![[audio]](/images/mediatype_audio.gif) | Kelly Harrell - I Wish I Was A Single Girl Again - Kelly Harrell
Kelly Harrel sings traditional folk tune "I Wish I Was A Single Girl Again" with guitar and harmonica accompaniment. Recorded January 7, 1925. From the original 78rm disk.
Keywords: oldtime; folk; country; appalachian; old-time appalachian; 78rpm
Downloads: 10,413
Average rating:  (2 reviews) |
| Obed Pickard - Sally Goodin - Obed Pickard
Great mouth harp work on this 1929 recording of the traditional folk tune "Sally Goodin" by Obed "Dad" Pickard, one of the first "Grand Old Opry" performers. From original 78rpm disk.
Keywords: Music; Country; Folk; Old-Time Appalachian; 78rpm; Oldtime
Downloads: 13,116
Average rating:  (8 reviews) |
| Frank Hutchison-The Last Scene Of The Titanic - Frank Hutchison
Recorded on April 29, 1927 in St. Louis. The story of the Titanic made a deep impression on people and was the subject of several ballads and tunes. Thus, versions of tunes about the Titanic were recorded by Ray Acuff, Ernest Stoneman, Blind Willie Johnson ("God Moves On The Water"), William & Versey Smith ("When That Great Ship Went Down"), among others. According to Jeff Place, the story of the Titanic "was particularly important to African-American musicians who were strongly aware of the iro...
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Ballad; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; 78rpm
Downloads: 3,697
Average rating: (1 review) |
| Kelly Harrell - Rovin' Gambler - Kelly Harrell
An old traditional song described on the record label as a "Mountaineer's Song with violin and guitar". Kelly Harrell made his living in the Virginia textile mills but sang on the side and recorded several sessions in the later 1920s. "Rovin' Gambler" was recorded on January 7, 1925. From the original 78rpm disk.
Keywords: oldtime; folk; country; appalachian; old-time appalachian; 78rpm
Downloads: 8,253
Average rating:  (0 review) |
| Clarence Ashley-Coo Coo Bird - Clarence Ashley
Recorded on October 23, 1929 in Johnson City, Tennessee. Greil Marcus describes this tunes as a "folk-lyric" tune "made up of verbal fragments that had no direct or logical relationship to each other." Ashley's banjo is tuned to G-modal, also referred to as Sawmill tuning. Some folklorists note that the cuckoo is an ancient symbol for the coming of summer.
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; Banjo Tune; 78rpm
Downloads: 7,692
Average rating: (2 reviews) |
| Bascom Lamar Lunsford-I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground - Bascom Lamar Lunsford
Recorded in April 1928 in Ashland, Kentucky. Another banjo tune with lyrics that could be from any one of a number of tunes, and which have no apparent logical relationship with each other. This particular tune, which became a folkie staple during the Great Folk Scare, is related to tunes known as "Tempie," "Darling Where Have You Been So Long," "Sammie, Where Have You Been So Long," and "I Don't Like No Railroad Man." In "When We Were Good: The Folk Revival" Robert Cantwell says: "Listen to 'I ...
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Ballad; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; Banjo Tune; 78rpm
Downloads: 6,562
Average rating: (6 reviews) |
| Grayson & Whitter-Ommie Wise - Grayson & Whitter
Recorded on October 18, 1927 in Atlanta, Georgia. G.B. Grayson on fiddle and vocals. Harry Smith, editor of "The Anthology of American Folk Music," summarized "Ommie Wise" with this headline: "Greedy girl goes to Adams Spring with liar; lives just long enough to regret it." This tune is apparently based on the real life drowning of the pregnant Naomi Wise in North Carolina in 1808.
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Ballad; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune; 78rpm
Downloads: 2,550
Average rating: (0 review) |
| Dock Boggs-Country Blues - Dock Boggs
Recorded in 1927 in New York City. Jon Pankake wrote "[t]he haunted dissonance of Boggs' banjo playing and the harsh, overpowering emotion of his singing together with the bleakness of the vision expressed in his songs caused me to rethink my notion of 'folk music,' which hitherto I had associated with Pete Seeger's optimism and cheerful, bouncing banjo." This tune belongs to the same family of so-called blues ballads as "Hustling Gamblers" and "Darling Cory."
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Ballad; Blues; Old-Time Appalachian; Acoustic Country Blues; Banjo Tune; 78rpm
Downloads: 11,526
Average rating: (1 review) |
| J. W. Day-Way Up On Clinch Mountain - J. W. Day
Recorded on February 27, 1928 in New York City. J. W. Day was the real name of a fiddler who later performed as Jilson Setters. Jilson Setters, the character, was held out to the public by a folk festival organizer as a modern day Rip Van Winkle. Setters purportedly spent his life in the mountains never to come into contact with the modern world, still retaining vestiges of his English ancestry , not to mention original British ballads...
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune; 78rpm
Downloads: 3,081
Average rating: (0 review) |
| Don Richardson - Mississippi Sawyer - Don Richardson
Fiddler Don Richardson plays traditional tune "Mississippi Sawyer" in what may be the first country music recording session in April of 1916. The tune dates from the 1830s, as far as I can determine. From the original 78rpm disk.
Keywords: Music; Folk; Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune; Fiddle; 78rpm; Oldtime
Downloads: 1,624
Average rating: (0 review) |
| Pie Plant Pete - Hand Me Down My Walking Cane - Pie Plant Pete
A nice, fast-paced version of this traditional song by early country performer Pie Plant Pete (Claude Moye), with some impressive harmonica and guitar work. This recording dates from around 1929. From 78rpm disk.
Keywords: 78rpm; country; folk; traditional; old-time appalachian; oldtime; harmonica; acoustic guitar
Downloads: 1,625
Average rating: (0 review) |
| Don Richardson - Durangs Hornpipe with Little Brown Jug - Don Richardson
"Durang's Hornpipe - introducing Little Brown Jug", is played by fiddler Don Richardson in this 1916 recording. This is arguably the first country music recording session. From 78rpm
Keywords: Music; Folk; Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune; Fiddle; 78rpm; oldtime
Downloads: 5,444
Average rating:  (2 reviews) |
| Aiken County String Band-High Sheriff - Aiken County String Band
Recorded on September 19, 1927 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Nothing is known about this string band, other than that it is believed that they were from South Carolina. That and they sure could pick a mean mandolin.
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Country; Instrumental; Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune; 78rpm
Downloads: 7,602
Average rating:  (3 reviews) |
| B. F. Shelton-Pretty Polly - B. F. Shelton
Recorded on July 29 1927 at Bristol, Tennessee during the famous Bristol Sessions where Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family made their first recordings. This version of "Pretty Polly" is just one of the many turns on the "murdered girlfriend" ballad. Banjo players who play these sordid little tunes tend to tune their instrument to a modal tuning. Some researchers have held the belief that "Pretty Polly" is a shortened variation of another ballad called "The Gosport Tragedy."
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Ballad; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; Banjo Tune; 78rpm
Downloads: 10,620
Average rating: (11 reviews) |
| Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers-Shootin' Creek - Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers
Reorded on July 23, 1928. This tune is clearly related, if not the same tune, to the old-timey and bluegrass standard "Cripple Creek." Alan Jabbour has speculated that the "Cripple Creek" title may be related to certain labor disputes in the Cripple Creek area of Colorado during 1903 and 1904. On the other hand, a Cripple Creek flows through Grayson and Carroll Counties in Southwest Virginia. As for the title "Shootin' Creek," there exists a Shooting Creek region in Franklin County also in South...
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune; 78rpm
Average rating: (4 reviews) |
| Samantha Bumgarner - Shout Lou - Samantha Bumgarner
An early banjo with calls version of a traditional Appalachian breakdown more often known as "Shout Lula", recorded April 1924. From 78rpm.
Keywords: Music; Old-Time Appalachian; 78rpm; Oldtime; Banjo (Five-string); Folk
Downloads: 4,157
Average rating: (1 review) |
| Don Richardson - Arkansas Traveler - Don Richardson
A very early recording of the traditional country fiddle tune "Arkansas Traveler", played by Don Richardson, dating from April of 1916. There is a barely audible piano accompaniment. This is from the original 78rpm disk, which is not in great shape, and there is considerable noise. But this recording does not seem to be widely available even as a reissue, so I thought it worthwhile to post it despite the condition.
Keywords: Music; Folk; Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune; 78rpm; Oldtime
Downloads: 6,657
Average rating: (9 reviews) |
