He was a banjo virtuoso. A character as sympathetic as iconoclastic. Country star, David Akerman alias “Stringbean” died in 1973 in curious circumstances. Narrative.
Born on July 4, 1916, a national holiday in the United States, David Akerman cultivated from childhood a passion for American culture. Starting with country music and the banjo which he learned to play very early way”clawhammer“, a technique inherited from the beginning of the 20th century. The young musician was quick to get noticed by legends of the genre. This budding fame did not pay off, however. So David Akerman decides to work on the farm to support themselves, a way of life that country deserves to praise. The solo career of the one we soon nicknamed “string bean“ took off at the turn of the 1940s when he married a certain Estell Stanfill.
When he’s not scratching the strings of his banjo on stage, David Akerman leads a “rough” life, spraying himself with apple vinegar on his face and under his arms as a toilet. This is also the time when he meets his best friend, Grandpa Jones, a banjo virtuoso like him. The duo embarks on a legendary tour, earning regular appearances on the airwaves of the Grand Ole Opry. Then came the 60s that “Stingbean“dedicates mostly to recording studio albums when he’s not joining Grandpa Jones on the TV show Hee Haw. The two men also bought a farm together in Ridgetop, Tennessee, where everyone dedicates their free time to healthy and simple living with their wives. This idyllic life comes to an abrupt end on Saturday November 10, 1973 when of them burglars shoot David Akerman in his cabin, before lodging a final bullet in the back of his wife’s neck.
Who are David Akerman’s killers?
Marvin and John Brown, 21 and 23, were convinced that they had worked out their plan down to the smallest detail. That day, David Akerman and Estell Stanfill were expected at the Grand Ole Opry. The burglars thus thought they had time to flush out the hiding place where the couple kept their small fortune estimated at $3,000. After getting their hands on Grandpa Jones’ revolver and a rifle, the drug and alcohol-ridden Brown brothers decided to bank on David Akerman’s return to rob him, waiting in the dark with the music of their victim in their ears. The shooting will end up costing them far more than the $250 found on the body of “string bean“. Caught two days after the events by the police, Marvin and John Brown will each receive a 198-year prison sentence. jail. The first will die there in 2003, while the second will get justice to get out on parole in 2014.