Billy Grammer

Longtime Grand Ole Opry member Billy Grammer was one of the great guitar players of country music; he even had a flat-top guitar named after him and installed in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1969. He was one of 13 children born to a coal-mining family in downstate Benton, Illinois. Despite a youthful interest in science and engineering, the young Grammer often played fiddle, guitar, or mandolin at local gatherings, accompanying his father or performing solo. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and worked as an apprentice toolmaker. But after discharge, work wa...