Rural Ozarks icon Mitch Jayne dies at 82

Prominent author, musician and humorist Mitch Jayne died last week at 82 in Columbia, Mo. "Jayne was the author of five books, a weekly newspaper column published in the rural Ozarks for 20 years, and more than a dozen bluegrass songs recorded by The Dillards," which he co-founded, the Columbia Daily Tribune reports.

Jayne began his career teaching in one-room schools, where he recorded much of the material for his book "Home Grown Stories & Home Fried Lies," about his students’ use of Elizabethan English. In 1962, he joined Douglas and Rodney Dillard in forming The Dillards, who earned critical acclaim and a recurring role as the Darling family on "The Andy Griffith Show" for their blend of "hard-driving melding of electrified bluegrass and rock," the Daily Tribune reports. Jayne's popular radio show, "Hickory Holler Time," was broadcast on KSMO in Salem and featured local news, bluegrass music, "The Snake and Tick Market Report," and a variety of satirical sketches. (Read more)

Jayne lived each of his 82 years "looking at the world through the eyes of an awe-struck 15-year-old" and by his own rules, his friend Ronnie Ellis of CNHI News Service writes. "Here’s the problem writing about Mitch. No matter what I write and no matter what you imagine, Mitch was more," Ellis writes. "One of his songs has this line: 'Promises are words they use for things they never do. Mountains are promises come true.' Mitchell F. Jayne was a promise come true." (Read more)