Restrictions to Access

Use of audio materials may require production of listening copies.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Glenn Thompson Collection #20341, Southern Folklife Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Provenance

Received from Glenn Thompson of Burlington, N.C., in April 2001 and May 2001.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

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• Blue Ridge Entertainers (Musical group : Glenn Thompson)
• Country music.
• Country musicians.
• Danville (Va.)--History.
• Flatt, Lester.
• Glenn Thompson and his Dixie Playboys.
• Homer T.
• Johnson, Sleepy.
• Louvin Brothers.
• Meyers, Ray R.
• Monroe, Bill, 1911-1996.
• Monroe, Charlie.
• Musical groups--North Carolina.
• Musicians--North Carolina.
• Owens, Buck, 1929-2006.
• Radio programs--United States.
• Radio stations--Virginia.
• Scruggs, Earl.
• Thompson, Glenn, 1921-
• WDVA (Radio station : Danville, Va.)
• WDVA Barn Dance (Radio program)

Glenn Thompson was born in Moore County, N.C., on 16 October 1921. His radio career began in 1941 at station WGH in Newport News, Va. In 1943, he moved to Panama City, Fla., working briefly at station WDLP with John King and his Drifting Cowboys. In 1944, after serving for about a year as a tank driver in Fort Knox, Ky., Glenn moved again to Burlington, N.C. His band, the Blue Ridge Entertainers, performed daily on Burlington radio station WBBB; the band, with some personnel changes, changed its name in 1946 to Glenn Thompson and his Dixie Playboys. From that year to 1948, they released five 78s on Thompson's own label, recorded at the Nelson Teal Studios in Burlington. In 1947, the group began extensive touring with the Wilby Kensey Theatre circuit, performing in thirteen eastern states from Maine to Florida. In 1949, Thompson and the Playboys moved to Danville, Va., where they recorded three 78s and were featured performers on radio station WDVA. That June, the station started its very popular Saturday night Barn Dance, held at the Danville Fairgrounds, with Glenn as its main attraction. In addition to headlining that weekly program, Thompson frequently entertained school and church groups, traveled with his own tent show, and coordinated a shifting pool of considerable talent for his shows. For a short period in 1950, the Louvin Brothers joined the Barn Dance, acting as Thompson's band and appearing uncredited on his 78 recording of "Lovers Lane" and "Trouble Keeps Hanging Around My Door."

Thompson returned to Burlington and WBBB in 1953 and recorded two LPs and a final single during the 1960s, with a number of the LP tracks released additionally as 45s. In 1983, he married his third wife, Wilma Martin, the widow of country entertainer Slim Martin. Thompson retired from the music business in 1985, but continued to make occasional personal appearances.

The Glenn Thompson collection includes photographs and sound recordings documenting Thompson's musical career. Photographs feature Thompson, his bandmates, and associates during the 1940s and 1950s, the most active years of his career, and include promotional shots of Thompson and his bands, the Blue Ridge Entertainers and the Dixie Playboys. Photographs also document Thompson's involvement with Danville, Va., radio station WDVA, and feature Thompson and the Playboys in performance at a number of venues, including the WDVA Barn Dance, the Carolina Theatre (Burlington, N.C.), a voting rally, a WTOB (Winston-Salem) television show, and several radio stations. Also included are photographs of comedians who performed in Thompson's stage show, most commonly long-time bandmate Sleepy Johnson and WDVA personality Homer T (Thomasson). Other performers at some point affiliated with Thompson and featured in the collection include Charlie Monroe, armless musician Ray R. Meyers, and the Louvin Brothers, who filled in briefly for Thompson's backup band and were regulars on the WDVA Barn Dance in 1950. A taped interview, in which Thompson comments on the photographs in the collection, provides anecdotes about Buck Owens, Bill Monroe and Charlie Monroe, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, the Louvins, Ray Meyers, Thompson's own bandmates, and, more generally, Thompson's musical experiences in Danville and Burlington.

Sound recordings include CD copies of commercially recorded 78 rpm records and LP records; original 45 rpm records; and original cassettes and compact discs issued privately by Thompson or by the Greensboro-based Skatter label. Two additional cassettes, recorded in 2001 with the acquisition of Thompson's photograph collection, contain an interview in which Thompson describes the photographs.