Mac Wiseman
Indian Ranch, Webster, Massachusetts, 1972

Wiseman is one of those rare country musicians with classical music training, but it was his distinctive tenor voice and his ability to straddle the fence between country and bluegrass music that made his career. In 1946 he landed a job with Molly O'Day, one of the first female country stars, then sang and played briefly with Flatt and Scruggs and Bill Monroe before setting out on his own in 1950. Touring widely, Wiseman also worked as a record executive and had some hit records, notably "Jimmy Brown, the Newsboy" and "Tis Sweet to Be Remembered." In the late 1970s, he reunited with Lester Flatt to make three records on RCA and became a perennial headliner at bluegrass festivals.