Kentucky Mountain Music

Classic Recordings of the 1920s and 1930s

Yazoo 2200.  7 CD Boxed set with 32 page booklet

Well now so, as Elizabeth Cronin used to say.  I should warn anyone with a low boredom threshold that ere this exegesis is out, you will have seen every single cliché in the reviewer’s handbook.  Cover pictureYou know the culprits; major release; legendary performers; handsome packaging; lavish booklet; stylish production; expert remastering; stunning value; fabulous selection; and the one which no critic should ever leave home without; Record Of The Year.

I shall of course justify every extravagance, but not before a moment of personal pique.  You see, when this set was announced, I told our editor that we had got to cover it, but that I was busy on other matters.  He agreed that it was of mega importance, told me he’d emailed Yazoo for a copy, and nominated a reviewer.  For some reason Yazoo never responded, and I’m now in the invidious position of writing a rave review, as unbiased as it is unsolicited.

I tend to be wary of unsolicited raves.  They are by no means wholly tarred with the same brush.  But we’ve all been witness to the very occasional lapse of some ill-informed idiot with nothing to offer beyond a nasty attack of the egos.

At Musical Traditions we do not suffer nasty attacks, so let’s peel the wrapping off that handsome packaging.  It takes the form of a sturdy longbox, which has been attractively decorated with photographs of many of the performers.  The personnel are not identified on the box, but no matter.  All the photographs are duplicated in the lavish 32 page booklet, where they accompany some reasonably detailed biographies.  These establish that around 57 groups and solo performers are included.  Between them they account for 167 tracks, which is in excess of eight hours playing time.  (The full track list can be viewed at the end of this article beneath the footnotes.)  When I tell you that this 7 disc package retails for around £60 sterling, you will surely agree that it represents stunning value.

At this point, I need to highlight two facts.  Firstly, a few years ago Yazoo issued a marvellous pair of anthologies under a similar title to the present one: The Music of Kentucky: Early American Rural Classics 1927 - 37.  You’ll be relieved to know that the present set is an entirely separate production, and there is no overlap between the two.1.  Yazoo 2013 and 2014.  There is though quite a lot of overlap with other productions, in particular with the three volume Old Time Fiddle Band Music from Kentucky, which Morning Star issued in the mid '70s.  However, the sound quality of the present set is far superior.1

Also, like Yazoo’s earlier venture, this is a mixture of commercial and archive recordings; the booklet honours being shared between Richard Nevins, who tackles the commercial releases, and Charles Wolfe, who discusses the archive material.  Both cover their respective artists well, although Nevin’s naive literary style leaves something to be desired.  In particular, he gets himself into quite a twist when discussing the ethnicity of Jim Booker, the Taylor’s Kentucky Boys fiddler.  Also, while we learn a lot about the performers, the context in which the recordings were made is almost completely ignored.

Wolfe’s contribution is much more well-rounded.  Besides discussing the artists, it tells us quite a lot about the field work which produced the recordings.  Moreover, for anyone wanting to follow up this publication, Wolfe’s book, Kentucky Country: Folk and Country Music of Kentucky, is mentioned in the credits.2.  No bibliographical details are given, but the book was published in 1996 by Kentucky UP, Lexington.  ISBN: 0813108799.  According to Yazoo, It is available from the publishers, if you phone them on 40576-1578 or 800-839-6855.  No price is quoted, but new copies are currently available via Amazon at $18.00.2

From the present publication we learn that the non-commercial recordings were culled from three sources, principally from the field trip which Alan Lomax made to Kentucky in September/October 1937.  I’m not sure why this expedition should have been particularly favoured, although Wolfe describes it as the most prolific.  Also, Lomax, who of course was working for The Library of Congress, used the best recorder they had at that time.  So perhaps these tracks were of superior sound quality.3.  The other recordings were cut by Jean Thomas in 1934 at the Kentucky Ashland Festival, and in March 1938, again by Lomax.3

Unfortunately, the problems with the booklet do not stop with Mr Nevins’ limited background information.  There are no song or tune notes, no textual transcriptions, and the discographical data is almost non-existent.  For that matter, where songs are mentioned in the booklet text, they are not given any corresponding track reference.  Also, whereas Wolfe’s contribution highlights song titles by putting them in upper case, both authors refer to the performers in lower case, and their names are buried away in the text.  In a publication of this size, these things can create real problems for anyone trying to cross reference the information.  For instance, I was puzzled by the fact that J.W.  Day’s guitar accompanist is identified as one Carson Robison.  I can’t find anything in the booklet to indicate whether this was the Carson Robison who, amongst other things, collaborated with Vernon Dalhart.  However, Robison worked as a session guitarist for Victor Records, and Day enjoyed an unusual celebrity status for a down home musician.  So it’s quite possible that the record company saw good reason to couple Day with one of their most prestigious accompanists.  The problem is that the only way I could ascertain whether this was a Victor record, and therefore likely to be the same Robison, was by looking up the discographical information in the Folkways Anthology Of American Folk Music.

Unfortunately, even after establishing that we are dealing with a Victor record, I still cannot be certain that the guitarist is Robison.  You see Yazoo’s personnel listings have been compiled from record company files, oral testimony, and aural evidence, and the details are presented without discrimination.  Obviously, no information source can be considered one hundred per cent infallible.  However, where company files were at least contemporary with the recordings, recollections about who was there at the time need to be treated with considerable caution.  And if memory is apt to be unreliable, aural evidence is even more so.  At the very least, some means of indicating how the information was arrived at should have been devised.4.  Folkways FA 2952.  To complicate matters, my copy of the Folkways Anthology booklet is the one which accompanied the original LPs, and it does not identify the guitarist.  I do not know whether the information has been expanded with the recent CD reissue of the Anthology.4

By now you may be wondering where the rave review got to.  Don’t worry, it’s about to happen.  First, though, this production both underlines and undermines my overall impression of Yazoo releases generally.  This is that their packaging, booklet notes and audio restoration often leave a bit to be desired, but their track selections and programming could not be bettered at any price.

Nobody in their right mind would criticise the packaging here, and on this occasion the remastering is absolutely first class.  Indeed, Richard Nevins must have pulled out absolutely every stop to achieve these results.  Given the number of recordings involved, the sound is astonishingly consistent, and the set is joyfully free of that bane of reissue anthologies; the make-weight inclusion which is so badly worn, it is impossible to listen to.

It is true that some of the Library of Congress material sounds decidedly rough, and I was particularly saddened to find that Justus Begley’s rivetting Roving Boy is marred by an atrocious acoustic.  Even so, anyone who has struggled with the abominable quality of much of the Library of Congress material will be astonished at how bright and clear most of these recordings have become.  Also, my comments on the booklet contents notwithstanding, this is a mid-price limited sales production, with all that implies in terms of budgeting.  Yazoo have clearly put their resources where they matter most.

With that thought in mind, if a lot of care has gone into ensuring that these recordings are heard at their best, at least as much care has gone into selecting and programming them.  The contents are split almost exactly between instrumental and vocal items, but they follow no artistic or thematic or geographical programme that I can see.  Neither are they part of any chronological thread.  The performers are not segregated, and there is no demarcation between the commercial recordings and the archive material.  Instead, the programme oscillates between dance tunes and secular songs, with a very reasonable smidgen of religious pieces.  You will find old time comic songs rubbing shoulders with sentimental weepies.  You will find songs which are indigenous to the Kentucky mountains, and you will find several items which have grown out of the Kentucky coalfields.  There are quite a number of home grown American ballads and, if you include Pete Steele’s bizarre take on The Farmer’s Curst Wife, I counted 5 Child ballads.  Fans of a well remembered Muppets sketch will be interested to note Doc Roberts’ And The Cat Came Back, but don’t plunge into this set hoping to learn the words.  It’s an instrumental version, complete with that ‘shave and a haircut ending’, so beloved of cartoon freaks.  For that matter, before any tune sleuths leap on disc 6, I’d better mention that The Flying Cloud Waltz, from the Walter Family is nothing to do with the pirate ballad of almost the same name.

What about those legendary performers?  Well, there are plenty of tracks from luminaries such as Burnett and Rutherford, Asa Martin and Buell Kazee; and there is an abundance of contributions from lesser names.  Yet there are several surprising omissions.  In particular, I missed Dock Boggs and Bradley Kincaid - even though one of the booklet photographs shows the latter in session with the Shortbuckle Roarke family.  Also, there is nothing from that triumvirate of labor agitators, Aunt Molly Jackson, Jim Garland and Sarah Ogan.  Against that, archive addicts will note the presence of many other Library of Congress performers, among them the aforementioned and truly wonderful Justus Begley and Pete Steele.

As with the performers, the material ranges from the obscure to the commonplace.  However, the performances are generally so good that even the most well worn pieces manage to sound vital and fresh.  For instance, Pete Steele turns up with a version of Pretty Polly, which is possibly the finest performance of that old chestnut I have ever heard.

On the less familiar front, it was nice to see Jim Howard’s delightful Little Carpenter, which I’d previously known only from a Peggy Seeger record.  There are two other songs from Howard in this set, and they are both rarities, so it is a pity that Lomax was not able to get more from him.  I was also intrigued to hear Buell Kazee’s Dying Soldier, which has often been reported, but which has seldom appeared on record.5.  The only other version of this piece which I can recall being commercially released is on Musical Traditions MTCD323, Far in the Mountains Volume 3, where it is sung by Doug Wallin.  The same recording can also be heard on Crazy About a Song, Vaughan Williams Memorial Library Cassette VWML 007.5

In short, this is as broad and varied and judiciously selected a cross section of regional vernacular music, as it is possible to conceive.  If some of the performers sound a little primitive, that should present no problem to readers of Musical Traditions.  If a few items have been thoroughly retailed elsewhere, Shortbuckle Roarke’s I Truly Understand That You Love Another Man for instance, that is probably inevitable in a survey as comprehensive as this.  Otherwise, the only track I can recall, which I could have lived without, is Buell Kazee’s decidedly labourious The Sporting Bachelors.

Finally, I’m conscious that I have made far more of the song items than I have of the instrumentals.  That probably reflects my own interests for, as a song buff, I may have been guilty of regarding the instrumentals as the garnish in the sandwich.  Well, there’s an awful lot of garnish and it makes a mighty fine sandwich.  But can I justify calling it the Record of the Year?  Well, as I write this, it’s late September.  That means there’s just over three months to go before the world embarks on another new year and we all make resolutions to be tolerant towards those we disagree with.  If anything turns up in the interim to knock this one off its perch, I hope the publishers remember to tell us about it.6.  I was just about to post the above, when I read Mike Yates's excellent review of the new Roscoe Holcomb CD , where Mike nominates it as his Record Of The Year.  I haven't heard that disc yet but, as a monster Roscoe Holcomb fan, I have a strong suspicion that it will run this one a good second in my affections.  Perhaps Musical Traditions should take a leaf out of other periodicals and organise an annual critics' poll.6

Notes:

1.  Yazoo 2013 and 2014.  There is though quite a lot of overlap with other productions, in particular with the three volume Old Time Fiddle Band Music from Kentucky, which Morning Star issued in the mid ‘70s.  However, the sound quality of the present set is far superior.

2.  No bibliographical details are given, but the book was published in 1996 by Kentucky UP, Lexington.  ISBN: 0813108799.  According to Yazoo, It is available from the publishers, if you phone them on 40576-1578 or 800-839-6855.  No price is quoted, but new copies are currently available via Amazon at $18.00.

3.  The other recordings were cut by Jean Thomas in 1934 at the Kentucky Ashland Festival, and in March 1938, again by Lomax.

4.  Folkways FA 2952.  To complicate matters, my copy of the Folkways Anthology booklet is the one which accompanied the original LPs, and it does not identify the guitarist.  I do not know whether the information has been expanded with the recent CD reissue of the Anthology.

5.  The only other version of this piece which I can recall being commercially released is on Musical Traditions MTCD323, Far in the Mountains Volume 3, where it is sung by Doug Wallin.  The same recording can also be heard on Crazy About a Song, Vaughan Williams Memorial Library Cassette VWML 007.

6.  I was just about to post the above, when I read Mike Yates’s excellent review of the new Roscoe Holcomb CD , where Mike nominates it as his Record Of The Year.  I haven’t heard that disc yet but, as a monster Roscoe Holcomb fan, I have a strong suspicion that it will run this one a good second in my affections.  Perhaps Musical Traditions should take a leaf out of other periodicals and organise an annual critics’ poll.

Fred McCormick - 25.9.03

Track Listings:

Disc 1
1.  Burnett & Rutherford: Ladies On The Steamboat
2.  Buell Kazee: The Dying Soldier
3.  Crockett Family Mountaineers Little Rabbit/Rabbit Where's Your Mammy
4.  Shortbuckle Roarke & Family: I Truly Understand You Love Another Man
5.  Ted Gossett's Band: Eighth Of January
6.  Burnett & Rutherford: All Night Long Blues
7.  Jimmy Johnson's String Band: Shipping Port
8.  Robert L.  Day: The Rowan County Crew
9.  Doc Roberts: Deer Walk
10.  Rutherford & Foster: Let Her Go: I'll Meet Her
11.  Walter Family: That's My Rabbit: My Dog Caught It
12.  Martin & Roberts: Lillie Dale
13.  Rutherford: Moore & Burnett: Cumberland Gap
14.  James Howard: The Old Fish Song
15.  Fort Thomas Group: The Red Hill Special
16.  Green Bailey: If I Die A Railroad Man
17.  J.  W.  Day: Grand Hornpipe
18.  Walter Williams: East Virginia
19.  Taylor's Kentucky Boys: Forked Deer
20.  Pete Steele: Pretty Polly
21.  Justis Begley: Run Banjo
22.  Kentucky Mountain Chorusters: We'll Understand It Better Bye And Bye

Disc 2
1.  Burnett & Rutherford: Curley Headed Woman
2.  Jimmy Johnson's String Band: Gate To Go Through
3.  Martin & Roberts: Hot Corn
4.  Taylor: Moore & Burnett: Grandma's Rag
5.  Rutherford & Foster: I'M As Free Little Birdie As Can Be
6.  Ted Gossett's Band: Rocky Mountain Goat
7.  Green Bailey: Shut Up In Coal Creek Mine
8.  Crockett Family Mountaineers: Sugar In My Coffee (Medley)
9.  Buell Kazee: The Butcher's Boy
10.  Doc Roberts: New Money
11.  Burnett & Rutherford: Pearl Bryan
12.  Kentucky String Ticklers: Crooked John
13.  Daw Henson: The Moonshiner
14.  J W Day: Forked Deer
15.  Taylor's Kentucky Boys: The Dixie Cowboy
16.  Walter Williams: Mississippi Sawyer
17.  Rutherford & Foster: Six Months Ain'T Long
18.  Ed Morrison: Blackberry Blossom
19.  Theophilus Hoskins: Ellen Smith
20.  Henry L Bandy: Five Up
21.  Pete Steele: Payday At Coal Creek
22.  Justis Begley: Golden Willow Tree
23.  Alice & Martha Williams & Elizabeth Flatt: The Last Appeal

Disc 3
1.  J W Day: Way Up On Clinch Mountain
2.  Ted Gossett's Band: Going To Jail
3.  Rutherford & Foster: Richmond Blues
4.  Jimmy Johnson's String Band: Soap In The Washpan
5.  Mcvay & Johnson: Ain't Going To Lay My Armor Down
6.  Blue Ridge Mountaineers: Old Voile
7.  Asa Martin: Gentle Annie
8.  Burnett & Rutherford: Billy In The Low Ground
9.  Daw Henson: Lady Margaret And Sweet William
10.  Doc Roberts: And The Cat Came Back
11.  Walter Williams: Pass Around The Bottle
12.  Marion Underwood: Coal Creek March
13.  Pete Steele: Johnny O Johnny
14.  Rutherford & Foster: Taylor's Quickstep (Monroe County Quickstep)
15.  Justis Begley: I'Ve Been All Around This World
16.  Jimmy Johnson's String Band: Jenny Baker
17.  Clay Walters: Come All You Roving Cowboys
18.  Taylor's Kentucky Boys: Soldier's Joy
19.  Maynard Britton: I Came To This Country
20.  Crockett Family Mountaineers: Medley Of Old Time Dance Tunes Part 1
21.  Burnett & Rutherford: Rambling Reckless Hobo
22.  Bill Stepp & Walter Williams: Wild Horse
23.  Boyd Asher: Old Christmas
24.  Ted Chesnut: The Rowan County Feud
25.  Hatton Brothers: Wish I Had My Time Again

Disc 4
1.  Blue Ridge Mountaineers: Old Flannigan
2.  Burnett & Rutherford: Willie Moore
3.  J W Day: The Wild Wagoner
4.  Asa Martin: My Cabin Home Among The Hills
5.  Ted Gossett's Band: Bow Legged Irishman
6.  Rutherford & Foster: There's No One Like The Old Folks
7.  Jimmy Johnson's String Band: Old Blind Dog
8.  Buell Kazee: The Sporting Bachelors
9.  Taylor's Kentucky Boys: Sourwood Mountain
10.  Justis Begley: The Roving Boy
11.  Crockett Family Mountaineers: Medley Of Old Time Dance Tunes Part 2
12.  Pete Steele: Lack Fol Diddle I Day
13.  Burnett & Rutherford: Lost John
14.  Rutherford & Foster: There's More Pretty Girls Than One
15.  Walter Family: Shaker Ben
16.  Rev Sherwin Sizemore & Church Of The Ten Elders: Jesus Walking Through The Land
17.  Green's String Band: Pickaway
18.  Daw Henson: Wallins Creek Girls
19.  Ed Morrison: We'll All Go To Heaven When The Devil Goes Blind
20.  Walter Williams: John Hardy
21.  Hack's String Band: Wink The Other Eye
22.  Boyd Asher: Hickory Jack
23.  J M Mullins: Working's Too Hard
24.  Henry L Bandy: Sail Away Ladies
25.  Kentucky Mountain Chorusters: The Great Reaping Day

Disc 5
1.  Crockett Family Mountaineers: Buffalo Gals (Medley)
2.  Howard & Peak: Three Black Sheep
3.  Clifford Gross: Run Them Coons In The Ground
4.  Green Bailey: I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground
5.  Ted Gossett's Band: Fire On The Mountain
6.  Oaks Family: Wake Up You Drowsy Sleepers
7.  Charlie Wilson & His Hillbillies: Cuttin At The Point
8.  Buell Kazee: The Cowboy Trail
9.  Jimmy Johnson's String Band: Drink More Cider
10.  Rutherford & Foster: Two Faithful Lovers
11.  Taylor's Kentucky Boys: Maxwell Girl
12.  Daw Henson: Swafford Branch Stills
13.  Lonesome Luke & His Farm Boys: Wild Hog In The Woods
14.  Marvin Thornton & Fort Thomas Group: The Soldier And The Lady
15.  Kentucky Woodchoppers: Pine Tree
16.  Green Maggard: Lord Daniel
17.  Kentucky String Ticklers: Leaving Here Blues
18.  James Howard: The Peddler And His Wife
19.  Doc Roberts: Waynesburgh
20.  Burnett & Rutherford: Little Stream Of Whiskey
21.  Madisonville String Band: Next To Your Mother: Who Do You Love
22.  Pete Steele: Little Birdie
23.  Theophilus Hoskins: Hog Eyed Man
24.  Walter Williams: (Fragment)
25.  Mcvay & Johnson: I'll Be Ready When The Bridegroom Comes

Disc 6
1.  Mangrum & Shriver: Bill Cheatam
2.  Buell Kazee: Short Life Of Trouble
3.  Madisonville String Band: B Flat Rag
4.  Green Bailey: The Fate Of Ellen Smith
5.  Jimmy Johnson's String Band: Washington Quadrille
6.  Rutherford & Foster: Storms May Rule The Ocean
7.  Taylor's Kentucky Boys: Gray Eagle
8.  Crockett Family Mountaineers: Bile Dem Cabbage Down
9.  Doc Roberts: Martha Campbell
10.  Burnett & Rutherford: I'll Be With You When The Roses Bloom Again
11.  Charlie Wilson & His Hillbillies: Shelvin Rock
12.  Buell Kazee: The Roving Cowboy
13.  Ted Gossett's Band: Fox Chase
14.  Lonesome Luke & His Farm Boys: Dogs In The Ashcan
15.  Green Maggard: Come All Ye Fair And Handsome Girls
16.  Pete Steele: Rambling Hobo
17.  Clifford Gross: Leather Breeches
18.  Bill Bundy: Poison In A Glass Of Wine
19.  Tom West: The Valentine
20.  Walter Family: Flying Cloud Waltz
21.  Ed Morrison: A Western Union Telegram
22.  James Howard: My Little Carpenter
23.  Hatton Brothers: Hook And Line
24.  Oaks Family: Will It Pay

Disc 7
1.  Clifford Gross: Rocky Mountain Goat
2.  Buell Kazee: The Orphan Girl
3.  Doc Roberts Trio: Honeymoon Stomp
4.  George Roark: I Ain't A Bit Drunk
5.  Mangrum & Shriver: Bacon And Cabbage
6.  Howard & Peak: I Cannot Be Your Sweetheart
7.  J W Day: Little Boy Working On The Road
8.  Martin & Hobbs: I Must See My Mothers
9.  Kentucky Woodchoppers: New Harmony Waltz
10.  Crockett Family Mountaineers: Sugar Hill
11.  Hack's String Band: Kentucky Plowboy's March
12.  Oaks Family: You'll Miss Me When I'M Gone
13.  Kentucky String Ticklers: Tipple Blues
14.  Ted Chesnut: He's Only A Miner Killed In The Ground
15.  Doc Roberts: Rye Straw
16.  Rutherford: Moore & Burnett: She's A Flower From The Fields Of Alabama
17.  Jimmy Johnson's String Band: Ching Chow
18.  Shortbuckle Roark & Family: My Mother's Hands
19.  Madisonville String Band: My Pretty Snow Deer
20.  Walter Family: Walter Family Waltz
21.  Henry L.  Bandy: Going Across The Sea
22.  Taylor: Moore & Burnett: Knoxville Rag
23.  Buell Kazee: I'm Rolling Along

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