Bringing Mary Home · Mac Wiseman

Mac Wiseman had one of the most beautiful voices in country music, and a knack for choosing songs that suited it. A Virginian who had served apprenticeships with both Molly O'Day and the early Foggy Mountain Boys — and who sang on Bill Monroe's 1949 Columbia sessions — he launched his solo career just as the singles business was hitting its post-war peak.

From 1951 Wiseman recorded for Dot Records, the label run by Randy Wood out of Gallatin, Tennessee, and he stayed with Dot for most of the era. His earliest sessions were cut in radio-station studios in Shreveport and Nashville; later ones moved into Owen Bradley's room with Nashville's finest session players. The Dot singles — "'Tis Sweet to Be Remembered," "Jimmy Brown the Newsboy," "Love Letters in the Sand," "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" — showcased a smooth, unhurried style that sat comfortably between bluegrass and mainstream country.

Wiseman never insisted on strict bluegrass instrumentation. He happily used a Nashville rhythm section, lead guitar, even backing vocal groups when a song called for it. What held it together was the voice itself — clear, warm, perfectly pitched, lingering just behind the beat — and an old-time sense of melody that made him a favorite of the folk revival as much as the country audience.

That breadth made Wiseman one of bluegrass's great ambassadors. As a recording artist, a folk-festival regular, a record-label executive, and a founding board member of the Country Music Association, he carried the music's repertoire to listeners who might never have sought out a hard-driving band.

Session details drawn in part from the Bluegrass Discography.