Jazz Crazy Records

An Archive of Early Jazz on 78 RPM

Category: Hillbilly / Country

  • “Slippery Fingers” – Roy Smeck (1936)

    “Slippery Fingers” – Roy Smeck (1936)

    As a guitarist myself, I love hearing guitar records from the 20s and 30s of almost any genre.

    Roy Smeck, credited as “The Wizard of the Strings” on this Decca label, played guitar, banjo, ukulele, and octochord (lap steel guitar with 8 strings) on many 78 rpm discs starting in the mid 20s. His playing style ranged from Hawaiian guitar records with Frank Ferera to early country records by artists such as Carson Robison and Frank Luther.

    He also played banjo on records for early jazz bands such as The Georgians and The Cotton Pickers. In the mid 30s, he played guitar on several sides with Clarence Williams.

    “Slippery Fingers” demonstrates Smeck’s showy playing style which in its own way foreshadows later players such as Chet Atkins. Smeck playing here was no doubt inspired by early guitarists like Nick Lucas and Eddie Lang, among others.

    Which reminds me – a long time ago on my instagram channel I played my three recordings of Nick Lucas’ guitar classics “Picking the Guitar” and “Teasing the Frets”. Need to get good transfers of those three up here!

    Recorded on April 9, 1936.
    Released as Decca 1089.

    Credits:
    Roy Smeck – guitar
    Unknown artist – guitar accompaniment

  • “How to Make Love” – Weary Willie (1928) ❤️

    “How to Make Love” – Weary Willie (1928) ❤️

    Some instructions on making love from a fella named Weary Willie. 😂

    Suggestions include slicking your hair back with lard and tying a ribbon on your buggy whip.

    A lyrical twist at the end.

    Happy Valentine’s Day! 🥰

    Recorded c. December 1928.
    Released as Perfect 12497.

    Credits:
    Frank Luther – vocals
    Carson Robison – jaw harp, harmonica
    Unknown artists – guitar, fiddle

  • “I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground” – Bascom Lamar Lunsford (1928)

    “I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground” – Bascom Lamar Lunsford (1928)

    Pardon the break from jazz, but I wanted to post one of my desert island discs – a song about everything and nothing: “I Wish I Was A Mole in the Ground” by Bascom Lamar Lunsford.

    I first discovered this song in the late 80s when I was taking a summer Physics class at a local university (where I now work, as fate would have it). I used my library card to check out records and recorded them to cassette tape. I checked out a Folkways record called Folk Music U.S.A. and a later recording of this tune was on it. I then heard this earlier version on Harry Smith’s legendary Anthology of American Folk Music. Something about it just really intrigued me and it became a real favorite.

    The song was performed for Lunsford by a North Carolina neighbor named Fred Moody in 1901. His mother asked him to learn the banjo so he could play it for her. Lunsford said it was the last request she made to him before she passed away.

    When I first started collecting 78s in 2017 I made a list of records I’d like to collect. The list was not long because I knew next to nothing about the music of the 78 rpm era: 1. Duke Ellington “Jack the Bear” 2. Fletcher Henderson “Phantom Fantasie” 3. This one.

    It took a while, but earlier this month a copy finally found its way into my collection.

    While my initial list is now completed, I now see that there are 2,772 records in my Discogs wantlist. 😂 I suppose desire is an unquenchable fire. Perhaps that’s why the writer of this song wished to be a mole in the ground.

    Recorded in Ashland, Kentucky on February 6, 1928.
    Released as Brunswick 219.

    Credits:
    Bascom Lamar Lunsford – vocals, banjo

  • “Dry Bones” – Bascom Lamar Lunsford

    “Dry Bones” – Bascom Lamar Lunsford

    I first heard “Dry Bones” by Bascom Lamar Lunsford on Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music when I borrowed a vinyl copy from Rod Library at UNI in the summer of 1989 and made a cassette mix from it.

    While I mainly focus on collecting jazz records, I agree with Duke Ellington that there are only two kinds of music – good music and the other kind. One inevitably winds up discovering all sorts of good music when digging through crates of records in musty basements, unheated storage sheds, dirty garages, and dusty attics.

    A few years ago I had a “my hands were shaking” moment when I pulled this pristine copy of Brunswick 314 out of a crate from a large bargain lot of 78s I had just purchased and hauled home from a rural garage two hours away.

    A truly beautiful song – One of the gems of the collection – enjoy!

    Recorded in Ashland, Kentucky on February 6, 1928.
    Originally released as Brunswick 231. Reissued as Brunswick 314.

  • “Sallie Gooden” – A. C. (Eck) Robertson

    “Sallie Gooden” – A. C. (Eck) Robertson

    At a time when metropolitan record companies did not believe there was a market for the music of rural America, fiddlers Alexander Campbell (Eck) Robertson and Henry Gilliland made a trip from Texas to New York City to visit the office of Victor Talking Machine Company. After impressing Victor representatives with a short display of their skill, they returned the next day to record four sides together.

    The following day, on July 1, 1922, Robertson returned alone to record this tune: “Sallie Gooden”, which was released as Victor 18956 on September 1, 1922. The record is widely regarded as the first commercially-recorded country music record.

    Credits
    Alexander Campbell (Eck) Robertson – fiddle

    Sources:
    Library of Congress essay by Wayne Erbsen
    https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/ArkansawTraveler.pdf