dad at Knoxville’s popular Saturday night show, the “Tennessee Barn Dance”, hosted by Lowell Blanchard.
Early in his career, Jim became acquainted with J. Percy Priest, a teacher, journalist for the Nashville Tennessean newspaper, and a member of the House of Representatives. Priest, who often visited Gatlinburg with other influential people, thought Jim and his group were good enough to be on the “Grand Ole Opry”, and arranged an audition.
Whether afraid of failure, of losing their jobs at home, or simply reluctant to leave the mountains for the big city, Jim couldn’t convince the other group members to go. Feeling he couldn’t go alone, he let this opportunity pass. Rick says, “Had Dad gone on to Nashville, we might be reading an entirely different life story.”
Tunes like “Bile Them Cabbage Down,” “Sally Goodin,” “Uncle Pen” and “Orange Blossom Special” were standards in Jim’s repertoire and he performed them in venues all over Sevier County including Grady’s Place, Tubby Griffin’s Rec Hall — a converted Quonset hut on Airport Road — and the Wiley Shop, where entertainers had to compete for stage space with local handicrafts.
He also played at one of Gatlinburg’s first attractions known as Homespun Valley, and the Mountain View Hotel, where square dances were an almost-nightly event.
For several years in the 1970s, Jim performed at “Archie Campbell Presents Stars of the Grand Ole Opry”, an evening show held in Heritage Hall, part of the Gatlinburg Craft Center complex. Many of Jim’s days were spent playing music atop Mt. Harrison at the Gatlinburg ski resort.
In 1972 Jim appeared with Osie Ownby and Russ and Becky Jeffers at Goldrush Junction, Dollywood’s predecessor. Here he was filmed for a segment of “On the Road” with Charles Kuralt, a regular feature of Walter Cronkite’s CBS evening news. This episode featured molasses making. Kuralt said in his introduction, “Jim Ball sings the song of sorghum for the tourists … the anthem of the season.” Jim played his fiddle and sang “I Like Molasses” while Kuralt narrated the story.
A September 1946 recording of Jim playing fiddle on “Bile Them Cabbage Down,” “Fire on the Mountain,” “Raggedy Ann” and “Sugar in the Gourd” is preserved in the Library of Congress in the Tennessee Collections Archive of Folk Culture.
During a career spanning over half a century, Jim was in several groups: the Smoky Mountain Ramblers, the Mountain Travelers, Jim Ball and the Mountain Boys, Pigeon River Boys and the Smoky Mountain Brush Breakers. He recorded two albums, one 45, and one extended-play record with six songs.
If one considers staying true to one’s roots and mountain values to be old fashioned, then Jim was definitely that. There wasn’t an ounce of fakery or pretentiousness in him.
Jim Ball, a true mountain music pioneer, died on Nov. 22, 1991. Lottie will celebrate her 89th birthday on Aug. 16.
To hear Jim’s music and see a picture montage, as well as the Kuralt episode, go to YouTube and search: Jim Ball, Mountain Man, Mountain Music.
— Jo Harris is a local free-lance writer residing in Kodak. The Upland Chronicles series celebrates the heritage and past of Sevier County. If you have suggestions for future topics, would like to submit a column or have comments, please contact Carroll McMahan at 453-6411 or email to cmcmahan@scoc.org; or Ron Rader at 604-9161 or email to ron@ronraderproperties.com.
- [S74] Atchley Funeral Home Records, Volume IV, 1987-1999, Larry D. Fox, (Smoky Mountain Historical Society), 22 Nov 1991.
Ball, James Norman (Jim) 75 b. 7-10-16 Gatlinburg d. 11-22-91 DOA SCH musician f. Houston Ball m. Mary Etta Maples educa 12 SMMG Survivors: wife Lottie Myers Ball 534 Ownby Dr Gatlinburg 4 sons Norman Larry Roger Rick 4 gc 1 bro Carl 2 sis Kate Chadwick Pauline Whaley mem Roaring Fork Bapt Ch Gatlinburg.
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
Name Houston Ball
Event Type Marriage
Event Date 26 Jun 1904
Event Place Sevier, Tennessee, United States
Gender Male
Spouse's Name Etter Carver
Spouse's Gender Female
|
Search | Advanced Search
1916 - 1991 (75 years)
: Address
: Location
: City/Town
: County/Shire
: State/Province
: Country
: Not Set
= Link to Google Maps