Pete Pyle, born Raymond H. Pyle in Burnsville on April 18, 1920, was a vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter who played an important role in the development of modern country music. He began playing guitar in childhood, learned many love songs from his mother, drew early inspiration from Jimmie Rodgers, Gene Autry, and Cowboy Slim Rinchart, and was writing songs as a teenager. By his mid-teens he was performing on regional radio stations including WCMA in Corinth and WMSD in Sheffield, Alabama, and in 1939 he moved to Memphis, where he appeared on WMPS, WHBQ, and WMC and played with Bob McKnight and the Ranch Boys and Miss Billie Walker's Texas Longhorns. In 1940 he signed with RCA-Victor and recorded eight songs in Atlanta with Edward Crowe on mandolin, then moved to Nashville, worked as a solo artist on the Grand Ole Opry, and in November 1940 became a member of the Opry, apparently the first from Mississippi. He also played with Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, officially joining them in September 1941, and helped shape bluegrass's distinctive ensemble sound as an instrumentalist, vocalist, and songwriter while Monroe was developing the music's high, lonesome sound. At an October 2, 1941, RCA-Victor session in Atlanta, he recorded eight songs with Monroe, though he did not sing lead because he had recorded a solo session for the company three days earlier. Pyle wrote songs including “True Life Blues” and “Highway of Sorrow” and appeared on “Orange Blossom Special.” Drafted into the Army in February 1942, he served in Washington, D.C. during World War II and ended his service in mid-1943. He then joined Pee Wee King's Golden West Cowboys as featured vocalist for about a year, returned to the Opry in 1944 with the Mississippi Valley Boys, and began hosting a regular morning show on WSM. He toured with Grandpa Jones, Cousin Wilbur, Minnie Pearl, and Roy Acuff, played nightclubs in Chicago and Detroit, recorded for the Bullet, Intro, and Fortune labels between 1946 and 1953, returned to the Opry and to radio on WSM and WLAC, worked briefly again with Bill Monroe in 1953, and continued writing songs, often selling them outright or giving them away. In the 1970s and early 1980s he performed with his daughter Dwanna on shows with Monroe, Ernest Tubb, and Walter Bailes, appeared regularly on Buddy and Kay Bain's “Mornin' Show” on Tupelo's WTVA, and frequently visited old friends backstage at the Grand Ole Opry. He was inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame in 2017.
