American guitarist
Jack Shook (born Loren Shook; September 11, 1910 – September 23, 1986) was an American guitarist and a Grand Ole Opry star.
He was a native of Decatur, Illinois.[1] He was raised in Kansas and Missouri.
He started at WSM, Nashville as a staff musician in 1934[2] and headed the Missouri Mountaineers on the Grand Ole Opry[3][4] during the later part of the 1930s.[5][6] He played guitar with many jazz and pop acts of his day including Kate Smith, Bob Crosby,[7] Paul Whiteman[8] and others.[1] In 1939, the Missouri Mountaineers were one of the first Opry acts to be on the NBC Opry radio show called The Prince Albert Show.[1] Shook served in the army during the 1940s and then returned to Nashville to form Jack, Nap and Dee along with singer Dee Simmons.[9] He was a left handed guitarist and was one of the originators of the Nashville sound style of recording.[8]
In 1950, he released the title Written Guarantee with Owen Bradley and His Quintet.[2] Covers by Shook included Birmingham Bounce, Give Me a Little Old Fashioned Love, Goodnight Irene, I'm Moving on, Mule Bookie, Say When, There's a Little White House, and Wabash Blues.[10]
Shook retired from WSM in 1982[5] and died in Donelson Hospital of cancer in 1986.[1]
He was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on February 2, 1935.[11]
Shook died of cancer on September 23, 1986, in Nashville, Tennessee.[8]
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