Old-time music thread

[cemaphonic]

For the last couple years, I've been totally absorbed with American music from the late 19th & early 20th century.

Ola Belle Reed - I've Endured

A tough lady with a wicked clawhammer stroke, and a voice with a lot of character.

Mississippi Sheiks - Sitting on Top of the World

Pretty much everybody has covered this one - Doc Watson, Howlin' Wolf, Cream, Jack White to name a few. But the original is tough to beat.

Gid Tanner & the Skillet Lickers - Soldier's Joy

The guitarist for the Skillet Lickers (Riley Puckett) had a really interesting style, with a really active bass line. Fun to play his parts.

Mike Seeger - Needle Case

This is one of my favorite banjo instrumentals, and Mike Seeger plays it better than anybody.

Who else likes music from "the Old, Weird America"?

[Liberal Jesus Freak]

1. We'll I wasn't before...

...but I sure am now! Thanks for posting these delightful performances

[sarge43]

2. Bessie Smith - Back Water Blues

[Duppers]

6. Now you're talking. 😉

Thx for posting Bessie.

[sarge43]

10. Sure. Can't talk about Blues and not mention Bessie

Before there was Aretha or Janis or Nina or Billie ....

[MiltonBrown]

3. My guy Milton Brown and his Musical Brownies ('32-'36) covered that very

Mississippi Sheiks song and were influenced by the Skillet Lickers too; the Brownies being a hybrid hillbilly, blues, jazz and swing outfit.

Love music from the same era. Been collecting 78s for years.

[cemaphonic]

4. Oh yeah, I've been meaning to listen to them

My guitar teacher is way into Western Swing and keeps suggesting things. I like the general sound, but just haven't taken the time to really get familiar with the genre.

[MiltonBrown]

11. Milton and the Brownies are my very favorite.

Hope you check them out sometime.

Sadly Milton died in a car accident in 1936 just as the Brownies were breaking nationally.

[mia]

5. Robert Johnson - Sweet home Chicago...

&list=RDO8hqGu-leFc

[Special Prosciuto]

7. There was a Lady Elvis

Janis Martin - All right baby - 1957

[Rhiannon12866]

8. My grandmother had a victrola in her barn that played Thomas Edison records

And we kids loved to go down there and play them. This record player looks just like the one she had - complete with Thomas Edison records! This was one of our favorites, it's the same recording...

[canetoad]

9. Memphis Jug Band

[cemaphonic]

13. I almost put them in the OP. Love the Memphis Jug Band

Aunt Caroline Dyer Blues

[DinahMoeHum]

12. In my neck of the woods (Hudson Valley). . .

local band "Dirty Stay-Out Skifflers". . .play a lot of old-timey, jug band music.

I saw them at this summer's Clearwater Hudson River Revival.

https://www.reverbnation.com/dirtystayoutskifflers

[cemaphonic]

14. That area has been a folk music hotspot for generations.

Bet there's a lot of great bands out that way.

[cemaphonic]

15. A few more...

Carter Family - Storms Are on the Ocean

One of the most important and influential American bands of all time. Folk, gospel, country and bluegrass wouldn't be the same without their arrangements, vocal harmonies, and Maybelle's innovative guitar style.

Henry Thomas - Fishin' Blues

Taj Mahal covered this, and it became one of his signature songs. But Henry Thomas' version occupies an interesting junction of ragtime and blues, and I love the quills in the instrumental breaks.

Chris Thile & Michael Daves - Richmond is a Hard Road to Travel

Contemporary musicians, but a very old song. Civil War-era lyrics to an even older minstrel tune (Jordan Am a Hard Road to Travel)

Uncle Dave Macon - Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy

One of the first huge stars of the radio era. Banjo legend and larger-than-life entertainer.

Minor Swing - Django Reinhardt & Stéphane Grappelli

Not American, but old-time and just too good to pass up. Gypsy Jazz has been huge in acoustic music circles for the last few years, and Django and Grappelli pretty much define the genre.

[MiltonBrown]

17. Django was doing much the same in Europe what Milton Brown was doing in America.

Hot string band rhythm jazz with a violin (fiddle) up front. Django's playing was out of this world.

[MiltonBrown]

19. Here's Milton Brown and the Brownies version from a year earlier than Django

I didn't even know Milton recorded it, just happened across it on youtube. They called Milton's music 'Western Swing' so I like to call Django's 'Western European Swing'

[SecularMotion]

16. Popeye the Sailor

[Special Prosciuto]

18. Faded Love

Bob Wills 1930s, Flying Burrito Bros 1970s