Spade Cooley TV Show (ca. 1957)

DOWNLOAD COMPLETE AUDIO (28:59, 18.06 MB)

The 1927 Bristol, TN/VA sessions

The 1927 Ralph S. Peer recording sessions in Bristol, VA/TN (Bristol is located right on the Tennessee/Virginia stateline) have been described as "the big bang of Country Music". They proved that recordings of folk songs and by rural traditional artists could actually sell and established the first commercially highly sucessful performers in that genre, The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers.

On July 21, 1927, Ralph S. Peer, aided by his wife Anita and two recording engineers named Echbars and Lynch, set up his portable recording equipment on the second floor of the Taylor-Christian Hat Company warehouse at 410 State Street and ran ads in the local newspapers advertising for local talent to be recorded on the spot for $50 a selection plus royalties of about 2.5 cents per side.

"Musicians from the region had been recording mountain music since 1923, but they had to travel to New York and New Jersey studios to do it. The Fiddlin' Powers Family from Scott County had already recorded several records. Henry Whitter, from Fries, VA, along with fiddler G.B. Grayson, had produced notable recordings, such as "The Wreck of the Old Southern 97." Ernest Stoneman of Galax, VA had become very popular with the enterprising record producer Ralph Peer as a musician who could bring the music of the southern mountain region to the studios of the north.

Peer recognized the possibilities of this mountain music sound. Record playing machines were becoming popular, both with electricity in the urban regions and with hand-cranks in the non-electrified areas of the country, and the technology of recording this music had developed so that portable recording studios were possible. Peer decided to pack the recording equipment into a car and travel to the southern Appalachian region and find new talent. He knew of the region and decided that Bristol, a thriving town on the Tennessee-Virginia border, was to be the first stop on the recording tour.

The mountains clearly held musical talent, and Peer simply had to find a way of drawing it off the front porches....  He... placed advertisements in local newspapers that announced the Victor Recording Company was coming to town. These notices were also inserted in the advertisements for the local dealer of the Victrola company, the Clark-Jones-Sheeley Co. at 621 State Street. Accompanying these notices were news articles stating that "In no other section of the south have the pre-war melodies and old mountaineer songs been better preserved than in the mountains of East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia...and it is primarily for this reason that the Victrola Company chose Bristol as its operating base..." The news articles also mention that in the previous year, Ernest Stoneman had received $3,600 in royalties from the records which he had made. In 1927, like today, money talked, and musicians who had struggled to make a living on the hillside farms and the coal mines decided that they were quite capable of making music like Stoneman, and they came to record in Bristol."
-- Dave Winship


The 1927 Bristol Recording Sessions 
Source: Wikipedia

The Poor Orphan Child (The Carter Family) and A Passing Policeman (Johnson Brothers) added, minor corrections, further corrections welcome.

Titles in bold can be downloaded with links provided below, addenda (missing titles) welcome!

July 25, 1927:

• Ernest Stoneman/M. Mooney Brewer: The Dying Girl's Farewell, Tell Mother I Will Meet Her
• Ernest Stoneman/Eck Dunford/Miss Frost: The Mountaineer's Courtship, Midnight on the Stormy Deep
• Stoneman's Dixie Mountaineers: Sweeping Through the Gates, I Know My Name is There, Are You Washed in the Blood?, No More Goodbyes, The Resurrection, I Am Resolved 

July 26, 1927:

• Ernest Phipps and His Holiness Quartet: I Want to Go Where Jesus Is, Do Lord Remember Me, Old Ship of Zion, Jesus is Getting Us Ready for That Great Day, Happy in Prison, Don't You Grieve After Me   

July 27, 1927: 

• Uncle Eck Dunford/Ernest Stoneman/Hannah Stoneman/T. Edwards: The Whippoorwill's Song, What Will I Do, For My Money's All Gone, Skip to Ma Lou Ma Darling, Barney McCoy

July 27/28, 1927: 

• Blue Ridge Corn Shuckers (Ernest Stoneman/Hannah Stoneman/Eck Dunford/T. Edwards): Old Time Corn Shucking Part 1 & Part 2

July 28, 1927: 

• Charles and Paul Johnson with the Tennessee Wildcats: Two Brothers are We (From East TN), The Jealous Sweetheart
Blind Alfred Reed: The Wreck of the Virginian, I Mean to Live for Jesus, You Must Unload, Walking in the Way With Jesus
• Charles and Paul Johnson: The Soldier's Poor Little Boy, Just A Message from Carolina, I Want to See My Mother, A Passing Policeman
• El Watson and Charles Johnson: Pot Licker Blues, Narrow Gauge Blues
  

July 29, 1927: 

• B. F. Shelton: Cold Penitentiary Blues, O Molly Dear, Pretty Polly, Darling Cora
• Alfred G. Karnes: Called to the Foreign Field, I Am Bound for the Promised Land, Where We'll Never Grow Old, When I See the Blood, When They Ring the Golden Bells for You and Me, To the Work

August 01, 1927: 

• J.P. Nestor: Train on the Island, Georgia, John My Lover, Black Eyed Susie
• Bull Mountain Moonshiners: Sweet Marie, Johnny Goodwin

August 01/02, 1927: 

• The Carter Family (A.P., Sara and Maybelle): Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow, Little Log Cabin By the Sea, The Poor Orphan Child, The Storms are on the Ocean, Single Girl, Married Girl, The Wandering Boy   

August 02, 1927: 

• Alcoa Quartet: Remember Me O Mighty One, I'm Redeemed
• Henry Whitter: Henry Whiter's Fox Chase, Rain Crow Bill

August 03, 1927: 

• The Shelor Family: Big Bend Gal, Billy Grimes the Rover
• The Shelor Family (as Dad Blackard's Moonshiners): Suzanna Gal, Sandy River Belle
• Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Baker: The New Market Wreck, On the Banks of the Sunny Tennessee

August 04, 1927: 

• Jimmie Rodgers: The Soldier's Sweetheart; Sleep, Baby, Sleep
  
• Red Snodgrass and His Alabamians: Weary Blues
  
• Tenneva Ramblers (Jack Pierce, Claude Grant, Jack Grant, Claude Slagle): The Longest Train I Ever Saw, Sweet Heaven, When I Die; Miss Liza, Poor Gal

August 05, 1927: 

• West Virginia Coon Hunters (W.S. Meadows et al.): Greasy String, Your Blue Eyes Run Me Crazy
• Tennessee Mountaineers (20 mixed voices): Standing on the Promises, At the River (Beautiful River)

 
DOWNLOAD LINKS:

ERNEST V. STONEMAN et. al., (July 25, 1927, INCOMPLETE)
(9 tracks, 19.92 MB)
ERNEST PHIPPS & HIS HOLINESS QUARTET (July 26, 1927, COMPLETE)   
(6 tracks, 13.34 MB)   
UNCLE ECK DUNFORD (July 27, 1927, INCOMPLETE)
(1 track, 1.95 MB)
BLUE RIDGE CORN SHUCKERS (July 27/28, 1927, COMPLETE)
(1 track, 4.37 MB)
BLIND ALFRED REED (July 28, 1927, COMPLETE)   
(4 tracks, 8.41 MB)  
CHARLES & PAUL JOHNSON (July 28, 1927, INCOMPLETE)
(2 tracks, 4.61 MB)
EL WATSON (& Charles Johnson) (July 28, 1927, COMPLETE)   
(2 tracks, 3.71 MB)  
B. F. SHELTON (July 29, 1927, INCOMPLETE)
(1 track, 2.06 MB)
ALFRED G. KARNES (July 29, 1927, INCOMPLETE)  
(5 tracks, 10.7 MB)  
J. P. NESTOR (August 01, 1927, INCOMPLETE)  
(2 tracks, 4.04 MB)
BULL MOUNTAIN MOONSHINERS (August 01, 1927, INCOMPLETE)  
(1 track, 2 MB)  
THE CARTER FAMILY (August 01 & August 02, 1927, COMPLETE)   
(6 tracks, 11.42 MB)   
ALCOA QUARTET (August 02, 1927, INCOMPLETE)  
(1 track, 2.16 MB)  
HENRY WHITTER (August 02, 1927, INCOMPLETE)  
(1 track, 2.27 MB)  
THE SHELOR FAMILY (August 03, 1927, INCOMPLETE)   
(1 track, 2 MB)  
DAD BLACKARD'S MOONSHINERS (THE SHELOR FAMILY)
(August 03, 1927, INCOMPLETE) (1 track, 2.13 MB)  
MR. & MRS. J. W. BAXTER (August 03, 1927, INCOMPLETE)  
(1 track, 2.03 MB)  
JIMMIE RODGERS (August 04, 1927, COMPLETE)  
(2 tracks, 4.08 MB)  
TENNEVA RAMBLERS (August 04, 1927, COMPLETE)  
(3 tracks, 6.37 MB)  
WEST VIRGINIA COONHUNTERS (August 05, 1927, INCOMPLETE)  
(1 track, 1.93 MB)  
TENNESSEE MOUNTAINEERS (August 05, 1927, INCOMPLETE)  
(1 track, 1.86 MB)  

DOWNLOAD "THE GREATEST YEARS OF COUNTRY MUSIC presented by LEE CASH"
episode about the 1927 Bristol sessions 
(Jimmie Rodgers & The Carter Family) (9.21 MB)


DOWNLOAD ALL 52 TRACKS & "THE GREATEST YEARS OF COUNTRY MUSIC"
(120.56 MB)


TO BE CONTINUED and completed (hopefully)....

Bob Wills on WFAA-TV, Dallas, TX, 1955

"Music Country Style" - Host Billy Gray presents Bob Wills and the 1955 incarnation of His Texas Playboys, featuring "younger brother" Billy Jack Wills on local Dallas/Fort Worth TV channel WFAA (16:08).

From Videobeat's compilation of Public Domain Bob Wills footage.

DOWNLOAD (Divx as multi-part rar-file):

PART 1 (95 MB)
PART 2 (95 MB)
PART 3 (7.73 MB)


NOTE: 
You'll need a program 
like WinZip, WinRar or similar
to extract/combine parts.

More Blogs of Folkarchivist....

Please check out two of my other blogs for related audio (some of it in flac format):

OOP (Out-of-Print) Audio
Taper-Friendly Artists

Cab Calloway in 1932-'33 Betty Boop Cartoons

Here's Cab Calloway in three Max Fleischer
Betty Boop cartoons (from archive.org):

Minnie the Moocher (1932) 
- DOWNLOAD

The Old Man Of The Mountain (1933) 
- DOWNLOAD

Snow White (1933) 
- DOWNLOAD

Louis Armstrong in 1932 Betty Boop Cartoon

DISCLAIMER:
Please do NOT watch this if you're concerned about political correctness (of today) -- this pre-code item is certainly FULL OF RACIAL STEREOTYPES of the time it was conceived and produced (1932).

If, however, you're interested in some of the earliest footage of Louis Armstrong (quite possibly THE earliest footage) and/or the animation skills/techniques of the Max Fleischer studios, you will enjoy this brief clip!

Another item from archive.org: 

DESCRIPTION (ibid.):

Betty Boop: 

I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You (1932)

Producer: Max Fleischer
Sponsor:
Paramount Publix Corporation
Audio/Visual:
sound, black and white
Creative Commons license: 
Public Domain


Reviews and discussion (excerpts - ibid.):
Reviewer: valeyard - - December 28, 2006
Subject: Great song, hard to watch
It's a great song. It's hard to watch though, because of the way they juxtapose Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra with such racial stereotypes. It just doesn't seem right to have them portrayed that way. I can't help wondering how Armstrong felt about being portrayed that way. Still it's a gem to watch solely for the song. Love the song.

Reviewer: Al W. - - March 24, 2008
Subject: Times Change
It's hard to call things like this racist when the prevailing sentiment of the times was that it was OK. There are so many old films that contain things that we as modern people find offensive, but I'll contend that they need to stay and preserve the feelings of the time. And I'll add, this song really swings. The black performers of the 30's really knew how to play great music and given that the times were what they were, this is one of the few venues we have that preserve that part of history.

DOWNLOAD (Divx, 88 MB)

Grand Ole Opry, Sep 20, 1941

And yet another one from my own collection
- 128 kbps VBR mono mp3 file, complete info in ID3 tag:

Grand Ole Opry, 
The Opry House - War Memorial Auditorium, 
Nashville, TN, 
September 20, 1941 (29:58).

NBC - Prince Albert Show

01. Intro > Prince Albert Theme
02. Solemn Old Judge Intro
03. Roy Acuff
- Lonesome Valley
04. Zeke Clements
- Walking the Floor Over You
05. Prince Albert Promo
06. Crook Brothers Band
- Soldier's Joy
07. Ford Rush - Old Shep
08. Uncle Mac MacGarr
- Arkansas Traveler
09. Pap and Odie - Camptown Races
10. Prince Albert Promo
11. Roy Acuff - Weary River
12. Crook Brothers - Sally Goodin'
13. Brother Oswald
14. Roy Acuff - Ida Red > Outro

DOWNLOAD (27 MB Mono mp3)

Grand Ole Opry, Dec 28, 1940 (with Bill Monroe)

Another oldtime country radio show from my collection
- 128 kbps VBR mono mp3 file, complete info in ID3 tag:

Grand Ole Opry, 
The Opry House - War Memorial Auditorium, 
Nashville, TN, 
December 28, 1940 (29:37).

NBC - Prince Albert Show

01. Intro - Prince Albert Theme
02. Solemn Old Judge intro

03. Roy Acuff - Old Joe Clark
04. Bill Monroe - Were You There?
05. Prince Albert Promo
06. Paul Warmack 
and The Gully Jumpers
- Paddy on the Turnpike
07. Ford Rush
- When You and I Were Young Maggie
08. Entire Cast - Fisher's Hornpipe
09. Pap and Odie
- The Old Grey Goose
10. Prince Albert Promo
11. Roy Acuff - That Beautiful Picture
12. Ford Rush - Little Whitewashed Chimney
13. Bill Monroe - Katy Hill
14. Brother Oswald - Whoa Mule                
15. Prince Albert Promo
16. Entire Cast - Tennessee Breakdown
17. Outro

DOWNLOAD (27 MB Mono mp3)

Grand Ole Opry, Dec 1939, with unissued Uncle Dave Macon tracks

An oldtime country radio show from my collection
- 128 kbps VBR mono mp3 file, complete info in ID3 tag:

Grand Ole Opry Radio Show 
(prob. incomplete, 15:23)
Sponsor: Prince Albert Smoking Tobacco
MC: George D. Hay 

Radio Station WSM / NBC Network

War Memorial Auditorium, 
Nashville, TN, December 1939.

01. Uncle Dave Macon
- Lonesome Road Blues
02. Roy Acuff - Sally Goodin'
03. Ford Rush
- Swing The Ladies
04. Roy Acuff
- Beautiful Brown Eyes
05. Uncle Dave Macon
- Something's Always Sure To Tickle Me
06. Roy Acuff - Gray Bonnet
07. David Stone - Prince Albert Commercial
08. Roy Acuff - Little Liza Jane

NOTE:
The Uncle Dave Macon tracks from this particular show are NOT included in Bear Family Records' allegedly "complete" Uncle Dave Macon box-set nor in the discography by Ralph Rinzler, Norm Cohen and Tony Russell from that set.

DOWNLOAD (14 MB Mono mp3)

Addendum to Lonesome Lefty's Ervin Rouse post (Johnny Cash Interview by Gene Beley, 1969)

How Johnny Cash got the lyrics to "Orange Blossom Special" from its composer, Ervin Rouse....

Reading Lonesome Lefty's Ervin Rouse post, I remembered a portion from a Johnny Cash interview by Gene Beley, where Johnny told Gene about meeting Ervin Rouse and getting lyrics for "Orange Blossom Special" from him.

After some digging through my archives, I found it -- it is from a KXJZ, Sacramento, CA public radio broadcast ("Insight") aired on January 10, 2008.

For the 40th anniversary of Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison concert, Host Jeffrey Callison interviewed reporter Gene Beley who played parts of his private Johnny Cash recordings, including the aforementioned Ervin Rouse related segment.


The entire program can be downloaded or listened to at archive.org -- for your convenience, I have extracted the relevant passage and converted it to an mp3, downloadable HERE (3.27 MB).

Goebel Reeves, 1929-1935 (40 tracks)

I've compiled all the Goebel Reeves tracks in my own collection (from two reissue CDs) and tried to date and arrange them in chronological order with the info provided on CD sleeves (quite often erroneous) and info from Praguefrank's Country Discographies -- any corrections are more than welcome.

In the cases where obviously identical tracks sounded decidedly different (transfers from different 78s sources and/or possibly speed issues), I have included both versions. 

1929_06_25_San_Antonio_TX   ======================================================================
   01 Goebel Reeves - The Tramp's Mother.mp3                      
   02 Goebel Reeves - I Learned About Women from Her.mp3          
   03 Goebel Reeves - The Drifter, Pt. 1.mp3                      
   04 Goebel Reeves - The Drifter, Pt. 2.mp3 

1930_01_03_NYC_NY   ==============================================================
   05 Goebel Reeves - When the Clock Struck Seventeen.mp3         
   06 Goebel Reeves - Blue Undertaker's Blues.mp3                 
   07 Goebel Reeves - Blue Undertaker's Blues, Pt. 2.mp3          
   08 Goebel Reeves - Fortunes Galore.mp3  

1930_01_06_NYC_NY   ==============================================================
   09 Goebel Reeves - My Mountain Gal.mp3                         
   10 Goebel Reeves - A Song of the Sea.mp3                       
   11 Goebel Reeves - In the Land of the Never Was.mp3            
   12 Goebel Reeves - The Texas Drifter's Warning.mp3 

1930_10_15or16_NYC_NY   ==================================================================
   13 Goebel Reeves - The Drifter- Part 1.mp3                     
   14 Goebel Reeves - The Drifter- Part 2.mp3                     
   15 Goebel Reeves - At the End of the Hobo's Trail.mp3          
   16 Goebel Reeves - The Hobo's Grave (?)- listed as The Oklahoma Kid

1930_11_05_NYC_NY   ==============================================================
   17 Goebel Reeves - I Learned About Women from Her.mp3  

1930_11_17_NYC_NY   ==============================================================
   18 Goebel Reeves - The Hobo's Last Letter.mp3    

1931_04_14_LA_CA   =============================================================
   19 Goebel Reeves - Station H.O.B.O.mp3                         
   20 Goebel Reeves - Railroad Boomer.mp3                         
   21 Goebel Reeves - The Tramp's Mother.mp3                      
   22 Goebel Reeves - Mother-In-Law Blues.mp3                     
   23 Goebel Reeves - Fortunes Galore.mp3                         
   24 Goebel Reeves - Little Joe the Wrangler.mp3    

1934_08_30_Chicago_IL_UNCONFIRMED   =========================================================================
   25 Goebel Reeves - John Law and the Hobo (?) - possibly The Hobo and the Cop
   26 Goebel Reeves - The Prisoner's Song (?) - possibly It's True I'm Just a Convict

 1934_08_31_Chicago_IL  ==================================================================
   27 Goebel Reeves - Cowboy's Lullaby.mp3                        
   27b Goebel Reeves - Cowboy's Lullaby.mp3                       
   28 Goebel Reeves - Hobo's Lullaby.mp3                          
   29 Goebel Reeves - The Drifter's Buddy (The Drifter's Prayer).mp3
   30 Goebel Reeves - The Cowboy's Prayer.mp3                     
   31 Goebel Reeves - Happy Days (I'll Never Leave Old Dixieland...
   32 Goebel Reeves - The Wayward Son.mp3                         
   32b Goebel Reeves - The Wayward Son.mp3                        
   33 Goebel Reeves - Reckless Tex.mp3                            
   33b Goebel Reeves - Reckless Tex.mp3                           
   34 Goebel Reeves - The Soldier's Return.mp3                    
   35 Goebel Reeves - Miss Jackson Tennessee.mp3                  
   35b Goebel Reeves - Miss Jackson Tennessee.mp3                 
   36 Goebel Reeves - My Mountain Girl.mp3                        
   37 Goebel Reeves - Cold and Hungry.mp3                         
   38 Goebel Reeves - Meet Me at the Crossroads, Pal.mp3          
   39 Goebel Reeves - The Yodeling Teacher.mp3                    
   39b Goebel Reeves - The Yodeling Teacher.mp3   

1935_01_14_Chicago_IL   ==================================================================
   40 Goebel Reeves - The Kidnapped Baby.mp3   

DOWNLOAD AS ZIPPED MONO MP3 (111.23 MB)          

Goebel Reeves "The Texas Drifter" in "The Silver Trail" (1937)

When consulting IMDB about a Public Domain movie at archive.org ("The Silver Trail", 1937), I came across the following review:

"Near the beginning of the film, there is a character called "Hank", presumably the brother of Lease's character, who is never seen again, but performs two nice old-time country songs in the Montana Slim/Wilf Carter vein."

Further research by myself identified "Hank" as GOEBEL REEVES "The Texas Drifter", most notably known as author of "Hobo's Lullaby" (made famous and often erroneously attributed to Woody Guthrie).

From Colin Larkin's The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (excerpt):

Goebel Leon Reeves, 9 October 1899, Sherman, Texas, USA, d. 26 January 1959, Long Beach, California, USA. Reeves was one of the true characters of country music, one who managed to reverse the rags-to-riches story, and from his nomadic lifestyle, he acquired the nickname of the Texas Drifter. He received his early training from his mother, a talented musician, who taught both piano and singing. His father, once a salesman, was elected to the state legislature and when the family relocated to Austin, he secured Goebel a job as a page-boy in the government buildings.

Reeves’ long association with hobos started one cold night when, as he left work wearing an expensive new overcoat given to him for Christmas, he met a hobo. He subsequently arrived home, coatless, but engrossed by tales of hobo life. He began to spend more and more time talking to any hobo that he met in the neighbourhood. His parents provided a tutor to improve his education and, although intelligent, his interests turned to the lifestyle of the hobo and to music after hearing a vaudeville artist called Al Wilson. He was impressed by Wilson’s singing and yodelling and it was probably Wilson who first taught him the yodel that he used so proficiently. He already played piano and trumpet but now turned to the guitar and began singing cowboy songs such as ‘Little Joe the Wrangler’.

In 1917, he joined the army (initially as a bugler) and saw action in Europe, where he was wounded and returned to the USA for discharge. Soon after, he left home and adopted the life of a hobo. He eked a living by singing on street corners and from that point many aspects of his life are unclear. He was known to fabricate facts - an early one being that he was born west of the Pecos and had been a hell-raising cowboy. On occasions, Reeves has been branded a liar, yet sometimes his outlandish stories were found to be true. He certainly played WFAA Dallas in the early 20s and his claim to have befriended and worked with Jimmie Rodgers was not disproved by Nolan Porterfield in his definitive book on Rodgers. He apparently even claimed to have taught Rodgers how to yodel. However, Reeves was infinitely the more accomplished exponent of the art and since their yodels are dissimilar, this may have been just one of his inventions....

...‘The Kidnapped Baby’ recorded for Decca Records in January 1935, would seem to be his last professional recording; for some reason, it received a UK release but not a US one. The final Reeves recordings were the transcription discs that he made in 1938/9 for the Macgregor Company of California....  

... Reeves made an important contribution to country music and his style influenced many other artists. Many of his songs, especially ‘Hobo’s Lullaby’ (later also popularised by Woody Guthrie) and ‘The Tramp’s Mother’, have been recorded by countless other artists while many people rate his amusing ‘Station HOBO Calling’ to be one of his best songs. Any genre of music needs characters and, in Reeves, country music had one, which is why his work is still so popular; as Hoeptner emphasizes, ‘he had the intellectual capacity to convert his experiences to recorded accounts, which were both artistically and commercially successful’.

DOWNLOAD mp3 
(Goebel Reeves only)
DOWNLOAD video  
(Goebel Reeves only)





DOWNLOAD COMPLETE MOVIE 
(Divx as multi-part rar-file, each part around 100 MB):

PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
PART 5
PART 6
PART 7

Early Bluegrass - Byron Parker & His Mountaineers, 1940

Byron Parker & His Mountaineers were basically an off-spring of J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, formed in 1937 as Byron Parker's Hillbillies by radio show host Byron Parker

• Born: September 06, 1911, Hastings, IA
• Died: October 06, 1948

and in its earliest incarnation comprised of Byron Parker (announcer), George Morris (guitar), Dewitt ("Snuffy") Jenkins (banjo), J. E. Mainer (fiddle) and Leonard Stokes (guitar).

Following several changes in personnel, these recordings from 1940 feature

• Homer "Pappy" Sherill (fiddle)
• Leonard Stokes (guitar/mandolin)
• Clyde Robbins (guitar)
• Dewitt ("Snuffy") Jenkins (banjo).

Kimball Hotel,  30 South Pryor Street, Atlanta, GA, February 9, 1940:
01 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - Little Pal.mp3      
02 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - I'm Sorry That's All I Can Say.mp3   
03 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - The Family Circle.mp3                
04 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - A Beautiful Life.mp3                 
05 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - We Shall Rise.mp3                    
06 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - Oh Darling Come Back.mp3             
07 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - Carroll County Blues.mp3             
08 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - Up Jumped The Devil.mp3

Kimball Hotel,  30 South Pryor Street, Atlanta, GA, October 10, 1940:
09 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - C & NW Railroad Blues.mp3
10 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - Peanut Special.mp3                   
11 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - The Letter That Went To God.mp3      
12 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - Tell Her Not To Wait For Me.mp3      
13 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - I Love My Savior.mp3                 
14 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - He Is My Friend And Guide.mp3        
15 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - That's Why I'm So Blue.mp3           
16 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - Married Life Blues.mp3               
17 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar.mp3     
18 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - If You Could Be The Same.mp3         
19 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - I'll Have A New Life.mp3             
20 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - Gethsemane.mp3                       
21 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - Can The Lord Depend On You.mp3       
22 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - The Old Country Church.mp3           
23 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - I Don't Love Nobody.mp3              
24 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - Those Blues Don't Worry My Mind.mp3  
25 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - When I Make That Last Move.mp3       
26 Byron Parker & His Mountaineers - The Letter That Went To God.mp3

DOWNLOAD AS ZIPPED MONO MP3 (VBR, 58 MB)

"Known under the amusing but somewhat dusty stage name of "the Old Hired Hand," this performer's real forte was as a radio announcer. However, the loose blend of live radio production and music that dominated the classic days of country music, old-time, and early bluegrass radio broadcasting allowed him to develop an interesting persona that was half-disc jockey and half-frontman vocalist; although he also tended to incorporate someone with a smoother voice to act as the real lead singer. More important to bluegrass lovers, he presided over a loose aggregation of bluegrass pioneers based out of South Carolina through the '40s on his radio and recording projects. The combo often included the titanic tandem team of fiddler Homer "Pappy" Sherill and DeWitt "Snuffy" Jenkins, as well as guitarists and singers such as Leonard Stokes, Clyde Robbins, Floyd Lacewell, and Gene Ray. Whether Parker's influence was benign or heavy handed, the musical results cannot be denied....

Jenkins and Sherrill were on hand throughout the Parker combo tenure, coming up with instrumental touches that have been considered key influences on the progressive bluegrass developments of players such as Earl Scruggs and Don Reno. Following the leader's death in 1948, the group itself adopted his old nickname and became known as the Hired Hands. Parker was also one of the earliest members of the Monroe Brothers band, and has been credited with playing a key role in their success and the popularization of bluegrass that resulted. He played with the Monroes from 1934 to 1937, appearing on the group's first recordings for Victor in 1936. His departure also coincided with the decision by brothers Bill Monroe and Charlie Monroe to pick their separate ways. At this point, Parker organized his first band, the Hillbillies. Later he would refine the name only slightly, changing to Byron Parker & His Mountaineers, or often the Old Hired Hand & His Mountaineers."
(SOURCE: http://www.answers.com/topic/byron-parker-1)

RELATED LINKS:

Allen`s archive of early and old country music:

Crazy Hillbillies Radio Shows 

Snuffy Jenkins & Pappy Sherrill "Crazy Water Barn Dance" LP on the Rounder label

 

 Snuffy Jenkins & The Hired Hands "Carolina Bluegrass" on Folklyric (1962)

Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter) - Two 1940 Radio Shows (with Woody Guthrie)

UNAIRED RADIO SHOW (AUDITION)

Narrated by WOODY GUTHRIE

LEADBELLY (HUDDIE LEDBETTER), vocal/guitar

New York, NY, June 19, 1940 

(Total Length: 14:04)

01 INTRO
02 Ain't Goin' Down To The Well No More        
03 Went Out On The Mountain
04 Whoa Back, Buck
05 Worried Blues
06 You Can't Lose Me, Cholly (Charlie)
07 Boll Weevil

DOWNLOAD MP3 (11.32MB)










"FOLK SONGS OF AMERICA"
LEADBELLY (HUDDIE LEDBETTER) & WOODY GUTHRIE
Conceived, scripted and produced by HENRIETTA YURCHENKO
WNYC, New York, NY, 1940 (exact date unknown)
(Total Length: 24:51)
 
01 INTRO (over "Goodnight, Irene")
02 You Can't Lose Me, Cholly
(announced as "I Went Rowin' And My Gal Went Too")
03 Frankie And Albert
04 INTRO OF WOODY GUTHRIE
05 John Hardy
06 Jesse James
(END OF TRANSCRIPTION DISC)
07 Jesse James
(CONTINUED ON NEW DISC)
08 WOODY on "Grapes of Wrath" (Motion Picture), John Steinbeck's book, his own song "Tom Joad"
09 Tom Joad
10 Boll Weevil

DOWNLOAD MP3 (22.76 MB)

NOTE:
This is an edited version (some info added to ID3 tags) of an mp3 also downloadable from archive.org -- it was originally "dug up" in 2007 at the WNYC archives by Eli Smith and re-broadcast on his and Henrietta Yurchenko's Down Home Radio Show.

An extended version (total length: 62:58) with detailed comments by Henrietta Yurchenko introducing/closing the original broadcast (highly recommended) is available/downloadable from the Down Home Radio Show website.

Interview with Alan Lomax about Leadbelly (Henrietta Yurchenko)
"From the Yurchenco Archives: On today’s show I air an interview Henrietta Yurchenco did with Alan Lomax about Leadbelly.  I’m not sure when this interview was conducted (there was no date on the tape), but I think it was done in the mid 1960’s for one of her broadcasts on WNYC.  Alan Lomax gives a really excellent talk about Leadbelly, about his music and about when he and his father John Lomax first encountered Leadbelly at the Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana.  After the interview I play some of the very first field recordings that the Lomax’s made of Leadbelly when they met him that day in 1933, and when they returned to record him again in 1934.  Thanks go to Nathan Salsburg of the Alan Lomax Archive for supplying me with those recordings."
(Eli Smith, Down Home Radio Show)

DeFord Bailey (1899-1982) - Complete 1920s Recordings

First Session:
In the spring of 1927, Judge Hay, the Grand Ole Opry announcer, arranged for DeFord and two other musicians to record at Columbia Records in Atlanta. DeFord recorded only two songs, "Pan American Blues" and "Hesitation Blues." Judge Hay was not pleased with the session and canceled the deal. The two Columbia sides were never issued.

Second Session:
Judge Hay then arranged for DeFord to record with Brunswick and Vocalion in New York. DeFord recorded eight songs, "Pan American Blues," "Dixie Flyer Blues," "Muscle Shoals Blues," "Evening Prayer Blues," "Up Country Blues," "Old Hen Cackle," "Alcoholic Blues," and "Fox Chase." The songs were issued in the Brunswick 100 "Songs of Dixie" series, apparently the only songs performed by a black musician in the entire series, and again in the Vocalion 5000 series entitled "Old Time Tunes."

"I recorded eight tunes and I played every one of them perfect the first time. They couldn't get over that. They said I was the first one to ever record in that studio who didn't have to play something more than once." 

(Source: PBS DeFord Bailey - A Legend Lost - RECORDINGS)

DE FORD BAILEY, hca solo
New York, NY, April 18, 1927                                  
Pan-American Blues (22475/76)

New York, NY, April 19, 1927
Dixie Flyer Blues (22501/02)
Up Country Blues (22503/04)
Evening Prayer Blues (22505/06)
Muscle Shoals Blues (22507/08)
Old Hen Cackle (22509/10)
The Alcoholic Blues (22511)
Fox Chase (22512)

Third Session:
DeFord's third commercial recording session happened at Victor in Nashville. It was the first recording session to take place in what would become Music City USA. Only three of the eight sides he recorded were released by Victor: "Ice Water Blues," "Davidson County Blues," and "John Henry."

(Source: PBS DeFord Bailey - A Legend Lost - RECORDINGS)

Nashville, TN, October 02, 1928
John Henry (47111-2)
Ice Water Blues (47112-1)
Davidson County Blues (47116-1)

DOWNLOAD AS ZIPPED MONO MP3 (VBR, 24 MB)

LINKS:

DeFord Bailey - A Legend Lost  
(PBS) - SOUND SAMPLES (RealMedia)

DeFord Bailey (at Wikipedia)

Illustrated Discography



"Early Discography" at David Morton's site:

A 1973 Christmas present of DeFord Bailey's music

"Between 1973 and 1982 David Morton recorded many hours of his visits with DeFord Bailey, and most of them included music by the musician. Only one of those tapes, however, was a gift of music for someone else. That particular tape with a large number of tunes and conversation was made by DeFord in December 1973 specifically as a Christmas present for David's father who had long been a fan of the Harmonica Wizard. On the tape David explains why it is being made and DeFord extends a personal greeting to "Mr. Wilson Morton" in Shawmut, Alabama, and then proceeds to play many of his favorite tunes. As usual in David's visits with DeFord, much conversation inevitably took place in the taping, showing their relationship, as well as providing a most valuable recording of many of DeFord's tunes.

David took the tape to Alabama at Christmas in 1973 as a gift from DeFord Bailey, and returned with a large ham, and other presents from his father and mother for his friend. Wilson and Edna Morton kept the tape as long as they lived, and frequently played it. After their death, David brought the tape home with him. Some of the tunes on the tape were later used in the Tennessee Folklore Society CD of DeFord's music. In early 2006 David had the tape digitized and gave copies to DeFord's children, ex-wife and special friends who had helped him in calling attention to DeFord's accomplishments. Later in the year Andrew Morton persuaded his dad to make this special "Christmas present" of DeFord's music available on this web site. We think you'll enjoy it!"
(David Morton)

David Morton's biography of DeFord Bailey and a CD of 1973-1982 recordings 
are both available through the Tennessee Folklore Society or places like amazon.com.

David Morton's "Black & White Notes From WSM Grand Ole Opry Pioneer DeFord Bailey"

Pan American Blues - Lost and Found Sound: Radio Stories from Nashville

"One of the first letters sent to Lost and Found Sound came from a listener who told us that no series about the sounds of the 20th century would be complete without the sound of the Pan American Train passing the WSM Radio tower in Nashville. The 10,000 watt station broadcast the sound live each day at 5:08pm - Nashvillians and listeners from all across the South and Midwest set their clocks by the sound.
In searching out this sound, we were led to the remarkable story of Harmonica Wizard DeFord Bailey, the first black to perform and tour with WSM's Grand Ole Opry, whose signature song, Pan American Blues, inspired the naming of the show. DeFord's story, along with the story of WSM and its legendary Grand Ole Opry make up this program
Produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson) with Laura Folger. Mixed by Jim McKee at Earwax Productions, San Francisco"
(All Things Considered, November 24, 2000)