Scotty Wiseman

Induction Year: 1971

Birth Name: Scott Greene Wiseman

Birth Date: 11-08-1909

Place of Birth: Ingalls, North Carolina

Death Date: 01-31-1981

Place of Death: Gainesville, Florida

Scotty Wiseman was a member of the most popular act on the most popular radio barn dance show of the 1930s and 1940s. Lulu Belle & Scotty were country superstars of their era, performing before tens of thousands at state fairs, headlining on the network broadcasts of the National Barn Dance on station WLS and starring in eight Hollywood feature films.

Both members of the team were natives of the mountains of North Carolina. Scotty Wiseman learned to play guitar, banjo and harmonica as a boy. Like A. P. Carter and Bradley Kincaid, he also developed a keen interest in Appalachian folk songs. His professional singing debut was on WRVA in Richmond, Virginia, in 1927.

After briefly attending Duke University in his home state, he enrolled in Fairmont Teachers College in West Virginia. He helped pay his way through college by working at WMMN radio in Fairmont as both a performer and program director. After graduating from college in 1932, he moved to Chicago, where he joined the National Barn Dance 1933. At this time he was billed as "Skyland Scotty."

At WLS, the station management paired him with singer and comedian Lulu Belle (Myrtle Eleanor Cooper) in the spring of 1934. A romance blossomed, and they married on December 13 of that year. Known as "The Sweethearts of Country Music," they were enormous fan favorites for the next 25 years.

During their second recording session together, Lulu Belle & Scotty performed "Mountain Dew." The song was first recorded by Bascom Lamar Lunsford in 1928. Wiseman added several verses and polished the song into the version that became a country standard sung by Grandpa Jones and many others.

In 1940, "Remember Me (When the Candle Lights Are Gleaming)" became the second country standard created by Wiseman. Willie Nelson made it a major hit in 1976. Wiseman was hospitalized for minor surgery in 1945. While visiting him one day, Lulu Belle said softly, "Have I told you lately that I love you?" The question inspired Wiseman's most enduring song of all.

Lulu Belle & Scotty retired from show business in 1958 and returned to North Carolina. He earned a master's degree, taught college, farmed and became a banker. She was elected to the state legislature. They recorded three final albums for Starday Records in 1962, 1963 and 1965. Scotty Wiseman died of a heart attack in 1981. Lulu Belle died of Alzheimer's in 1999.

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Song Catalog

 

"Be Careful Girls"

Lulu Bell & Scotty1940 
 

"Between You and Me""

Lulu Belle & Scotty1963 

"Brown Mountain Light"

The Kingston Trio1962 
Sonny James1962 
Lulu Belle & Scotty1963 
The Hillmen1964 
The Country Gentlemen1964 
Tony Rice1993 
The Cumberlands2002 
Hamper McBee2011 
 

"Come As You Are"

Lulu Belle & Scotty1957 
 

"Don't Cha"

Lulu Belle & Scotty1947 
 

"Each Time You Leave"

Lulu Belle & Scotty1963 
 

"Empty Stocking" a.k.a. "Empty Christmas Stocking"

Lulu Belle & Scotty1940 

"Have I Told You Lately That I Love You"

Lulu Belle & Scotty1946 
Gene Autry1946 #3 country
Tex Ritter1946 #3 country
Foy Willing Riders of Purple Sage1946 #4 country
Red Foley1946 #5 country
The Sons of the Pioneers1946 
Bing Crosby & the Andrews Sisters1950 #24 pop
Jim Reeves1956 
Faron Young1956 
Elvis Presley1957 
Marty Robbins1957 
Ricky Nelson1957 #29 pop
Eddie Cochran1957 
Homer & Jethro1959 
Little Jimmy Dickens1960 
Tommy Collins1960 
Eddy Arnold1960 
Patti Page1961 
Hank Thompson1961 
Pat & Shirley Boone1962 
Porter Wagoner & Skeeter Davis1962 
Roy Acuff1963 
Slim Whitman1964 
Carl Smith1965 
Cliff Richard1965 
Brook Benton1966 
Bill Anderson & Jan Howard1967 
Jim Ed Brown1967 
George Morgan1967 
Willie Nelson1967 
Stonewall Jackson1968 
Kitty Wells & Red Foley1969 #74 country
Johnny Rodriguez1974 
Jim Ed Brown & Helen Cornelius1976 
The Country Gentlemen1981 
Ray Price1987 
Kenny Rogers1991 
Riders in the Sky1996 
T. Graham Brown2007 

"Homecoming Time in Happy Valley"

Skyland Scotty1934 
The Happy Valley Boys1940 
Lulu Belle & Scotty1963 
 

"I'm No Communist"

Lulu Belle & Scotty1952 
Carson Robison1952 
Grandpa Jones1952 
Jim Eanes & the Shenandoah Valley Boys1953 
 

"In the Doghouse Now"

Lulu Belle & Scotty1946 

"Mountain Dew"

(written with Bascom Lamar Lunsford)

Bascom Lamar Lunsford1928 
Lulu Belle & Scotty1939 
Grandpa Jones1947 
Polly Bergen1958 
The Stanley Brothers1960 
Flatt & Scruggs1962 
The Wilburn Brothers1962 
Johnny Bond1962 
Grandpa Jones (remake)1963 
Roy Acuff1963 
Bill Anderson1964 
Doc Watson1967 
Glen Campbell1969 
Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash1969 
Ralph Stanley1971 
Charlie Walker1971 
Buck Owens1972 
Eric Weissberg1973 
The Charlie Daniels Band1976 
Brother Oswald & Charlie Collins1976 
Willie Nelson1981 #23 country
The Kentucky Colonels1984 
The Pogues1988 
Jackstraw2003 
 

"Old Time Bible"

(written with Lulu Belle Wiseman)

Lulu Belle & Scotty1954 

"Remember Me"

Lulu Belle & Scotty1940 
T. Texas Tyler1945 
The Bailes Brothers1946 
Jimmy Dean1963 
Roy Acuff1964 
Bashful Brothers Oswald1975 
Willie Nelson1976 #2 country
Mel Tillis1979 
Garrison Keillor2008 
The Little Willies2012 
 

"Some More Mountain Dew"

(written with Lulu Belle Wiseman)

Grandpa Jones1953 
 

"Tell Her You Love Her Today"

Lulu Belle & Scotty1947 
Kenny Price1971 #55 country
 

"Tenderly He Watches"

Lulu Belle & Scotty1954 
 

"That Crazy War"

Lulu Belle & Scotty1940 
Michael Cooney1968 
 

"That New Vitamine"

Lulu Belle & Scotty1953 
Grandpa Jones1953 
 

"The Little Willies 2012"

Lulu Belle & Scotty1940 
 

"The Old Red Cradle"

Lulu Belle & Scotty1939 
 

"Two Little Frogs"

Skyland Scotty1933 
 

"You Don't Love Me Like You Used To"

Lulu Belle & Scotty1947 

Other Media

Scotty Wiseman

Induction Year: 1971