This is the only disc that Miner Hawkins recorded. The side, The Song Of The Sea, has been re-issued a few times, but I`d never heard the other side of the disc, A Coal Miner`s Dream, which I think I like best. I can`t find a bit of information about who this man was. His voice sounds like he may have had some singing training, possibly in the old time traveling singing schools that were popular in the south and middle America in the early half of the 1900`s. The disc was recorded in New York City at the Columbia studios instead of on location at a field recording, so that gives us no hint really where he may have came from.
One thing I do find somewhat interesting is the man`s first name on the disc, Miner. Was Miner as in coal miner? He did record a coal mining song. Of was Miner announced as minner, as in the country pronounciation of minnow, the small fish. When I was a kid, I did know an old man named Minor, which was pronounced minner like the fish mentioned here, so who knows? Anyhow... that`s about all I can guess about the man. I don`t really know anything about the songs either, so give it a download and enjoy!
Miner Hawkins / Columbia 15067-D
A Coal Miner`s Dream / The Song Of The Sea
recorded March 9, 1926 in New York City
Click here to download Miner Hawkins - Columbia 15067-D
Really great, thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteNot sure if this is the same guy, but how many Miner Hawkins can there be? http://www.ancestry.com/1940-census/usa/Tennessee/Miner-Hawkins_1bmm19
ReplyDeleteI had found that, but didn`t include it because I couldn`t figure out if it`s really the same person. The person in the census would have been 30-ish when the recording was made. The census listed their man as "Negro" for race. I just can`t make this man sound like other black artists from this time period. Also, there`s about a half od a percent chance Columbia would have released a black artist in the 15,000-D hill-billy series, although there is a preaching record that made it into it somehow. I still like the name "Miner" to mean the man`s occupation theory. We`ll likely never know one way or the other for sure.
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