We have written about the group once before when preserving their documentary, The Dismembered Tennesseans ‘Greatest Hits’ now available in this archive and on YouTube as well. The Dickinson College conducted a great interview with founding member Fletcher Bright some years ago. The Tennesseans discuss their origins in some liner notes:
“It was back in 1945 that a group of McCallie School students got together and began singing and playing a brand of Bluegrass music that has gone on now for more than 50 years. The name “Dismembered Tennesseans” seemed good enough a name for a bunch of teenagers who had no long range plans, and they sang their way through school.
But somehow the music never stopped, and the band stayed together for the next 50 years, singing and laughing their way across the country – from Florida to Washington to Ohio and Colorado and points between. They played for every local civic group in existence, every charity, and most of the conventions in town looking for cheap entertainment.
The group has appeared on stage with many of the top country music stars, has performed in concert with Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra, the Boys Choir, and has four successful albums of Bluegrass and gospel music. They have appeared on a segment of ABC-TV’s Peter Jennings Nightly News and were featured on the NBC Sunday Today Show. Their audiences have been composed of such celebrities as Chuck Yeager, Sam Nunn, Gerald Ford, and Jack Kemp. Easily one of the most popular bands in hometown Chattanooga, they have made their mark singing country music for people who don’t particularly like country music.”
Notes: Booking: Frank McDonald, Sunset Road, Lookout Mountain, TN, 37350. Country and Bluegrass band that has made it the hard way- singing their way across this great land of ours without benefit of any formal vocal training or perceptible talent. For over 40 years this group has been the hit of the low budget entertainment circuit of the Southeast. This album is a collection of the great traditional all time country hits. The band has made three other albums, most of them a sell-out. On the front cover of this album is a photo of the camera crew of the NBC “Sunday Today” TV show capturing for all of the world to see a live show in stage of the Mountain Opry in Walden, Tennessee.