Obediah Pickard, also known as Obed or Dad, began singing in local churches near his home in Perry County, Tennessee.
During the Spanish-American War, Obed Pickard served as a musician with the First Tennessee Volunteer Infantry Regiment, reportedly performing for Admiral George Dewey.
[1] The Pickard Family obtained some notoriety in the 1930s for their appearances on border blaster stations originating near Del Rio, Texas, hosting morning radio shows that garnered revenue through advertising patent medicines.
[1] In addition to broadcast and recording media, they also began to make their way into the film industry, appearing in at least two movies, Rawhide Rangers and Spade Cooley and his Orchestra.
[6] The group is credited with helping popularize country and Appalachian folk music to a wider audience in the late 1920s and 1930s, especially in more urban areas of the United States outside of the south.