Veronica “Roni” Stoneman was a regular cast member and banjo player on “Hee Haw” and performed with the Country Music Association Award-winning Stoneman Family.
- Died: February 22, 2024 (Who else died on February 22?)
- Details of death: Died at the age of 85.
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Roni Stoneman’s legacy
Stoneman earned the nickname “First Lady of the Banjo” after a lifetime of banjo playing. As the daughter of pioneering country musician Ernest “Pop” Stoneman, she learned the instrument as a young girl. Her father founded the country-bluegrass Stoneman Family band in 1948, featuring his own playing and the music of several of his 13 children. Stoneman became a standout of the band with her banjo skills, and in 1957, she notched a notable first. She and several other family members contributed to the Folkways album “Old-Time Tunes of the South,” and her banjo playing on the album made her the first woman to play bluegrass banjo in a recording.
The Stoneman Family’s style spanned both country and bluegrass and was hard to pin to a specific genre. That ambiguity made them hard to categorize, and it may have kept them from reaching the heights that other country and bluegrass bands of the era attained. However, they were honored in 1967 as the Country Music Association’s (CMA) Vocal Group of the Year, and they were nominated for the award in several other years. Still, Stoneman grew frustrated that this success didn’t translate to substantial record sales, and she embarked on a solo career.
That solo career led her to join the cast of “Hee Haw” in the early 1970s. She was best known for her character Ida Lee Nagger, also known as the “Ironing Board Lady.” She appeared in “The Naggers” sketches with Gordie Tapp (1922–2016) playing her husband, Lavern Nagger, as well as in many other comedy and musical sketches. Her banjo playing was also frequently showcased on “Hee Haw.”
Stoneman was also in the movie “W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings” alongside Burt Reynolds (1936–2018) and Conny Van Dyke (1945–2023), and she appeared on such TV shows as “Tony Orlando and Dawn” and “Folk America.” In 2007, she published her memoir, “Pressing On: The Roni Stoneman Story.” Stoneman was a member of the Bluegrass Hall of Fame.
Stoneman on growing up in a musical family
“[W]hen you grow up in it, and you hear it all your life, the music is just something you do. I don’t know what drives you, inside your soul, but it’s there! And it really drives you. It would drive me crazy not to play music.” —from a 2022 interview for Banjo NewsLetter
Tributes to Roni Stoneman
Full obituary: AL.com
