Problems!!

For some reason now I can`t upload anything, period. I can`t upload music to the file service to post on the archive blog, I can`t even attatch a song to an email now. Anyone have any ideas what might be wrong with my computer, or something??!! HELP! I have a great LP just waiting to be posted!!

78`s!

Here is something new I`m going to try with 78`s. I will post a picture of the label with the disc information beside the picture, I`ll also try to mention if the recording is an acoustic recording (recorded with a horn, pre-microphones). Some of these have great sound and are nearly new condition, some don`t sound so good and have lots of wear. I don`t believe any of this material has been re-issued on LP or cd, some are quite rare.
There will be no track list, the songs with the pictures will be in the order of the songs in the download. The download link will be at the end of the post as usual. Hope you all like this material!

Sourwood Mountain/Cumberland Gap - Gibbs & Watson, this is from Columbia masters by Gid Tanner & Riley Puckett, put out on a cheaper label by Columbia, recorded Sept. 11 & 12, 1924, acoustically recorded.

Only A Step To The Grave/If I Could Only Blot Out The Past - Supertone 9373 This is from Gennett masters by Kirk McGee & Blythe Poteet, put out on a label that was sold by Sears department stores. Recorded November 27, 1928.


Polecat Creek-Waltz/My Two Sweethearts-Waltz - Victor V-40240, Jimmie Wilson`s Catfish String Band, recorded Oct. 17, 1929.


The Death Of John Henry/Little Brown Jug - Champion 15198 This is from Gennett masters issued as Herb Jennings. This is actually Welby Toomey, recorded October of 1926, acoustically recorded.


The Farmer Feeds Them All/Jim Blake, The Engineer - Montgomery Ward 4334. Most, if not all, Montgomery Ward records are from Victor masters. Frank Wheeler & Monroe Lamb, recorded May 27th & 28th, 1930.


Georgia Railroad/John Henry - Columbia 15019-D by Gid Tanner & Riley Puckett. Recorded September 11th & 12th, 1924, acoustic recording.


Barn Dance On The Mountain Part 1 & 2, Broadway 8137 by The Great Gap Entertainers. Broadway was a subsidiary label of Paramount. This is from Paramount master as the Lookout Mountain Revelers, recorded June 1928. This is a pretty rare one and pretty exciting to hear as the performers are Lowe Stokes, Bert Layne & Claude Davis. This is sort of a spin off group from the Skillet Lickers and this recording is a skit sort of like the Skillet Lickers recordins of Corn Licker Still In Georgia, etc.


The Death Of John Henry/Roving Gambler - Gennett 6005. This is by Welby Toomey, recorded October 1926. This is the Same recording of The Death Of John Henry as the one above on Champion by Herb Jennings. Although the label syas "New Electrobeam" (Gennetts trade name for an electrically recorded disc, using microphones) this is pretty obviously an acoustic recording. Acoustic recordings have sort of a flat sound, that is no depth of tone. Several labels would issue extra pressings of acoustic recordings with electric marked labels.


Jennie Lind Polka/Nellie Gray - OKeh 40211. Recorded by Whitter`s Virgina Breakdowners July 16, 1924. Acoustic recording. Great string band sound in what is now called the Round Peak style.


Hello Aloha/Last Night I Was Dreaming Of You - Broadway 8018 by Jack Penewell from Paramount masters. Date of recording unknown to me. I like where the label says "Twin Six Guitar", these two sides are Hawaiian guitar, very well played I might add!


Will You Love Me When I`m Old/True And Trembling Breakman - Challenge 269. These are from Gennett masters, recorded by Aulton Ray April 27th, 1927. Aulton Ray was a member of Taylor`s Kentucky Boys. Challenge was a label issued by Sears department stores.


Liza Jane/O! Susanna - Silvertone 3261, issued as Tom Watson. This is from Columbia masters recorded by Riley Puckett, Sept. 11th, 1924, acoustic recording. Riley Puckett is well known to fans of old-time music as a member of the Skillet Lickers and also his own solo recordings. This is from an early session in his recording career. What makes this a noteworthy record is that although Riley was a famous back-up guitarist, he plays clawhammer banjo on this disc.


Click here to download My 78`s #1

Uncle John Patterson - Plains, Georgia Rock LP

Ok you old-time banjo fanatics----here`s another one for you. This is a great LP. Uncle John Patterson had a unique banjo style and I can`t even think of anyone else I`ve heard to compare him to. Also, he can beat the poop out of that old-time piano. Too bad he didn`t do a piano LP also, this country style piano is a pretty rare sound.
There isn`t anything about Uncle John I can say that isn`t in the cover notes I`ve included here. Hope you all like this one.

Rear cover notes---





Rear cover photo---


Track listing---


Click here to download Uncle John Patterson - Plains, Georgia Rock

Bashful Brother Oswald & Charlie Collins LP "Oz And Charlie"

Here is one of my favorite LP`s by one of my musical mentors, Bashful Brother Oswald. This is one of the artists (and also one of the LP`s) that made me want to play old-time music.
Oswald was a great old-time banjo picker and singer, but is best known for practically inventing a style of playing the Dobro. Oswald is likely most well known for being the Dobro player in Roy Acuff`s Smoky Mountain Boys. He held that "gig" for about 55 years!! Who works one job for 55 years!!?? He performed on the Grand Ole Opry for about 62 years, playing as a solo Opry member after Roy Acuff passed away.
Oswald`s Dobro style is so unique and immediately recognizable that it could definatly be argued that without the style of Oswald`s dobro playing that Roy Acuff might not have eventually became "The King Of Country Music". Roy`s sad (sometimes even morbid) songs coupled with the sounds of Oswald`s Dobro could bring tears from audiences.
Oswald was heavily influenced by Hawaiian music and his style of playing Dobro shows it with all the trills and slants he done. Listen to Hilo March, a Hawaiian song, which is one of my favorite Dobro songs.
Now... not only is Oswald great, Charlie Collins is certainly one of the best flat top pickers of all times. Also, Charlie is one of the greatest rhythm guitar pickers ever in my book. He got with Roy Acuff about 1965ish and styed with him till Roy passed away. Charlie also has several LP`s & CD`s of his own as well as these LP`s recorded with Oswald. Charlie has recorded playing rhythm guitar on many records, including recording under Bill Monroe a time or two. Charlie is also a good bluegrass style mandolinist and plays good fiddle in sort of a cross between bluegrass and old-time fiddle styles, sounding more bluegrass influenced.
The other two artists on this LP likely need no introduction, the great Norman Blake on mandolin and some lead guitar, and Sam Bush playing fiddle and guitar.
Hope you all like this one. Let me hear from you, it`s nice to know if you all enjoy what I post.

Rear cover notes---


Track list---


Click here to download Bashful Brother Oswald "Oz and Charlie" LP

Bailes Brothers re-post

I had a couple people say that track 18 on the Bailes Brothers download below won`t work. I re-uploaded it to the file hosting service. Just go down and click on the link as usual and try it again.

Johnnie & Homer Bailes radio transcriptions Vol. 1

Today I`m posting an LP of Bailes Brothers radio transcriptions. This is good, hardcore country here folks.
Now this does not feature the whole Bailes Brothers outfit. I believer there were at least four brothers that played in various combinations as well as all together from time to time.
As far as I`m concerned the Bailes Brothers were GREAT, regardless of what combination of them I`ve listened to.
Hope you all enjoy this one!!








Notes from the back LP cover---



Track list---



Click here to download The Bailes Brothers, Johnnie & Homer

What ever happened to the Pickard Family!!??

Since I`ve been a little slow about posting lately, I thought I`d post one more for the New Year today.
Here is an "extry odd" LP for sure. The Pickard Family was a pretty popular family group in the late 20`s and early 30`s. They got their start on WSM on the Grand Ole Opry in about 1927. Seems the story goes that one of their children turned up missing and they pleaded to radio stations to broadcast this unfortunate fact in hopes of finding the missing child, which they did find. Sounds like a happy ending, but the story just gets better. Seems the Solemn Old Judge, George D. Hay (inventor & manager of the Grand Ole Opry at the time) got to know them some through the missing child episode and learned that they were musically inclined. So, he seems to have auditioned them and next thing you know the Pickard Family were on their way to the "big time".
Now when I say big time, I don`t mean they became Opry stars and lived happily ever after. Actually, and unfortunately, the Pickard family is rarely mentioned in Grand Ole Opry history books. They stayed with the Opry awhile, then moved to WLS in Chicago to be stars on the National Barndance. They also recorded records in the late 20`s, including a Jew`s harp solo 78 for Columbia that is still considered the apex of Jew`s harp artistry!
The story gets just a little better for them yet. Seems soon after War World 2 they wound up in California on radio and wound up having their own TV show! I have looked for any clips from their show and have had no luck finding anything yet. So if anyone has any of this material I`d love to see it!!
This LP is sort of strange. Their original recordings were mostly old pop songs done in an old-time country style, but on here they sound more folk-ish than old-time. Obed "Dad" Pickard died soon after this was recorded, although by my ear "Dad" nor "Mom" Pickard are even on the record. Maybe they were not able to perform anymore due to age. I believe that this was recorded arount the mid to late 50`s. Mom & Dad Pickard would have been in their late 70`s I believe.
Maybe I`ll post some of my Pickard Family 78`s sometime. Hope you all enjoy this ultra-rare, unusual record!!



Click here to download The Pickard Family Sings Hits Of Yesteryear

The Poplin Family - great old time music here!!

Happy New Year folks! Here is a couple great LP`s. I`m not trying to shove old-time banjo down your throats with 2 banjo postings in a row, but old-time banjo is about my favorite thing.
I can find next to nothing about these folks on the internet, so I`m including the liner notes from the Meoldeon LP.. These folks are mighty good to my ear. Mr. China Poplin had a great driving two finger banjo style. All the other folks on the lp`s are great too.



Click here to download The Poplin Family - Gwine Back To Sumter

Just a side note about China Poplin`s banjo--this is a 5-string Epiphone banjo that would have been new in the 1920`s or early 30`s. This is an incredibly rare banjo. Epiphone may not have made over 5-ish of these, as 5 strings were sort of out of style when this was new, tenors being a craze in the teens and plectrums becoming popular in the 20`s. The only other artist I know of using one of these extremely fancy model Epiphone was Fisher Hendley. As China Poplin and Fisher Hendley were from the same area, it might not be too much of a stretch to say Poplin may have got this banjo from Hendley, or that at least Hendley may have owned it originally. Enjoy these 2 lp`s!!



Click here to download The Poplin Family Of Sumter, South Carolina