was a Japanese-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 ...

fiddler and singer who performed at his theater, the Shoji Tabuchi Theatre, in

Branson, Missouri Branson is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. Most of the city is situated in Taney County, Missouri, Taney County, with a small portion in the west extending into Stone County, Missouri, Stone County. Branson is in the Ozarks, Ozark Mountain ...

. Nicknamed "The King of Branson", Tabuchi won numerous awards and was inducted into the National Fiddler Hall of Fame in 2020.

Early life

Shoji Tabuchi was born on April 16, 1944, in Daishōji, Ishikawa, Japan (now

Kaga, Ishikawa is a city located in southwestern Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 67,793 in 29054 households, and a population density of 290 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Geography Kaga is located in ...

, Japan). After the encouragement of his mother, Tabuchi took up the violin at age 7 and studied using the

Suzuki method The Suzuki method is a mid-20th-century music curriculum and teaching method created by Japanese violinist and pedagogue Shinichi Suzuki. The method claims to create a reinforcing environment for learning music for young learners. Backgroun ...

Career

In the mid-1960s, when Tabuchi was a sophomore in college in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

, Japan, he saw a performance by

Roy Acuff Roy Claxton Acuff (September 15, 1903 – November 23, 1992) was an American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the "King of Country Music", Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and "hoedown ...

and became enamored with

bluegrass music Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Bluegrass has roots in African America ...

after hearing Acuff's fiddler Howdy Forrester perform "Listen to the Mockingbird". After meeting Acuff backstage, Tabuchi went on to form a band called the Bluegrass Ramblers, who won a national contest in Japan. In 1967, he eschewed graduating from college in order to emigrate to San Francisco with only his violin and a few hundred dollars. After living in San Francisco,

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

, and

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, Tabuchi moved to

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 ...

to reconnect with Acuff, who arranged for Tabuchi to perform on ''

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 ...

'', where he would appear 27 times. From 1970 to 1975, Tabuchi toured as the opening act for

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

musician David Houston. Tabuchi would perform with many other country artists, including

Tammy Wynette Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music singer and songwriter, considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Lynn, Wynette helped bring a ...

Mel Tillis Lonnie Melvin Tillis (August 8, 1932 – November 19, 2017) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s as part of the outlaw country movement, ...

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American Country music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice an ...

Barbara Mandrell Barbara Ann Mandrell (born December 25, 1948) is an American retired country music singer and musician. She is also credited as an actress and author. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was considered among country's most successful mus ...

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

Ray Stevens Harold Ray Ragsdale (born January 24, 1939), known professionally as Ray Stevens, is an American country music, country and pop singer-songwriter and comedian. He is best known for his Grammy-winning recordings "Everything Is Beautiful" and "M ...

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

and

Conway Twitty Harold Lloyd Jenkins (September 1, 1933 – June 5, 1993), better known by his stage name Conway Twitty, was an American singer and songwriter. Initially a part of the 1950s rockabilly scene, Twitty was best known as a country music performer. ...

''The Shoji Tabuchi Show''

Shoji Tabuchi performing at the White House in 2006

Tabuchi arrived in

in 1980 and was offered a six-month residency performing at the Starlite Theatre. After performing successfully for a few years, he oversaw the construction of one of Branson's most elaborate theaters, which was completed in 1990, and began hosting his own show. ''The Shoji Tabuchi Show'' blended contemporary country music with elements of traditional

Japanese theatre Traditional Japanese theatre is among the oldest theatre traditions in the world. Traditional theatre includes Noh, a spiritual drama, and its comic accompaniment ; kabuki, a dance and music theatrical tradition; , puppetry; and , a spoken dram ...

. Besides country, the show also incorporated

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the US state of Louisiana and surrounding Gulf Coast states. Whi ...

rap Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

, taiko drumming,

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

and

showtunes A show tune is a popular song, song originally written as part of the score of a work of musical theatre or musical film, especially if the piece in question has become a Standard (music), standard, more or less detached in most people's minds ...

, as well as

polka Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...

and Hawaiian music. Tabuchi's wife Dorothy and daughter Christina also performed with him, and each professional musician in his ensemble possessed at least one music degree. Tabuchi employed about 200 personnel at his elaborate 2,000-seat theater, where he performed two shows daily for most of the year. His performances garnered him the nickname "The King of Branson". In May 2017, the theater was temporarily closed following a backstage fire. While the fire only covered a 10-by-10 foot area, smoke spread throughout the auditorium and into the lobby and there was additional water damage. The theater reopened on October 22, 2018, by which time the show had moved to the Clay Cooper Theatre. After a near-three-year hiatus from performing during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Tabuchi returned with the year-long "An Evening With Shoji" at Branson's Little Opry Theatre in spring 2022.

Accolades

Tabuchi received several accolades throughout his career, including the Japanese Foreign Minister's Award, the Missourian Award, and the Americanism Medal from the

Daughters of the American Revolution The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-p ...

. In 2020, Tabuchi was inducted into the National Fiddler Hall of Fame. Tabuchi won several Ozark Music Awards, including Entertainer of the Year, and was named their Instrumentalist of the Year four times. He was also the recipient of the Branson Terry Awards Lifetime Achievement and Humanitarian Award. In 2021, the city of Branson declared August 31 to be "Shoji, Dorothy, and Christina Tabuchi Day", in honor of the family's contributions to the city. The documentary ''Shoji Tabuchi: An American Dream'' premiered at Branson

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...

Entertainment Complex's 9th annual Military Film Festival in November 2021. Tabuchi performed for U.S. presidents

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

and

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

, was recognized in ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' and ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'', and was featured on ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...

'', ''

Live with Regis and Kathie Lee ''Live with Kelly and Mark'' (or simply ''Live'') is an American syndicated morning talk show hosted by Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos. Executive produced by Michael Gelman, the ''Live with...'' show formula has aired under various hosts sinc ...

'' and ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

''.

Personal life

Tabuchi became an American citizen in 1998. Tabuchi met his first wife, Mary Jo, at a restaurant where he would perform for tips. The two married in 1968. They moved to

, and in 1974 they had a son, Shoji John Tabuchi. After moving to Branson in 1980, he met his second wife, Dorothy Lingo, after she attended several of his shows at the Starlite Theater, and he became the stepfather to her two children from a previous marriage. Lingo helped with numerous production aspects of ''The Shoji Tabuchi Show'', such as choreography, costume design, and the theater's interior design. Tabuchi's stepdaughter, Christina, became a featured vocalist and entertainer in ''The Shoji Tabuchi Show'' at age 8 and eventually became vocal director and co-dance captain of the show. Tabuchi's stepson, Thomas Jason Lingo-Tabuchi, died at age 19. Branson Music School has a scholarship in his name, and a community center in Oak Grove, Louisiana also bears his name. Shoji Tabuchi died of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

on August 11, 2023, at the age of 79.

In popular culture

''The Shoji Tabuchi Show'' has been featured on the

RedLetterMedia Red Letter Media, LLC is an American film and video production company operated by independent filmmakers Mike Stoklasa, Jay Bauman, and Rich Evans. It was formed by Stoklasa in 2004 while he was living in the Scottsdale section of Ashburn, Chica ...

web series ''Best of the Worst''. The

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

release of the show's third volume first appeared on the inaugural "Wheel of the Worst" (episode 4) on May 6, 2013. It was finally viewed on the fourth "Wheel of the Worst" (episode 16) on March 5, 2014, and was voted "Best of the Worst", meaning it was the most entertaining video of the night.

Discography

* 1973: ''Japan to Nashville'' (not on label) * 1975: ''Country Music My Way'' (ABC/Dot) * 1978: ''Fiddles & Sings'' (Jin) * 1980: ''Live at the Grapevine Opry'' (ASR/TM4) * 1984: ''Classy'' (Shoji Entertainments) * 1987: ''Fiddlin' Around'' (Shoji Entertainments) * 1996: ''Notes from Shoji'' (Shoji Entertainments) * 2000: ''Different Moods: Collection One'' (Shoji Entertainments) * 2002: ''The Shoji Tabuchi Show! Volume IV'' (Shoji Entertainments) * 2007: ''Music From My Heart'' (Shoji Entertainments) Dates unknown * ''In Concert'' (ASR) * ''Songs for the Lord...And You!'' (Shoji Entertainments) * ''Live from Branson'' (Shoji Entertainments) * ''Shoji After Dark'' (Shoji Entertainments) * ''Rove Retters From Shoji'' (ASR)

References

External links

Shoji's site
*

Contemporary Musicians. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 12 Jun. 2014. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tabuchi, Shoji 1944 births 2023 deaths 20th-century American musicians 20th-century Japanese musicians 21st-century American musicians 21st-century Japanese musicians American country fiddlers American musicians of Japanese descent Japanese emigrants to the United States Japanese country fiddlers People from Branson, Missouri People from Kaga, Ishikawa Musicians from Ishikawa Prefecture Country musicians from Missouri Deaths from cancer in Missouri Deaths from pancreatic cancer in the United States