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In the early days of country music, celebrities were accessible. They played at armories, dance halls and high school auditoriums.

In the fall of 1954, Reidsville resident Carlton Haney, 81, met Bill Monroe, later known as “The Father of Bluegrass.” After watching Monroe locally a few times and being introduced by a mutual friend, Haney set up a few concerts for Monroe when he had some cancellations.

In those days, Haney worked at the automotive battery plant in Reidsville and was in his office one day when the phone rang. When he answered, he heard, “This is Bill Monroe. What do you do?”

Haney told Monroe, “I’m assistant manager at this battery plant.”

Monroe said, “Well, I thought if you didn’t have nothing to do, you could come work for me.” 

Haney asked, “What would I do, Mr. Monroe?”

“I’ll find you something,” Monroe said.

And so began a career in music that spanned 50 years and earned Haney a place in the International Bluegrass Association’s Hall of Fame.

Haney turned in a month’s notice at the battery plant. He arrived in Nashville the day after Christmas only to find that Monroe was playing in Winston-Salem. So he turned around and drove nearly home.

After the show he told Monroe, “I’m here. I quit my job and I’m here.”

Haney became Monroe’s booking agent.

Television was just becoming commonplace in the early 1950s when Haney first started working with Monroe. “People were getting them things as fast as they could buy them. Theaters were hurting then because everybody was staying home watching television,” Haney said.

He had the idea to go to theater owners and book Bill Monroe shows. “They’d leave their televisions to see him,” Haney said. 

He soon began booking for other bands, including Reno and Smiley and the Tennessee Cut Ups, the Stanley Brothers and others.

Haney had a lot of imagination in promoting bluegrass. He approached Channel 7 in Roanoke, Va., about an early morning show starring Reno and Smiley that would run between 6 and 7 a.m. while people were having breakfast. The show was a success and lasted for five years. 

Haney also hosted the New Dominion Barn Dance in Richmond, Va., an auditorium show that ran every Saturday night. 

In 1965, Haney set up the first-ever multi-day bluegrass festival.

“I wondered: What would happen if I got all these bands together and played for three days?” he said. 

He knew a man named Cantrell with a horse farm in Fincastle, Va., north of Roanoke. He worked out a deal to pay $200 to use an area of the farm for a week, clear out the woods and build a stage and benches. 

Bill Monroe headlined the show Labor Day weekend in 1965. Also performing were the Osborne Brothers, Clyde Moody, Mac Wiseman, Doc Watson and many others.

Haney remembers paying the Stanley Brothers $250 and Monroe $400 to perform. At $6 a ticket for three days or $2.50 per day, Haney lost money on the event but went down in the history books as the man who invented the bluegrass festival. 

The event was held there a second year but moved when ownership of the horse farm passed to another man. The festival went north for a year to Berryville, Va., before Haney moved it to land he purchased between Reidsville and Burlington, in Camp Springs. 

The Camp Springs festivals lasted 25 years.

During that time, Haney also produced The Muleskinner News that began as a festival brochure and grew into a magazine. 

With his many undertakings from promotion to publishing, Carlton Haney likely had a bigger impact on bluegrass music than some of the musicians themselves.

Joni Carter lives in the Bethany community. Contact her at writetojonicarter@gmail.com