Monday, January 4, 2010

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

20 comments:

  1. thanks for posting! the more old-time banjo the better, as far as i'm concerned....

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  2. These are just great keep em coming

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  3. This is wonderful music, thanks a million!

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  4. Thanks for the tune Hannamariah Allen. Love it. I'll learn it and start playing it. Great banjer tune.

    Arkansas Red

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  5. Thanks so much for posting this. I've been in love with the first lp since I got it at a swap meet a while back. China Poplin's banjo sound is second only to Ralph Stanley's in my opinion.

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  6. Edna poplin is my Great grandmother.. I loved her so much! she died when I was young but I was lucky enough to have been old enough to remember her playing for us!

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  7. I've enjoyed the Poplin family for the last few years after finding that China won the 1965 Galax Fiddler's Convention...beating out George Stoneman, and Kyle Creed that year. China has been one of my inspirations to finally break down and learn the two finger style (him and Roscoe Holcomb). Of the Poplin Family material I play "Hammer Ring", "Hannamariah", and "Sumter Rag". Great stuff!

    Clawhammerer in Pumpkintown

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  8. For what it's worth, Eddie Adkins played an old Epiphone 5-String with the Country Gentlemen, back in the 1960s. A great sounding banjo!

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  9. Hey my name is Katy LeGrand and Edna Poplin was my great grandmother and China was my great-uncle. It's great to see that there are people out there who appreciate the music! Thanks for posting!

    katylegrand@gmail.com

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  10. Thank you for posting this! River of Jordan and I don't want to get married are truly fantastic songs.

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  11. Yes Balloonfighter, this is some of my favorite stuff for sure!

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  12. Mr. Allen, I am a folklorist working on a project on The Poplin Family. I would love to be in touch with you about your blog - if you're interested, you could drop me an email at sweetappalachia@gmail.com.
    thanks!
    Amanda Lynn Stubley

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  13. Belated
    Thanks : )
    But then again it's never too late...

    enjoying your music choices very much!

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  14. Thanks so much for sharing these obscure and terrific recordings. I just learned a couple of songs at the VoiceWorks workshop (Centrum) and am tickled to be able to listen to more.

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  15. Hey im brian poplin I was browsing around looking for family history and stumbled on this.. Very interesting.. I I know my grandfather James had ties in the carolinas . Any other info would be awesome .

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    1. Sorry, but all I Know about them is what is on the album covers. There have been some relatives that have posted, you might try to contact them through their posts.

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  16. Hello. I see two of my cousins already beat me here but I wanted to say hello as well. Edna Poplin was my Great Grandmother. China was my Great Uncle. I am so proud of their legacy. I am so glad to see that they are still loved by many :)

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