Jack Shook (born Loren Shook; September 11, 1910 – September 23, 1986) was an American

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

and a

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...

star. He was a native of

Decatur, Illinois Decatur ( ) is the largest city in Macon County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

. He was raised in

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

and

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. He started at WSM,

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

as a staff musician in 1934 and headed the Missouri Mountaineers on the Grand Ole Opry during the later part of the 1930s. He played guitar with many jazz and pop acts of his day including

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Bob Crosby George Robert Crosby (August 23, 1913 – March 9, 1993) was an American jazz singer and bandleader, best known for his group the Bob-Cats, which formed around 1935. The Bob-Cats were a New Orleans Dixieland-style jazz octet. He was the younge ...

Paul Whiteman Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American Jazz bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist. As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 193 ...

and others. In 1939, the Missouri Mountaineers were one of the first Opry acts to be on the NBC Opry radio show called ''The Prince Albert Show''. Shook served in the army during the 1940s and then returned to Nashville to form Jack, Nap and Dee along with singer Dee Simmons. He was a left handed guitarist and was one of the originators of the Nashville sound style of recording. In 1950, he released the title ''Written Guarantee'' with

Owen Bradley William Owen Bradley (October 21, 1915 – January 7, 1998) was an American musician, bandleader and record producer who, along with Chet Atkins, Bob Ferguson, Bill Porter, and Don Law, was a chief architect of the 1950s and 60s Nashville sou ...

and His Quintet. Covers by Shook included ''Birmingham Bounce, Give Me a Little Old Fashioned Love, Goodnight Irene, I'm Moving on, Mule Bookie, Say When, There's a Little White House'', and ''Wabash Blues''. Shook retired from WSM in 1982 and died in Donelson Hospital of cancer in 1986. He was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on February 2, 1935. Shook died of cancer on September 23, 1986, in Nashville, Tennessee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shook, Jack American male guitarists 1910 births 1986 deaths 20th-century American male musicians