Ernest Van "Pop" Stoneman (May 25, 1893 – June 14, 1968)[1] was an American musician, ranked among the prominent recording artists of country music's first commercial decade.

He and Hattie had 23 children, 13 of whom survived to adulthood: Stoneman worked at a variety of jobs, in mines, mills, but mostly carpentry, and played music for his own enjoyment and that of his neighbors, but when he heard a Henry Whitter record in 1924, he determined to better it and changed his life.

[1] In July and August 1927 , Stoneman helped Peer conduct the Bristol sessions that led to the discovery of the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers.

Falling on hard times during the Depression, the Stonemans and their nine surviving children moved to the Washington, D.C. area in 1932, after losing their home and most of their possessions.

[1] In 1941, Stoneman bought a lot in Carmody Hills, Maryland, where he built a shack for the family, and eventually obtained a more or less regular job at the Naval Gun Factory.

[1] That same year, the Blue Grass Champs, a group composed largely of his children, were winners on the CBS-TV program Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, and Mike Seeger recorded Pop and Hattie for Folkways.