Roni Stoneman was the youngest daughter of the pioneering country music family and a woman who overcame poverty and abusive husbands to claim the title of "The First Lady of Banjo," a fixture on the Nashville scene, and, as Hee Haw's Ironing Board Lady, a comedienne beloved by millions.

Drawn from more than seventy-five hours of recorded interviews, Pressing On reveals Roni's gifts as a master storyteller. With characteristic spunk and candor, she describes her "pooristic" ("way beyond 'poverty-stricken'") Appalachian childhood, and how her brother Scott taught her to play the challenging and innovative three-finger banjo picking style developed by Earl Scruggs. She also warmly recounts Hee Haw-era adventures with Minnie Pearl, Roy Clark, and Buck Owens; her encounters as a musician with country greats like Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, June Carter, and Patsy Cline; as well as her personal struggles with shiftless and violent husbands, her relationships with her children, and her musical life after Hee Haw.

Roni Stoneman was a member of the legendary Stoneman Family and a longtime cast member of Hee Haw. She remains a performing banjo player, entertainer, and comedienne. Ellen Wright is Distinguished Senior Lecturer Emeritus in the writing program at Northwestern University.

Contents
 Preface
 Acknowledgments
 1. Family
 2. A Classy Person: Aunt Jack
 3. My Childhood
 4. Music
 5. Learning the Banjo
 6. Education
 7. Sex Education
 8. First Love
 9. My Brothers and Sisters
 10. The Performing Stonemans
 11. First Marriage
 12. The Stoneman Family Band Comes Together
 13. Opry
 14. My First Love Affair
 15. Out West
 16. Nashville
 17. George
 18. Scotty
 19. Hee Haw
 20. George After Hee Haw
 21. The Kids
 22. The Real Thing
 23. My Bronze Uterus
 24. On the Road
 25. Husbands 3, 4, And 5
 26. Losing Hee Haw
 27. My Religion
 28. Now
 Afterword