John Lair (July 1, 1894 - November 12, 1985) was a musician and radio DJ.
Lair was born July 1, 1894 in Livingston, Kentucky.
He served in the US Army during World War I as a Sergeant.
He founded the Renfro Valley Barn Dance in 1937 in Dayton, Ohio at the Memorial Auditorium. In 1939 he moved it to Renfro Valley, hosting acts such as Red Foley, Homer and Jethro, Coon Creek Girls, Slim Miller, Old Joe Clark and many others started their careers on the old barn stage.
On the grounds he put in cabins, restaurant with southern home-style meals, souvenir shop, candy kitchen and country store. Many skeptical locals said the barn would have tobacco hanging from its rafters within a month.
The barn could comfortably hold about 800 people. Some weekends thousands would flock to the small valley. The two scheduled shows on a Saturday night could not accommodate all who came. John Lair was not the type of man to turn folks away; sometimes the shows went all night. That was amazing when you consider there were no interstates, and very few hotels. People came from all over. It was not unusual to see more cars from Michigan than from Kentucky.
John Lair did not just want people coming to the valley; he also wanted to bring the valley to the people. Radio always played an important part. In the early days of Renfro, John Lair had his shows broadcast on national radio every day of the week. The programs were the only shows to come directly from a real community and presented mostly by actual residents of that community. There was no regular broadcasting studios. All shows were performed at the barn, old log schoolhouse and the Lodge (restaurant). On special occasions they would even broadcast from deep inside the Saltpeter Cave located a few miles outside of the valley.
In the mid-fifties, Pillsbury Flour sponsored a television show on CBS, "John Lair's Renfro Valley Folks." That was followed in the sixties by the movie, "John Lair's Renfro Valley Barndance." Today, over two hundred radio stations broadcast the Renfro Valley Gatherin', recorded in the valley.
Lair died at the age of 91 on November 12, 1985 in Lexington, Kentucky. He was buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Mount Vernon, Kentucky.
In 2002, he was elected as a part of the first class of Kentucky Music Hall of Fame inductees.