Return to the Tangleweed home page
6/30/2008

Weems String Band playing Greenback Dollar

This side, recorded in Memphis in December, 1927, represents one half of the total recorded output of Weems String Band. It’s a pity, too, because it’s a rather extraordinary record. With more weemses than one could shake a stick at.

The personnel:

  • Dick Weems, fiddle;
  • Frank Weems, fiddle;
  • Alvin Condor, banjo/ voc;
  • Jesse Weems, cello

While the inclusion of the cello is unusual, the loose two fiddle and banjo sound is classic old-time country: multiple instruments playing simultaneous variations on a melody. There’s not really much accompaniment per se, just thick, glorious heterophony.

Courtesy of Archive.org