Please note: this article dates to Old Time Blues’ first year and does not meet the standard of quality to which more recent postings are held. Thank you for your understanding.
October 25 marks the birthday of jazz guitar great Eddie Lang, who was born on that day in 1902. Eddie Lang was born as Salvatore Massaro in Philedelphia, Pennsylvania. He initially took up violin, playing with his close school friend Joe Venuti, and later switched to guitar. In the 1920s, Lang played in various bands and with such luminaries as Frankie Trumbauer, Bix Beiderbecke, Adrian Rollini, and Lonnie Johnson, the latter of whom he recorded with under the name “Blind Willie Dunn”. Tragically, Eddie Lang died in 1933 at the age of 30 as the result of a botched tonsillectomy.
Okeh 8696 was recorded on May 22, 1929 in New York City, and issued in their race series for some reason. The band includes the talent of Tommy Dorsey on trumpet, Jimmy Dorsey on clarinet and alto sax, Arthur Schutt on piano, Eddie Lang on guitar, Joe Tarto on string bass, and Stan King on drums. This record isn’t in the greatest condition, but I think it’s a great choice to celebrate Eddie’s birthday.
First, the band plays “Freeze an’ Melt”, a Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh composition.
Freeze an’ Melt, recorded May 22, 1929 by Ed. Lang and his Orchestra.
Eddie Lang takes a nice long solo on “Hot Heels”, composed by Jack Pettis and Al Goering.
Hot Heels, recorded May 22, 1929 by Ed. Lang and his Orchestra.
Please note: this article dates to Old Time Blues’ first year and does not meet the standard of quality to which more recent postings are held. Thank you for your understanding.
October 18 marks the birthday of “Personality Girl” Annette Hanshaw, who was born on this day in 1901. Hanshaw began recording for Pathé Records in 1926 and recorded for them for two years before moving to Columbia, where most of her records were issued on their Harmony, Velvet Tone, and Diva budget labels, with a small number on Okeh and Columbia. She remained with Columbia until 1932, when she began a contract with the American Record Company which she maintained until her retirement from music in 1934. Although her singing was beloved by fans, Hanshaw was not fond of her records, and in her own words “disliked all of them intensely.”
Velvet Tone 1859-V was recorded February 20, 1929 in New York City, and was also issued on Harmony 859-H and Diva 2859-G. Miss Hanshaw is accompanied by the “New England Yankees”, actually Ben Selvin’s Columbia studio orchestra, which includes Tommy Dorsey and Tommy Gott on trumpets, Charlie Butterfield on trombone, Jimmy Dorsey on clarinet and alto sax, and Hank Stern or Joe Tarto on tuba, among several others who remain unknown.
First, Miss Hanshaw delivers a delightful performance of the 1929 classic “A Precious Little Thing Called Love” from The Shopworn Angel.
A Precious Little Thing Called Love, recorded February 20, 1929 by Annette Hanshaw Accomp. by New England Yankees.
Next, she sings one of her signature songs, “Mean to Me”.
Mean to Me, recorded February 20, 1929 by Annette Hanshaw Accomp. by New England Yankees.
A crop of the only known photograph of Lemon Jefferson, as was pictured in the Paramount Book of Blues.
On this day, we celebrate the probable birthday of the great blues man Blind Lemon Jefferson, so for this momentous occasion, I present to you a great treasure of the Old Time Blues collection, which happened to have been recorded on Lemon’s thirty-sixth birthday.
Lemon Henry Jefferson was born most likely on September 24, 1893 (though, as is so often the case with early blues people, this date is disputed), one of seven children born to a family of poor sharecroppers in Coutchman, Texas (or “Couchman” as the locals seem to spell it, though the former is correct according to the Texas Almanac), near Tehuacana Creek and about five miles west of Streetman, in Freestone County. He was blind from infancy, though the full extent of his visual impairment is debatable—some, including Victoria Spivey, have suggested that he may have had limited sight, and he was reputed to have been able to fire a gun with considerable accuracy. Lemon took up the guitar in his teens and played at picnics and rent parties, or “booger roogers” as he called them, in East Texas. He later took up in Dallas, and in the 1910s worked frequently in Deep Ellum, often playing with fellow musicians such as Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter and Alger “Texas” Alexander. In late 1925 or early ’26, a time when most of recorded blues consisted of the vaudevillian variety of women singing with a jazz band backing, Blind Lemon traveled to Chicago to record for Paramount records. Between 1926 and 1929, Jefferson recorded around a hundred songs for Paramount, and made one additional record with Okeh. In addition to recording, Lemon also gigged all around the southeastern United States, along the way meeting other blues musicians like King Solomon Hill, who would later record as “Blind Lemon’s Buddy”. Blind Lemon Jefferson died under mysterious circumstances in Chicago at 10:00 AM on December 19, 1929, Paramount paid for his body to be shipped back to Texas, where he was buried in the Wortham Negro Cemetery.
Paramount 12872, featuring “Bed Springs Blues” and “Yo Yo Blues”, was recorded September 24, 1929—Lemon’s birthday—in either Chicago, Illinois, or Richmond, Indiana. This proved to be Blind Lemon Jefferson’s final recording session. The condition’s pretty rough on this one, but I think the music still comes through. Now, two years after my original posting, a new Grado cartridge has facilitated a much finer quality of transfers than my originals. Though still plagued by some groove stripping and plenty of pops and clicks, they are now much crisper and clearer, and those pesky skips have been all-but-eliminated.
First, Lemon’s “Bed Springs Blues” provides an excellent demonstration of Lemon’s unique style of playing guitar. “Tell me why do them springs tremble so on your bed, baby!”
Bed Springs Blues, recorded September 24, 1929 by Blind Lemon Jefferson.
On the flip, Lemon performs his own “Yo Yo Blues”. A number of songs carrying the same title were recorded around the same period—most notably by Barbecue Bob—opening with “got up this morning, my yo-yo mama was gone,” but Lemon’s is a different song, instead starting with “I would go yo-yoin’, but I broke my yo-yo string.”
Yo Yo Blues, recorded September 24, 1929 by Blind Lemon Jefferson.
Updated with improved audio on July 28, 2017, and again on February 21, 2023.
Carson Robison and Frank Luther as “Bud and Joe Billings”. From Victor catalog, 1930.
So far I’ve mostly shared jazz records, so I think it’s about time I broke the monotony with something a bit different, so here’s one of my favorite country records, by Frank Luther and Carson Robison.
Carson Robison started out his lengthy and prolific recording career as a guitar player for vaudevillian Wendell Hall in 1924, becoming a studio guitarist and whistler for Victor records. Later that year, he was teamed up with the classically trained hillbilly singer Vernon Dalhart, beginning a partnership that lasted until an acrimonious parting in 1928, and would define “citybilly” music. Soon after, Robison joined forces with minister-turned-singer and fellow Kansan Frank Luther, who had previously sung with the Revelers and as a popular dance band vocalist, and the pair went on to supersede Dalhart as some of the nation’s foremost country recording artists. Their partnership lasted until 1932, when Robison set sail with a new group to bring hillbilly music to the British Isles. Luther continued to record domestically.
Supertone S2061 was recorded on May 21, 1929 and December 10, 1928, respectively, in New York City. The two sides were originally issued apart, with the first side on Brunswick 425 and the second on Vocalion 5278. This Supertone was released around 1931, and draws its masters from the Brunswick/Vocalion catalog rather than the original Gennett masters, after the Brunswick Radio Corporation (a subsidiary of Warner Brothers Pictures) acquired the contract from the Starr Piano Company.
On the first side of Supertone S2061, Frank Luther and Carson Robison perform “Left My Gal in the Mountains”, one of many country songs written by Robison and recorded by the duo on numerous labels. The accompaniment—made up of Earl Oliver on cornet, probably Roy Smeck on steel guitar, and an unknown clarinettist and guitarist—adds a little jazz to the song.
Left My Gal in the Mountains, recorded May 21, 1929 by Frank Luther and Carson Robison.
On the flip-side, Luther, accompanied by Robison on guitar, sings Harry McClintock’s famous “Big Rock Candy Mountains” in an almost flawless imitation of Mac.
The Big Rock Candy Mountains, recorded December 13, 1928 by Frank Luther.
