Rhea County unveils its new exhibit honoring actor/entertainer Randall Franks at the Scopes Trial Museum in the Rhea County Courthouse. From left are Dr. Richard Cornelius, chairman of the Rhea County Heritage and Scopes Trial Museum Committee; Barney Miller, steel guitarist; Franks; Jerry Robinson, Sr., Franks’ brother; and Butch Lanham, guitarist.
Rhea County honored the Appalachian Ambassador of the Fiddle Randall Franks with a special exhibit at the Rhea County Courthouse.
Franks’ exhibit featuring his career in music, television and journalism joins that of the late Grand Ole Opry fiddler Curly Fox in a section of the Scopes Trial Museum honoring music performers from the county.
“The 20th annual Scopes Trial Festival featured famed performer Randall Franks as one of its special guest musicians,” said Dr. Richard Cornelius, chairman of the Rhea County Heritage and Scopes Trial Museum Committee. “Because of Mr. Franks’ significant connections with Rhea County by his family heritage, by being honored previously as Grand Marshal of the annual Strawberry Festival Parade, and by encouraging Rhea County students to live a drug-free life by promoting the Drugs Abuse Resistance Education program in all the area schools, a special exhibit of his many and varied public accomplishments was unveiled.”
Franks’ musical stylings have been heard in 150 countries and by more than 25 million Americans. His musical career boasts 14 album releases, 15 singles, and over 200 recordings with various artists from various genres. The award-winning fiddler’s best selling release, "Handshakes and Smiles" was a top twenty Christian music seller. Many of his albums were among the top 30-bluegrass recordings of their release year. The Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame member shared a top country vocal collaboration with Grand Ole Opry stars The Whites. In addition to his solo career, Franks is a former member of Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys, Jim and Jesse's Virginia Boys and has performed with Jeff and Sheri Easter, The Lewis Family, the Marksmen Quartet, “Doc” Tommy Scott’s Last Real Old Time Medicine Show and Doodle and the Golden River Grass. As an actor, he portrayed “Officer Randy Goode” on TV’s “In the Heat of the Night” for five years and co-starred or starred in six films with his most recent film for the Hallmark Hall of Fame.
Among those attending the event was TV pioneer "Doc" Tommy Scott, legendary folk and bluegrass performer Tom Morgan and Tom Davis, Scopes Trial Festival director, several descendants of the Harris family, and members of the public.
“If my mom and grandma were here, I don’t think they could ever imagine seeing me quite this way at the courthouse,” Franks said with a tear in his voice at the unveiling. “Dayton holds many wonderful childhood memories for me. It will always be part of me and I am honored that Rhea County includes me as part of its community.”
Although not a native of Rhea County, Franks, who resides in Catoosa County, Ga., spent much of his childhood visiting his late grandmother Kitty Harris Bruce at her retirement farm near Dayton, which is now the site of Grace Bible Church.
Kitty, the daughter of Phil and Rachel Moses Harris, was a native of Rhea County who married William "Bill" Bruce and raised their family in Cumberland County. She retired to Rhea to be near her siblings after Bill’s death. The Harris family migrated to Rhea County in the late 1800s from Tellico Plains, Tenn.
Franks continues to share stories of his youth at his grandparents’ two farms in Cumberland and Rhea counties through his syndicated newspaper column “Southern Style.” He honors the legacy of music and education instilled by his late parents Pearl and Floyd Franks through a scholarship fund named in their honor administered by the Share America Foundation, Inc., a Georgia non-profit. The organization encourages youth who excel in the traditional arts of Appalachian Music.