If you were a fan of the Grand Ole Opry or the television show Hee Haw in the 1970s, you knew David Akeman. However, you might not know him by that name. That’s because Akeman performed under the stage name “Stringbean.”
David “Stringbean” Akeman
David Akeman was born on June 17, 1915, in Annville, Kentucky, a tiny town about 80 miles southeast of Lexington. His father, James, played banjo at local dances. David acquired his first banjo at age 12 by trading two prize bantam chickens for the instrument. After he became a proficient picker, he developed a local reputation as a musician and played at local dances like his father did.
Akeman won a talent contest judged by old-timey musician Asa Martin, and Martin invited David to join his band. At one early appearance, Martin forgot Akeman’s name and introduced him as “String Bean,” a nod to his tall and slim build. David used the name for the rest of his career.
At first, Akeman was only a banjo picker. One night, though, when a performer failed to show up, he did double duty as a singer and comic. From then on, comedy became part of his act.
The Murder of David Akeman
Like many people of his generation, the Great Depression scarred David Akeman. He and his wife, Estelle, lived simply in a small cabin near Ridgetop, Tennessee. Depression-era bank failures made him suspicious of banks, and Nashville gossip was that he kept large amounts of cash.
On Saturday, November 10, 1973, cousins John A. Brown and Marvin Douglas Brown, both 23, broke into the Akeman cabin, ransacked it, and lay in wait. When David and Estelle returned from his performance at the Opry that night, he spotted the intruders. David offered some resistance, and one of the cousins shot and killed him. They then chased Estelle and killed her, too.
The burglary and murders netted the Browns only some guns, a chainsaw, and the Akemans’ Cadillac.
Fellow Hee Haw star Louis “Grandpa” Jones, who was also a friend and neighbor, discovered the Akemans’ bodies the following morning.
Epilogue
John and Marvin Brown went on trial on March 18, 1974. After being convicted of the two murders, both cousins were sentenced to life in prison.
Marvin Brown died of natural causes at the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee, in 2003. John Brown received parole in 2014 after serving 41 years.
You can read more about David “Stringbean” Akeman and the murder of him and his wife in Taylor Hagood’s Stringbean: The Life and Murder of a Country Legend.
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