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.

This acoustical recording from 1922 is among the earliest examples of rural Southern vernacular fiddling we have on record. Alexander Campbell (’Eck’) Robertson was a skilled contest fiddler from Texas whose recording career extended into the folk revival of the 1960s. This was recoded in New York on July 1st, 1922, the second day of a 2-day session for Victor that yielded ten sides.

Courtesy of Archive.org

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

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

Virginian Henry Whitter was one of the earliest country music performers to record extensively. While many of his solo recordings are unexceptional, his work with G.B. Grayson was often excellent. Rain Crow Bill was an old Minstrel harmonica solo that Whitter recorded at least twice: at his first recording session in December, 1923, as ‘Rain Crow Bill Blues’, and then in a later electrical recording in August, 1927.

Doc Watson recorded a very faithful interpretation of this recording on his great Home Again LP in 1967, and then an updated version on his Then and Now LP in 1973.

Rain Crow Bill (MP3)

Courtesy of Archive.org

This recoding from June 30, 1922, is one of the earliest examples of American Vernacular fiddling on record. Alexander Campbell (’Eck’) Robertson was a skilled contest fiddler from Texas whose recording career extended into the folk revival of the 1960s. This recording was paired with Robertson’s seminal recording on Sallie Gooden on Victor 18956.

The recording is a duet with fiddler Henry Gilliland, and it is believed that Gilliland is playing the melody and Robertson the harmony. It lacks the extraordinary variations of Robertson’s Sallie Gooden, but it’s still an interesting performance.

Arkansaw Traveler (MP3)

Courtesy of Archive.org