Bobby Gregory
Musician · 1900–1971 · Staunton, Virginia
Best known for
Songwriter
Bobby Gregory was a Virginia-born singing-cowboy songwriter, accordionist, and bandleader whose catalog of roughly sixteen hundred published songs — “Sunny Side of the Mountain” chief among them — reached every corner of the country and bluegrass repertoire. He led the Cactus Cowboys, appeared in more than twenty films, and is credited with introducing the accordion to commercial country music.
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- Born April 24, 1900, in Staunton, Virginia.
- Worked variously as a cowboy, lumberjack, sailor, and circus and rodeo musician before settling into a music career.
- Led the Cactus Cowboys, recording extensively for several labels and appearing in more than twenty Western and country films.
- Published roughly 1,600 songs over the course of his career, including “Little Darlin’,” “Am I Dreaming?,” “Sunny Side of the Mountain,” and “Ramblin’ Hobo.”
- Won an ASCAP award in 1965 for “Sunny Side of the Mountain,” which had by then entered the standard bluegrass repertoire.
- Opened an art gallery in New York City in the 1950s; outside music he painted, collected, and dealt in artwork that included pieces sourced from the Vatican.
- Died May 1, 1971, in Nashville, Tennessee.
