Vernon Dalhart

Vernon Dalhart (6 April 1883 - 14 September 1948) was a popular United States singer and songwriter of the early decades of the 20th century. He is a major influence in the field of Country Music. Dalhart was born Marion Try Slaughter in Marion County, Jefferson, Texas. He took his stage-name from two towns, Vernon and Dalhart in Texas, between which he punched cattle in the 1890's. (Decades later, Conway Twitty would derive his stage name through the same method.