Roni Stoneman, the country star known as the “first lady of the banjo,” died Thursday. The “Hee Haw” star was 85.

No cause of death was given.

“For Roni Stoneman, known as ‘The First Lady of the Banjo,’ country music was a birthright and her life’s work,” Kyle Young, the CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, said in a statement. “The second youngest of 23 children born to Hattie and Ernest ‘Pop’ Stoneman, Roni was an integral part of a bedrock country music family, who were longtime fixtures in the country music scene of Washington, D.C. For 18 years on ‘Hee Haw,’ she stole scenes as both a skillful banjo player and as a comical, gap-toothed country character. She was a great talent and a strong woman.”

Stoneman played “the Ironing Board Lady” Ida Lee Nagger in “Hee Haw.”

According to Billboard, Stoneman was also part of the family band The Stoneman Family, which evolved from the band The Bluegrass Champs, which included family members Scott Stoneman and Donna Stoneman.

Stoneman published an autobiography, “Pressing On: The Roni Stoneman Story,” in 2007. It described her, per Variety, as “the youngest daughter of the pioneering country music family and a woman who overcame poverty and abusive husbands” to become a master musician and “a comedienne beloved by millions.”

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.