Here’s a remarkable display of jawharp virtuosity by Obed Pickard, one of the early performers on WSM radio’s Grand Ole Opry. His earliest commercial recordings were in 1927. This is from 1929, cut for Banner and affiliated cut-price labels (Oriole, Regal, Conqueror, etc).

The tune is Sally Goodin (also spelled Gooden), an old warhorse of a fiddle tune first recorded by Eck Robertson. Pickard’s performance is charming — earnest, understated, and well-played.

Courtesy of Archive.org

By the way, there’s some hot jawharp, played by the author of this post, on the forthcoming Tangleweed CD, Most Folk Heroes Started Out As Criminals.

Our friend Brian has posted our recent show at Chicago’s Kinetic Playground on Archive.org.

The set list:

1. Listen to the Mockingbird
2. South Australia
3. Angeline the Baker -> Soldier’s Joy
4. California
5. Short Life of Trouble
6. The Logjam
7. Takeup Reel -> Cold Frosty Morning -> Grey Eagle
8. Trishanku’s Heaven
9. High On A Mountain
10. British Army
11. Little Sadie
12. With a Bottle in My Hand
13. Ginseng Blues
14. Dead Flowers
15. Orange Blossom Special

Download the show here:
http://www.archive.org/details/tweed2008-05-01.cemc6.flac16

It wasn’t a great show — we were plagued by a very bad stage mix and didn’t play or sing particularly well that night. Also, for reasons unknown to me, we wound up sitting around the venue for a few hours until the staff deigned to do a soundcheck, and I hit the stage more than a little annoyed and at a low energy ebb. That said, the venue has a decent sounding (almost acoustically dead) room, and it’s a good-sounding recording. The energy and performance quality started to pick up by the end of the set.

Here’s a sample track from our forthcoming third CD, Most Folk Heroes Started Out As Criminals, for your listening pleasure. It’s also available on our MySpace page.

The track is Sandy River Belle, a sporty little instrumental batting leadoff for us on MFHSOAC. Hope you enjoy it. We’re putting the finishing touches on the record, and shooting for a summer release.

See my previous post for more about the Blue Ridge Highballers. This is another side from their March 23, 1926, session for the Columbia label in New York. The personnel is the same as the previous track:

• Charlie La Prade, fiddle
• Arthur Wells, banjo
• Lonnie Griffith, guitar

Fourteen Days in Georgia (MP3)

Courtesy of Archive.org

The Blue Ridge Highballers were a Virginia string band led by fiddler Charley La Prade. They recorded seventeen sides for Columbia and Paramount (and their respective affiliate labels) in 1926 and 1927, and an additional three sides accompanying vocalist Luther B. Clarke.

Flop-Eared Mule is an old warhorse that’s unusual among fiddle tunes in that the strains are in different keys, and the order of the strains is often reversed. I’ve long annoyed our banjo player by insisting that this tune is in ‘D’, with a second strain in ‘A’. Like many banjo players, he prefers to play in ‘G’, and learned this tune with the first strain in ‘G’ and the second in ‘D’. To his credit, here’s a 1926 recording with the first strain in ‘G’ and the second in ‘D’. Except that the second strain is first.

This was recorded in March, 1926, in New York for the Columbia company. The personnel:

• Charlie La Prade, fiddle
• Arthur Wells, banjo
• Lonnie Griffith, guitar

Flop-Eared Mule (MP3)

Courtesy of Archive.org

Our recent show at Chicago’s Abbey Pub with Hot Buttered Rum is now available for download on Archive.org. Many thanks to our pal Brian for taping the show and making it available on the Live Music Archive. Now you can relive the show in all its silver-caped glory in the privacy of your own head.

The set list, as best I can remember:

1. Train #45
2. Listen to the Mockingbird
3. California
4. Shortlife Of Trouble
5. The Logjam
6. The Takeup Reel > Cold Frosty Morning > Grey Eagle
7. Trishenku’s Heaven
8. High on a Mountain
9. Mississippi Trashboat
10. South Australia
11. Sandy River Belle
12. Dead Flowers
13. With a Bottle in My Hand
14. Ginseng Blues
15. Hard Times
16. Where You Been
17. Heroin
18. Orange Blossom Special

Download page for Tangleweed, April 12, 2008 @ the Abbey Pub w/ Hot Buttered Rum

This 1927 recording, the flip side to Ashley’s Dark Holler Blues, is a wonderful example of a modal banjo melody. Ashley executes the descending line between the verses beautifully. The text is mostly a non-narrative assemblage of commonplace verses, but they’re made profound by Ashley’s delivery and the occasional wordless vocal interlude.

Ashley’s recording is included in Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music, which helped engender new interest in Ashley’s work in the 1960s folk revival. Folklorist Ralph Rinzler recorded Ashley for Folkways Records, and Ashley resumed a fairly active recording and performing career with his friend and neighbor Doc Watson. His recordings with Watson are uniformly excellent.

Watson’s 1967 LP, Ballads From Deep Gap, features a fairly faithful performance of Ashley’s arrangement.

The Coo Coo Bird (MP3)
Courtesy of Archive.org

Thomas C. (’Clarence’) Ashley recorded extensively in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and again in the postwar folk revival with his friend and neighbor Doc Watson. This side comes from his second session, in Johnson City, Tennessee, in October of 1929. Ashley accompanies his vocal with a very tasteful clawhammer banjo performance. The tune is a classic modal melody that appears frequently in the early country repertoire.

Variations of the lyrics appear in Sharp. While the song likely has roots in the British Isles, I’m not able to locate a variant in Child’s work.

Dark Holler Blues (MP3)
Courtesy of Archive.org

For a fairly comprehensive biography of Ashley, visit ClarenceAshley.com