Jim Denny, born James Rae Denney on a farm near Buffalo Valley on February 28, 1911, became a foundational behind-the-scenes figure in Nashville's early music business. Sent to Nashville to live with his aunt around 1922, he arrived with 40 cents, sold The Tennessean on Church Street, delivered telegrams, studied at the Watkins Institute free night school, and at 16 joined the parent company of radio station WSM. After starting in accounting, he was drawn to the Grand Ole Opry, took on many jobs there, rose to backstage manager, and on his own built a profitable concessions business. In the summer of 1945, he also operated a recording studio for servicemen to record greetings for their families; though not intended for music, it was the first purpose-built recording studio in Nashville. As the Opry grew in popularity, he took control of its Artists' Service Bureau while also serving as the show's manager, raising the quality of bookings from schoolhouses to auditoriums and state fairs and working to keep the Opry preeminent among radio barn dances. In August 1952, he fired Hank Williams for repeatedly missing shows, and in 1954 he booked Elvis Presley for a single appearance that received a polite but cool reception from the Opry audience. In January 1953, with Webb Pierce, he launched Publishing Company, and when WSM offered him a raise and continuation as Opry manager if he gave up Cedarwood, he refused. Fired from the Opry on Sept. 26, 1956, he immediately founded the Jim Denny Artist Bureau, recruited many Opry stars, and with Pierce acquired a chain of small radio stations. Named Billboard's "Country and Western Man of the Year" in 1955, he responded to the rise of rock 'n' roll and slipping Opry attendance by assembling the Philip Morris Country Music Show, which began in January 1957, admitted anyone carrying a pack of Philip Morris cigarettes, toured for more than a year, and featured Carl Smith, Little Jimmy Dickens, Red Sovine, and others, with many recruits leaving the Opry. He built Cedarwood Publishing Company and the Jim Denny Artist Bureau into major forces in the business, with Cedarwood writers including Danny Dill, John D. Loudermilk, Mel Tillis, and Wayne Walker. Denny died in Nashville on August 27, 1963; by then his bureau was booking thousands of shows each year, Cedarwood ranked among the top three country music publishers, and he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1966.