KINCAID, BRADLEY (1895-1989)

Bradley Kincaid was born in Kentucky, where he learned many of the old folk songs. He secured a job on WLS in Chicago, where he became what today we would call a superstar, singing those old folk songs on the National Barn Dance. He published thirteen songbooks, which he sold over the air by the thousands. Beginning in 1927, he recorded extensively for Gennett Records in Richmond, Indiana, and later for other labels. He eventually moved around to different radio stations, including WLW in Cincinnati, winding up at WSM in Nashville on the Grand Ole Opry. In 1950, he retired from performing and helped start radio station WWSO in Springfield, which was later sold to a group which moved it to Dayton and, after a few years, changed the call letters to WAVI. Bradley then bought Morelli’s Music Store in Springfield and changed its name to Kincaid’s. His major contribution to bluegrass was preserving folksongs which have been used by countless bluegrass musicians over the years. He was also instrumental in launching the careers of Grandpa Jones and Hylo Brown. He was inducted into the Starr-Gennett Walk of Fame in Richmond, Indiana in 2009.

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