The Old Dominion Barn Dance

It was Virginia’s biggest hoedown. First airing in 1946, the Old Dominion Barn Dance was broadcast on Richmond’s WRVA radio as the city’s version of Nashville’s Grand Ol’ Opry. Hosted by pioneering femcee Mary “Sunshine Sue” Workman, the country music variety show lasted a little more than a decade, but its steel guitar-sweetened echoes still resonate.

“The Barn Dance had great entertainers, musicians, and vocalists,” remembers Cal Newman, 86, a fiddler who grew up listening to, and later performing as a backup musician on, the Saturday night performance. “A lot of legends used it as a stepping stone to greater things, like Chet Atkins, Mac Wiseman, Reno and Smiley ... for some, it became a jumping off place to Nashville and stardom.”

With its blend of rustic, sometimes sentimental songs (“You Are My Sunshine” was Sue’s signature sign-off), folksy product placement, and cornball humor, the Barn Dance became wildly popular, and not just in Virginia—WRVA’s 50,000 watts could span several states, and portions were heard across the world on Armed Forces Radio. Sue and her cast even made it to Broadway in 1954 to perform in a country musical called Hayride.

My photo feature on the Old Dominion Barn Dance is now up at the Virginia Living Magazine website. Lasso it right here. Find out about the amazing legends who passed through the program, as well as the contemporary reboot of the big show that happens at Hopewell's Beacon Theatre.

(Photos courtesy of the Library of Virginia)