 In 1939, he married his first wife, Dorothy, and they had four children.Stone began working at Capitol Records in 1946, and became an A&R man there; among the talents he discovered were Tennessee Ernie Ford (for whom he acted as manager from 1947 to 1957), Molly Bee, Hank Thompson and Stan Freberg.He also worked regularly with Merle Travis after his relocation from Nashville to Hollywood.