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SFC Spotlight: Glenn Thompson

78_18471_Dixie Playboy’s Swing_Glenn Thompson and his Dixie Playboys
78_18471_Dixie Playboy’s Swing_Glenn Thompson and his Dixie PlayboysThe Southern Folklife Collection is looking forward to  2012.  We’ve got a number of exciting programs, including tributes to Son House (the third in our Blues Tribute Series) and Mike Seeger, and projects coming up and we can’t wait to share more with you dear readers. While working through the ongoing Wilson Special Collections Library sprinkler construction project, we’ve been digitizing some more of the Southern Folklife Collection photographs, including those from the Glenn Thompson Collection (#20341).
During the 1940s and 1950s, country music singer and guitarist Glenn Thompson was a popular bandleader, radio personality, and recording artist, performing first with the Burlington, N.C.,-based Blue Ridge Entertainers and subsequently with his own Dixie Playboys. Thompson continued to perform regularly and released several recordings as both soloist and bandleader until his retirement in 1985.

78_18472_Double Stone_Glenn Thompson and his Dixie Playboys78_18472_Double Stone_Glenn Thompson and his Dixie PlayboysThe collection includes photographs and sound recordings documenting Thompson’s musical career. Photographs feature Thompson, his bandmates, and associates during the 1940s and 1950s, and include several promotional shots of Thompson (top), the Blue Ridge Entertainers, and the Dixie Playboys. Photographs also document Thompson’s involvement with Danville, Va., radio station WDVA and his performance at a number of venues, including the WDVA Barn Dance, the Carolina Theatre , Burlington (above), a voting rally, a WTOB (Winston-Salem) television show (below), and several radio stations.

Also included are photographs of comedians who performed in Thompson’s stage show, most commonly long-time bandmate Sleepy Johnson and WDVA personality Homer T (Thomasson). Other performers include Charlie Monroe; armless musician Ray R. Meyers; and the Louvin Brothers. Sound recordings include CD copies of commercial 78 rpm records (including those featured in this post) and LP records; original 45 rpm records; and cassettes and compact discs issued privately by Thompson or by the Greensboro-based Skatter label. A taped interview (call nos. FS-6086 and FS-6087), in which Thompson comments on the collection’s photographs, provides anecdotes about Buck Owens, Bill Monroe and Charlie Monroe, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, the Louvins, Ray Meyers, Thompson’s bandmates, and Thompson’s musical experiences in Danville and Burlington.
78_18467_All Alone, I’ve Been Waiting for You_Glenn Thompson and his Dixie Playboys78_18467_All Alone, I’ve Been Waiting for You_Glenn Thompson and his Dixie Playboys
 

A SFC Holiday

Carson Robinson and his Pioneers appeared on BBC run Radio Luxembourg and Normandy on Sunday mornings in the late 1930s. They are often credited as the first Country & Western group from the United States to tour Europe. Robinson was a well known singer, guitarist, and professional whistler in his native Kansas before he moved to New York City for a contract with Victor records and began collaborating with the legendary singer Vernon Dalhart in 1924. Robinson accompanied Dalhart on the recording of country music’s first million selling record, “The Wreck of the Old 97” b/w “The Prisoner’s Song.”
The postcard above was a holiday card sent to John Edwards for Christmas dated 1957, the year that Carson Robinson died. We found a few other holiday images in the photos from the John Edwards Memorial Foundation Collection (#20001) that we wanted to share with you here.  Have a wonderful weekend.

 
 

Photo of the Week: Merle Haggard and the Texas Playboys

P2998, from the John Edwards Memorial Foundation Collection (#20001), is but one of a series of photographs documenting the recording sessions for Bob Wills’s final album, For the Last Time. Sessions, produced by the legendary guitarist Tommy Allsup (another former Cricket like Bobby Durham), took place just outside of Dallas on December 3 and 4, 1973.
Haggard drove all night from Chicago to participate on the final day after begging permission from Wills to attend. Sadly, Wills was unable to complete the session after suffering a severe stroke on the night of December 3 and slipping into a coma the following day never to retain consciousness. Haggard and the band, the first reunion of the Texas Playboys since Wills disbanded the group in the 1960s, pressed on with noted successor of the Bob Wills sound Hoyle Nix stepping up into the boots of his hero to lead the group.
We are not positive, but we believe the photo above includes Haggard, fiddlers Keith Coleman and Johnny Gimble, steel guitarist Leon McCauliffe, and the back of guitarist Eldon Shamblin’s head.
 

Photo of the Week: Bobby Durham

Bobby Durham was not just a smart dressed man. A prominent vocalist with the Bakersfield sound, Durham got his start in country music performing on California country music variety shows like Town Hall Party and Hometown Jamboree.  After stints with Cousin Ebb Pillings’s Ozark Squirrel Shooters and Jolly Judy and her Go-Go Daddies, Durham signed with Capitol Records in the early 1960s.  He scored a major hit with the Merle Haggard penned classic “My Past is Present,” earning Durham a 1965 Academy of Country Music Awards nomination for “Most Promising Male Vocalist.” Durham later joined The Crickets, performing some excellent progressive country with the group in the early 1970s.
Durham returned to Bakersfield in the 1980s, recording solo albums for Hightone Records like the popular Do You Still Drink Margeritas and Where I Grew Up.  Durham continues to perform with his Durham Band at Buck Owens’s Crystal Palace.
The photo above, call no. P599, is part of the John Edwards Memorial Foundation Collection (#20001).
 
 
 
 
 
 

"Every Sincere Wish" from Hank Snow, Ralph McGee and the SFC


“Every Sincere Wish,” a rather open ended valediction, is what Hank Snow wanted for the recipient of this autographed photo, call no. P1600 from the John Edwards Memorial Foundation Collection (#20001). Perhaps he hoped that all their wishes might be granted, that all their dreams might come true? We like to think that Clarence Eugene “Hank” Snow was offering to grant the wishes himself, but with the caveat that they must be “sincere,” and pity the fool who tried to get one over on the “Singing Ranger.” Despite the lack of specificity, we agree with the sentiment and we extend it on to you via this great Canadian-American country music star from his Rainbow Ranch in Tennessee.
It’s been a busy fall at the SFC and we want to offer our thanks to all the participants–musicians, speakers, audience members, students, and staff–who contributed to the great success of the Southern Folklife Collection tribute concert and symposium in honor of blues legend Reverend Gary Davis. Stay tuned for upcoming information on our third concert in the SFC blues tribute series, this one dedicated to the legendary Son House.
Since many will be celebrating this coming holiday with a roasted bird, we thought it only appropriate to offer a version of “Turkey in the Straw” for your listening pleasure. This recording by the great King, NC fiddler Ralph McGee comes from open reel tape FT-12000, Tape 3 recorded at the 8th Annual Blue Grass and Old Time Fiddlers Convention, Veteran’s Park, Mount Airy, NC, 2 June 1979. Part of the Ralph Epperson Collection (#20401), this recording features fiddler McGee bowing with a toothpick. Maybe some of you fiddlers out there want to give it a shot this weekend after a good meal. Let us know how it works out.

Turkey in the Straw_Ralph McGee_Mount Airy Blue Grass and Old Time Fiddlers Convention_2 June 1979 Call no. FT-12000, “Turkey in the Straw” by Ralph McGee at the 8th Annual Mount Airy Blue Grass and Old Time Fiddlers Convention, 2 June 1979

 


 

A Tribute Concert to Rev. Gary Davis: November 17, 2011


Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Jorma Kaukonen will headline a Nov. 17 tribute concert and symposium in honor of blues legend Reverend Gary Davis. Schedule and information follows at the end of this post.
The Southern Folklife Collection and the Friends of the Library will sponsor the evening devoted to the master of finger-style guitar who influenced musicians such as Blind Boy Fuller, Taj Mahal, and Bob Dylan.
The 7:30pm concert will feature musicians who studied with Davis or were directly inspired by him, including Hot Tuna and former Jefferson Airplane member Jorma Kaukonen, Stefan Grossman, and Ernie Hawkins. Tickets to the concert can be purchased from the Carolina Union Box Office.
Prior to the concert, a free public symposium will take place in Wilson Library. At 5:30 p.m., blues scholar Elijah Wald will give a keynote lecture on Davis’s life and music. A panel discussion at 6:30 will include Kaukonen, Grossman, and Hawkins.
Wald, a musician and writer, has written for The Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times, and his books include How the Beatles Destroyed Rock ‘n’ Roll: An Alternative History of American Popular Music (Oxford University Press, 2009), The Blues: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2010), and Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues (Amistad, 2004). In 2001, he won a Grammy award for his liner notes for The Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Collection: The Journey of Chris Strachwitz 1960-2000.
The concert is the second event in the Southern Folklife Collection’s Blues Legacy Series. A third event is planned for Feb. 2012 for Eddie James “Son” House.
Davis was born in 1896 in Laurens, S.C., and lost his vision before adulthood. He moved to Durham, N.C., in the 1920s, and worked with a number of musicians in the Piedmont blues scene. In 1933, he became an ordained minister of the Washington, N.C., Free Baptist Connection Church. His best-known songs include “Baby, Can I follow You Down,” “Candy Man,” and “Samson and Delilah.”
The Southern Folklife Collection is fortunate to hold a variety of recordings and materials related to Rev. Gary Davis, including FT-4600 from the Bob Carlin Collection (#20050).  This open reel audio tape features a young Carlin interviewing one mentor (and former camp counselor) Roy Book Binder, a friend, student, and chauffeur of Gary Davis. The interview includes live concert recordings of Davis and Book Binder offering contextual information and sharing his personal experiences with Davis.

FT_4600 FT_4600_Roy Book Binder interviewed by Bob Carlin, WBRC New Milford, Connecticut, Summer 1969 
Symposium, Wilson Special Collections Library, (Free and open to the public)
5 p.m. Reception
5:30 p.m. Keynote with Elijah Wald
6:30 p.m. Panel Discussion with Jorma Kaukonen, Stefan Grossman, and Ernie HawkinsConcert, Student Union, Great Hall, with Jorma Kaukonen, Stefan Grossman, and Ernie Hawkins
7:30 p.m.
Purchase concert tickets from Carolina Union Box Office, ($5 for students; $12.50 for others)Information: Liza Terll, Friends of the Library, (919) 548-1203
Facebook event

SFC Halloween Spotlight: Roky Erickson live at Raul's

Good Evening_Roky Erickson“Children of the Night, what music we make” by Roky Erickson from CD-7041, Live at Raul’s (Dejadisc 1995)
Cover from 1995 Dejadisc CD reissue of Live at Raul’s

While perusing the the CD collections in the Southern Folklife Collection today and thinking of Halloween, I came across CD-7401, Live at Raul’s.  Recorded September 16, 1979, these recordings document the Austin punk scene that swirled around the Tex-Mex bar owned by Joseph Gonzales located just west of the University of Texas campus.  Featuring some of Austin’s most celebrated punk and new wave bands like The Standing Waves, The Skunks, and The Next, Live at Raul’s was also slated to feature two tracks by the legendary Roky Erickson.
Unfortunately due to contractual confusion, Erickson’s tracks did not appear on the original LP release in 1979, however they were included in the 1995 CD reissue. Studio versions of Erickson’s two tracks, “Don’t Shake Me Lucifer” and “Red Temple Prayer [Two Headed Dog]” were released a year later on Erickson’s first solo record, The Evil One (CBS 1980), an excellent record that features such Halloween appropriate subjects as ghosts, demons, vampires, zombies, and bloody hammers.
So as tribute to Halloween, rather than turn to The Evil One, we wanted to feature these lesser known versions of Erickson’s nightmare rock and roll songs. As you can hear from the clip at the top, Erickson fully immersed himself in the horror mood for a truly spooky performance.  Enjoy some “Don’t Shake Me Lucifer” and “Red Temple Prayer [Two Headed Dog]” below.
Any of you readers have any Halloween favorites?  Please do share in the comments. Along with The Evil One, I usually give Sonic Youth’s Bad Moon Rising a spin, and I find a little Screamin Jay Hawkins or Darkthrone’s Transilvanian Hunger are always a treat while carving a jack-o-lantern.  Happy Halloween.
Roky Erickson_Don’t Shake Me Lucifer “Don’t Shake Me Lucifer” by Roky Erickson from CD-7041, Live at Raul’s (Dejadisc 1995)
Two Headed Dog_Roky Erickson “Two Headed Dog” by Roky Erickson from CD-7041, Live at Raul’s (Dejadisc 1995)

SFC Spotlight: Vogue Records


Another item from our upcoming exhibit.  This Vogue picture disc, catalog number R764 (according to this excellent discography), features Shep Fields and his Orchestra (also known as Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra) performing Sunny Skylar and Patrick Lewis’s hit song “Whatta ya Gonna Do!” and everybody’s favorite “I Guess I’ll Get the Papers (and go home).”  The image is attributed only to the mysterious “Sprink,” an illustrator who painted many of the Vogue discs and we now know was the artist Walter F. Sprink.
Vogue picture discs were made from May 1946 until April 1947 by Sav-Way Industries, Inc. of Detroit, Michigan.  According to the history compiled by the now defunct Association of Vogue Picture Record Collectors, Sav-Way CEO Tom Saffady and his engineers developed a new and complicated manufacturing process to ensure 78 rpm discs that were not only aesthetically beautiful but also hi-fidelity audio.  Most of the Vogue records feature post-war big band jazz orchestras, but a few include blues and even some country from those famed Sweethearts of Country Music, North Carolina’s own Lulu Belle and Scotty (nee Myrtle Eleanor Cooper and Scotty Greene Wiseman), and Patsy Montana.
The exhibit opens this Thursday, October 20th, as part of a celebration of the UNC Music Library 75th Anniversary.
The exhibit Curating Sound: 75 Years of Music Collections at UNC will open with a keynote address at 5:45 p.m. by Dr. Tim Carter, the David G. Frey Distinguished Professor of Music at UNC, titled “Adventures of an Archive Rat, or How Kurt Weill Came to Chapel Hill in May 1936.”
At 6:30 p.m. will be a concert titled “From Early to Old-Time: A Concert of Music from the Collections.” UNC students, music library staff members, and community musicians will perform music in four genres: Irish traditional, Baroque, early rockabilly, and old-time.
Curating Sound features original publications and artifacts from the Music Library and the Wilson Special Collections Library and will be on view through Jan. 31, 2012.
We hope to see you on Thursday, October 20.

 

 

SFC Spotlight: Curating Sound and Seven Inch Records


On Thursday October 20, 2011, the UNC Music Library will celebrate its seventy-fifth anniversary with the opening of an exhibition in the Melba Remig Saltarelli Room on the third floor of the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library.  The exhibition, entitled “Curating Sound: 75 Years of Music Collections at UNC” will feature materials from the Music Library, the Southern Folklife Collection, and the Southern Historical Collection of the University Library.  On display will be items as diverse as Palestrina prints, libretti from the Florentine Camerata, Lully manuscripts, historic sound recordings, rare concert posters, and even Andy Griffith’s guitar.
The exhibition will open with a reception at 5 pm, a keynote address by Prof. Tim Carter, the David G. Frey Distinguished Professor of Music, and a short concert featuring works from the collection, including ensembles performing English baroque, Old-time stringband, early rockabilly, and Irish traditional music.
While looking for items to contribute from the Southern Folklife Collection, these two 7-inch 45 rpm records (above and below) caught our eye and seemed worthy of further exploration. Above is the cover to Chants au pied de l’Annapurna [Chants at the foot of Annapurna], field recordings from central Nepal by Rene de Milleville–a french writer who lived in Nepal, specializing in the study of rhododendrons and orchids of the region. The following is a sample of the track “Sitarané” from side A.
“Sitarané” performed by musicians from central Nepal Sitarane`
From closer to home in the John D. Loudermilk Collection (#20148), we found a 45 rpm record from Chapel Hill’s own Colonial Records, owned and operated by Orville B. Campbell. Johnny Dee, the first recording moniker of country great John D. Loudermilk, was a student at Campbell College when he recorded “A-plus In Love.” featuring Joe Tanner on the guitar. North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives blog, A View To Hugh, has an excellent article on Loudermilk, and for a few more tracks see this Field Trip South post from two years ago. More information and updates on the exhibit to come, but for now, enjoy a little Johnny Dee.
“A-Plus In Love” by Johnny Dee A-Plus In Love_Johnny Dee

Happy Birthday, Mr. Coltrane

It has been a great week at the Southern Folklife Collection. We kicked off our series of symposia and concert tributes to American blues masters with an evening of Howlin’ Wolf to great success. We cannot thank our participants–Peter Guralnick, Knox Phillips, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Eddie Shaw and the Wolf Gang, Jody Williams, and Henry Gray–and the Friends of the Library organization at UNC enough.  Our second event in the series, a tribute to Gary Davis, is scheduled for November 17, with a keynote by author and scholar Elijah Wald, and featuring musicians Stefan Grossman, Ernie Hawkins, and Jorma Kaukonen.  More details to come but for now see this facebook event page.
This morning we were looking through negatives of images photographed by Robert Bolton at the Downbeat Jazz Festival at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois,15 August 1965 to choose an item for an upcoming exhibit. While doing so, we were reminded that today, September 23, is John Coltrane’s birthday. Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina on September 23, 1926, and grew up in High Point, NC, attending William Penn High School (now Penn-Griffin School for the Arts).  A successful effort to purchase and restore his childhood piano was completed in 2006 and the instrument now resides at the High Point Museum.
Besides tuning in for some excellent programming (24 hours of Coltrane) by Columbia University’s WKCR, we wanted to share a few of Bolton’s photographs of Coltrane from that day. These photos document an extraordinary performance–Coltrane invited Archie Shepp on tenor sax to join the quartet of himself, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones–that marked a distinctive turning point in Coltrane’s career.  Often compared to Bob Dylan’s “plugging in” at the Newport Folk Festival, 1963, Coltrane’s quartet plus Shepp closed the night, free and ferocious and in stark contrast to the more straight forward bebop played throughout the day.
These two images are held as part of the Robert Bolton Collection, 1955-1980 and undated, collection #20408.  The Robert Bolton Collection consists chiefly of photographic materials documenting the social landscape of the eastern United States from the mid 1950s through the early 1980s. Bolton’s photographs examine everything from common street scenes found in and around many southern cities during the 1960s to cultural gatherings, such as the Downbeat Jazz festival in Chicago, Ill. and the Ole Time Fiddler’s & Bluegrass Festival in Union Grove, N.C. In addition, Bolton photographed numerous performers including Bob Dylan, John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong, and many others. Other materials included in the collection are 8mm films depicting Sports Car Club of America auto races from 1960 to 1961 and drawings and paintings created between 1959 and 1967.