Victor 20122 – Carl T. Sprague – 1926

Posted on May 10, 2018 by R. Connor Montgomery

Texas boy Carl T. Sprague was among the first cowboy singers to make records, with his first session taking place in 1925. He also holds the uncommon distinction of being my favorite cowboy singer.

Sprague as pictured in Victor’s 1930 catalog of Old Familiar Tunes.

Carl Tyler Sprague was born in Brazoria County, Texas, near the town of Manvel, on May 10, 1895. His family was involved in the thriving cattle business, through which the young Sprague learned the traditional songs of the cowboy. He attended Texas A&M to study agriculture, but was interrupted by the First World War, in which he served as a member of the U.S. Army Signal Corps. After the war’s end, he returned to Texas A&M, and graduated with a degree in animal husbandry. After graduating, he was employed as an athletic instructor at the university, a position which he held from 1922 until 1937, and acquired the nickname “Doc”. Following the success of Vernon Dalhart’s “mountaineer’s songs”, Sprague wrote to the Victor Talking Machine Company expressing interest having them record some of his cowboy songs. They apparently obliged, and Sprague traveled to Camden, New Jersey to make two test recordings. Victor must’ve liked them, because two months later, he returned to record a series of ten sides in sessions on the third, fourth, and fifth of August, 1925, half of which were issued. His first record, “When the Work’s All Done This Fall”, became quite a hit, and proved that people were interested in hearing the song of the cowboy. That was followed by a further three sessions over the following three years in Camden, Savannah, Georgia, and Dallas, producing eighteen more sides, all of which were released. In spite of his records’ success, singing was but a hobby for Sprague, and he did not pursue a music career outside of record-making. He left his post at Texas A&M in 1937 and opened a store in Bryan, and when the Second World War rolled in, he served once again, as a recruiter. The folk revival of the 1960s brought Sprague back into music, and he played and lectured around the country, and recorded two LPs in 1972 and ’74. Carl T. Sprague died on February 21, 1979 in Bryan, Texas, where he had called home since 1920.

Victor 20122 was recorded in Camden, New Jersey on June 22, 1926, at Sprague’s second series of sessions. The record was released in December of the same year, and remained in the catalog all the way until 1944, perhaps indicating it was Sprague’s greatest success. Sprague is accompanied by two fiddles played by H.J. McKenzie and C.R. Dockum.

One of the archetypal cowboy songs, the stark, bleak, and sorrowful “O Bury Me Not On the Lone Prairie (The Dying Cowboy)” is a mesmerizing, repetitive, and minimalistic piece, with Sprague’s vocal backed by the beat of his guitar and the forlorn fiddle’s croon. The song has been featured in recent years on Dust-to-Digital’s evocative multimedia collection I Listen to the Wind That Obliterates My Traces: Music in Vernacular Photographs (1880-1955).

O Bury Me Not On the Lone Prairie (The Dying Cowboy), recorded June 22, 1926 by Carl T. Sprague.

On “B”, Sprague sings “The Cowboy’s Dream”, a less depressing and rather entrancing melody. It also provides a demonstration of Sprague’s distinctive and simple-yet-pleasing style of playing guitar, which from both aural and photographic evidence, seems to have been done on an early resonator, or at least it was certainly by the end of his recording career in 1929.

The Cowboy’s Dream, recorded June 26, 1926 by Carl T. Sprague.

Victor 21470 – Jules Allen “The Singing Cowboy” – 1928

Posted on April 2, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

From 1930 Victor catalog.

If there’s one thing I enjoy, it’s singing cowboys. Not those Hollywood type like Roy Rogers (not that I have anything against Roy, I like him too), but the handful of real life cowboys that made recordings of songs from right there on the range in the 1920s and ’30s. This record falls squarely into that category. This was one of my lucky finds from a little store out in Mineral Wells, Texas, along with some other fine rural selections. It’s likely been in Texas ever since it left the pressing plant in Camden.

Jules Verne Allen was born on April 1, 1883 in the charming little town of Waxahachie, Texas, he began working as a cowboy in the next decade, punching cattle from Montana to the Rio Grande. He served his country in the Great War, enlisting in the Army in 1917. For many years, Allen worked as an officer of the law, as a police officer and deputy sheriff in El Paso, and as a member of the legendary Texas Rangers. As a cowboy, he learned the traditional songs of the West, played on the guitar, and when the Western phenomenon swept the nation in the late 1920s, Allen began performing those songs on the radio for WOAI in San Antonio and WFAA in Dallas. Billed as “The Singing Cowboy”, he cut three sides for the Victor Talking Machine Co. on one of their field trips in El Paso in 1928, later making twenty more sides, of which all but one were issued. One of the most popular of the early singing cowboys, in 1933, Allen wrote Cowboy Lore, a book detailing the life of a cowpuncher. Continuing to perform on the radio into the 1940s, Allen died on July 10, 1945.

Victor 21470 was recorded April 21, 1928 by Jules Allen during one of Victor’s field trips in El Paso, Texas. These two are Allen’s debut recordings.

First up, Allen sings N. Howard Thorp’s classic cowboy song, “Little Joe, the Wrangler”.

Little Joe, the Wrangler, recorded April 21, 1928 by Jules Allen.

Next, Allen sings the Texas gambling song “Jack o’ Diamonds” in the old cowboy style rather than the blues style associated with the likes of Blind Lemon Jefferson. The last time we heard this tune, it was sung by TCU physics professor Newton Gaines, and to be honest, I believe ol’ Jules delivers a better performance.

Jack o’ Diamonds, recorded April 21, 1928 by Jules Allen.

Timely Tunes C-1564 – Jim New – 1929

Posted on January 10, 2016 by R. Connor Montgomery

In 1931, Victor introduced their first budget label, Timely Tunes in an attempt to cope with the economic downturn. Timely Tunes was not much of a success, as only about forty were issued over a period of three months beginning in April of ’31. In that short time, however, quite a bit of fascinating material was issued, including this intriguing pair of Dallas, Texas recorded folk songs by Newton Gaines under the pseudonym “Jim New”.

A listing for Gaines’ other record in a 1930 Victor supplemental.

The colorful character of Dr. Samuel Newton Gaines (sometimes called Newton C. Gaines), born in 1890, was a professor of physics at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth noted for his work with sound waves, and long time member of the Texas Folklore Society, serving as president in 1929. Besides physics, Gaines had a passion for Western folklore and cowboy songs, and also enjoyed throwing boomerangs and wearing kilts and colorful caps. In the 1920s, Gaines served as the first chairman of the fledgling physics department at TCU, and dedicated himself to ensuring the department’s excellence. In October of 1929, Newton Gaines recorded four cowboy songs in one session for the Victor Talking Machine Company on their Dallas field trip. One pair of sides was issued on Victor’s V-40000 rural series and the other two were pseudonymously released on their short-lived Timely Tunes budget label in 1931. Gaines was an associate of John A. Lomax, recording several cylinders for the Library of Congress under his supervision, and receiving mention in Lomax’s 1934 book American Ballads and Folk Songs. Gaines retired from TCU in 1958 and died in 1963.

Timely Tunes C-1564 was recorded October 12, 1929 in Dallas, Texas, and this issue dates to 1931. While the label credits the fictitious “Jim New” as the artist, Newton Gaines is credited as the arranger on both sides.

On the first side, Gaines sings a railroad disaster ballad, “Wreck of the Six Wheeler”, which bears great lyrical resemblance to Andrew Jenkins’ “Ben Dewberry’s Final Run”, and “Milwaukee Blues” as recorded by Charlie Poole’s North Carolina Ramblers, as well as Richard M. Jones “Trouble In Mind”. This one’s not a very cheerful song, and Gaines’ mournful voice certainly doesn’t add any joy to the mix!

Wreck of the Six Wheeler, recorded October 12, 1929 by Jim New.

On the flip side, Gaines sings a considerably less depressing version of the classic Texas folk song, “For Work I’m Too Lazy”, also known as “Rye Whiskey” or “Jack o’ Diamonds”.

For Work I’m Too Lazy, recorded October 12, 1929 by Jim New.