Mac Wiseman

A bluegrass pioneer and a lover of country, Mac Wiseman devoted his life to music. Born in Crimora, Virginia in 1925, Wiseman first appeared on record in 1946 and didn’t stop until 2015 at the age of 90. As a singer, his voice was cherished throughout his life, earning him the loving honorific of “The Voice with a Heart.”

Not only a singer however, Wiseman was also accomplished on the guitar and upright bass and was a determined facilitator of music as a festival promoter, label owner, A&R executive and co-founder of both the Country Music Association and the International Bluegrass Association. Over the course of his life he performed regularly with bluegrass pioneers Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and Eddie Adcock and recorded collaborative records with country legends Merle Haggard, John Prine and Doc Watson.

Wiseman first recorded for CMH in 1976 and appeared on many original albums during his time with the label. Although Wiseman is considered an integral bluegrass veteran, he was never one to stay pinned to one genre. Throughout his career he dabbled into country, gospel, R&B, big band music and even hip-hop. His time at CMH was no exception to his adventurous character with Mac Wiseman Sings Gordon Lightfoot (1977) and Songs that Made the Jukebox Play (1980) showing the artist exploring folk-rock music and western swing respectively.

Wiseman was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1993. He was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2008 and, in 2014, he received special acknowledgement and induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in their Veteran Era category. He passed away in 2019 at the age of 93.