I listened to this expecting to hear the song Riley Puckett sang so well, and was surprised to hear this very nice fiddle instrumental instead. Surprised, especially, in that I had never heard of Fiddlin’ Frank Nelson.
A quick check of Tony Russell’s Country Music Records: A Discography, 1921-1942 the Rosetta Stone for prewar country music, solved the mystery. Fiddlin’ Frank is a pseudonym for the great Kentucky fiddler Doc Roberts.
This track was cut in Richmond, Indiana, at the studios of the Starr Piano Company, with Joe Booker providing the guitar accompaniment. It was recorded on Saturday, August 27th, 1927, and paired with Roberts’ interpretation of Billy in the Lowground. That pairing was released on half a dozen labels, under half a dozen names. Here’s a mapping for you:
Champion Records -> Fiddlin’ Jim Burke
Silvertone and Supertone Records -> Jim Burke
Challenge and Superior Records -> Fiddlin’ Frank Nelson
Bell Records -> Fiddlin’ Bob White
Bell Records (again) -> Bob White
Gennett Records -> Doc Roberts
Roberts had a career rebirth during the folk revival of the 1960s. Berea College in Kentucky has an extensive collection of his papers.
Fiddlin’ Powers was a John Cowan Powers, from Russell County, Virginia. His recording career encompasses 33 sides for the Victor, Edison, and OKeh labels, though 14 of those seem to be unissued. This is a 1925 Edison recording, and he is backed by a family band:
Orpha Powers, mandolin;
Charlie Powers, banjo;
Carrie Powers, guitar;
Ada Powers, ukulele
Despite what Henry Ford thought, a lot of these old time songs are pretty filthy. ‘She lays eggs for the whole darn crew.’ Indeed.
A solid recording of the recent Chicago Bluegrass Festival in Evanston, IL is available for free bit-torrent download at bt.etree.org: http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=524105
Here’s a little sample, our four-man, banjo-less version of the Takeup Reel Medley, from our latest record, Most Folk Heroes Started Out As Criminals:
Here are the notes for the recording, which was made by Joe Steffen:
Chicago Bluegrass Festival
2009-04-04
American Legion Hall
Evanston, IL
Source: SP-CMC-8 cardioid > M-AUDIO MicroTrack II > 44.1 kHz 16-bit WAV
Location: front center chair 2′ from stage, ORTF 20cm 100°
Transfer: WAV > CD Wave > Trader’s Little Helper > FLAC
Recorded by: Joe Steffen (HackensawFan at comcast dot net)
Disc 1
01. intro
Harris Covington
02. Some Day
Bubbly Creek Bluegrass Band http://www.myspace.com/bubblycreekbluegrassband
with Harris Covington on guitar
03. intro
04. Travelin’ Teardrop Blues
05. Colleen Malone
06. banter
07. Lee & Paige
08. Dusty Boxcar Wall
James Creek Road http://www.jamescreekroad.com/
09. intro
10. Love Please Come Home
11. Girl from West Virginia
12. Where Corn Don’t Grow
13. Flight That Is Leaving Soon
14. Crosses and Stones
15. Six Feet Under
Whiskey Hollow Bluegrass Band http://nailthatcatfish.tripod.com/WALLOW.html
16. intro
17. Turkey Knob
18. Wonder Where You Are Tonight
19. I Never Will Marry
20. Hang Me
21. A Few Old Memories
22. banter
23. Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Disc 2
01. Bring It On Home
02. Jesus Is A Rock
03. announcements and door prizes
Northern Skyline
04. intro
05. If You’re Ever in Oklahoma
06. Vamp in the Middle
07. Dancin’ with the Angels
08. Walls of Time
09. 1952 Vincent Black Lightning
10. E.M.D.
11. announcements
Peter Nye & the Chicago Bluegrass Band http://www.myspace.com/chicagobluegrassband
12. intro
13. Peter Nye: Chip Covington banjo story
14. Butcher Boy
15. Paddy On The Turnpike
16. Love of the Mountain
17. One More Dollar
18. Just Wondering Why
19. banter
Disc 3
01. Steel Rails in the Tennessee Night
Tangleweed http://www.tangleweed.org
02. intro
03. Sir Lucas de Somerville/The Musical Priest/Whiskey Before Breakfast
04. Hard Times
05. The Logjam
06. South Australia
07. Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar
08. The Takeup Reel/Cold Frosty Morning/Grey Eagle
Henhouse Prowlers http://www.henhouseprowlers.com/
09. intro
10. Get in Line Brother
11. Darlin’ Who Cares About Your Fun
12. Give Your Lovin’ Out
13. Mourning Dove
14. The First Train Robbery
15. Clinch Mountain Backstep/Turn Me Loose
Today’s Chicago Tribune has an interview with me, and a nice picture of the band (one of Paul Natkin’s photos from the ‘Most Folk Heroes’ sessions), and a writeup for our Bluegrass Legends benefit performance tomorrow in Evanston. Andy Downing wrote the piece, and, to his credit, he makes me sound reasonably coherent:
The onetime punk rocker, who grew up listening to the likes of the Replacements and Minor Threat, purchased his first mandolin just 10 years ago, after being turned on to roots music by guitarist Curt Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets. So how could a guitarist from a boozy crew of Arizona rockers inspire Rainey to dig into our country’s musical past?
“In no way was it a clear progression from one to the other,” stresses Rainey. “It was always just one beautiful accident after another.”
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