Bradley Kincaid; Country Music Star

Bradley Kincaid, 94, a Grand Ole Opry regular credited with popularizing country music in the Northeast. Kincaid was a pioneer of traditional Kentucky mountain music and his recording career spanned more than 30 years. Kincaid, a native of Point Leavell, Ky., began singing folk songs on radio station WLS in Chicago in 1925 at age 30 and is credited as the breakthrough country act in the industrial states. He became a star on both of the big radio barn dances of country music history, Chicago’s National Barn Dance and Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. In the 1940s, Kincaid was a star on national radio as well as a cast member of the Grand Ole Opry, where he performed regularly until 1949. Kincaid was credited with giving “Hee Haw” star Grandpa Jones his nickname. He began referring to Louis Marshall Jones as Grandpa in the 1930s, and the nickname stuck. On Saturday in Springfield, Ohio.