Old Dominion Barn Dance is an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

show broadcast over WRVA,

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

each Saturday night. Mary Workman, better known as " Sunshine Sue" was the host (1946–1957). Gregg Kimball of the Library of Virginia said of the program, "It was unique because it featured a female host and gained a national audience through syndication on CBS radio." In 1957,

Carlton Haney Lawrence Carlton Haney (September 19, 1928 – March 16, 2011) was an American booking agent, festival promoter, and songwriter primarily active in bluegrass music. Once dubbed “The P.T. Barnum of Country Music” for his large personality, Ha ...

began the ''New Dominion Barn Dance'', which WRVA broadcast until 1964. The music and humor show was broadcast live on radio in over 38 states and Canada and were transmitted to military personnel overseas via recordings on the

Armed Forces Radio Service The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the United States Armed Forces provides to soldiers stationed or assigned overseas, and is headquartered at Fort Meade in Maryland. AFN comprises two sub ...

. The broadcasts originated at the Lyric Theater (later renamed the WRVA Theater) on North 9th Street and East Broad Street. The theater was filled to capacity every Saturday night, with lines that wrapped around the block. Two shows broadcast, one at 7:30pm and the other at 9:30pm, nationwide and introduced America to Country Music. This show was attended by all ages and classes. A big fan of the Old Dominion Barn Dance, Virginia Governor William "Bill" Munford Tuck (1946-1950) had a private box reserved for him where he would frequently attend the show on Saturday nights. The Lyric Theater was built in 1913 and demolished in 1963. The show also toured at times. The June 7, 1947, issue of ''

The Free Lance–Star ''The Free Lance–Star'' is the principal daily newspaper distributed throughout Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States, with a circulation area including the city of Fredericksburg and all or parts of the counties of Spotsylvania, Stafford, ...

'' in Fredericksburg, Virginia, carried an advertisement promoting the appearance of "20 Radio Stars," the "entire cast" of the Old Dominion Barn Dance for two shows at James Monroe High School on June 9, 1947. In 1973, an effort was made to revive the ''Old Dominion Barn Dance'', but it was unsuccessful. After almost 5,000 people attended the initial performance, attendance dropped to 900 for the second show and went even lower the third week. An article in

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

magazine's April 7, 1973, issue quoted a spokesman for the show as saying "We can't understand what happened, and we're trying to evaluate the situation, but people just stopped coming after that first show." The program was broadcast on WTVR. Beginning in 2015, Donna Meade Dean (the widow of Jimmy Dean) brought back the Old Dominion Barn Dance for four performances in the Henrico Theater in Highland Springs, Virginia. Marty Stuart headlined the first show on February 21, 2015.

Performers

References

Hillbilly.Music.comFinding Aid for the WRVA Radio Collection at the Library of VirginiaOld Dominion Barn Dance.com
American country music radio programs {{US-radio-show-stub