This ca. 1928 photo of Hawaiian lap steel guitarist Sol Hoopii and his Trio comes in two forms: unrated (above), and edited for content (below). Both from the Eugene Earle Collection.
Jamie
Two New Radio Streams: Jimmie Rodgers and New Orleans
Fans of SFC streaming radio will be happy to hear we have two new streams up and running:
Jimmie Rodgers, The Father of Country Music, will be streaming in concurrence with the exhibit of the same name (on view at Wilson Library until July 13th). This stream features original recordings by Rodgers, cover versions, and songs by Rodgers-inspired contemporaries .
New Orleans, the first in an upcoming series of geographically-oriented radio streams, features the distinctive jazz, R&B, barrelhouse boogie, and brass bands of New Orleans, Louisiana, and surrounding areas.
The links work best with iTunes, Winamp, or VLC media players. Happy listening!
New Addition: The Eugene Earle Collection
After almost a year in process, the latest addition to the Eugene Earle Collection finding aid is now available. The addition of July 2009 contains over 9,500 items from the collection of discographer, record collector, and founding president of the John Edwards Memorial Foundation, Eugene Earle (pictured, ca. 1960).
Included in the addition are hundreds of live recordings of performances by old-time and bluegrass musicians including Doc Watson, Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers, the Osbourne Brothers, and the Country Gentlemen.
The collection also includes posters, films, printed music, photographs, serials, record label catalogs, promotional materials, and papers relating to Earle’s discographical and record collecting activities.
Processing of the Eugene Earle Collection has been made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, as part of the ongoing digitization project Fiddles, Banjos and Mountain Music: Preserving Audio Collections of Southern Traditional Music.
Photo of the Week: Hank Williams
The whole-grain goodness of Hank Williams and his band at WSM studios in 1950. Left to right: Howard Watts, WSM announcer “Cousin” Louie Buck, Sammy Pruett, Hank Williams, Jerry Rivers, and Don Helms. Hank is likely the only Pulitzer Prize winner to have appeared in an advertisement for something called “Hog Ration”.
Leadbelly: The Hindenburg Disaster
73 years ago today the German airship Hindenburg exploded in flames while attempting to dock in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 and pretty much ruining transatlantic zeppelin rides for everyone. Since the sinking of the Titanic almost exactly 25 years earlier had generated a raft of folk ballads on the subject, one might think the Hindenburg disaster would have received similar treatment. However, the world had changed a lot in that quarter century, and apparently there wasn’t great demand for folk ballads on a disaster that had been covered extensively by live radio reports and newsreel footage (you can watch a Pathe newsreel of the disaster here).
But folk singer Huddie Ledbetter, aka Leadbelly, gave it a shot. Recorded by Alan Lomax at the Library of Congress in June of 1937, here’s a clip of one of Leadbelly’s takes on “The Hindenburg Disaster”:
Hindenburg Disaster
(Clip from Leadbelly: The Library of Congress Recordings, FC-188 in the Southern Folklife Collection.)
Photo of the Week: Jimmie Rodgers
Jimmie Rodgers posing with his 1930 Model A Ford in Kerrville, Texas. This and many other vintage photos of Rodgers can be seen in the SFC’s current exhibit Jimmie Rodgers: The Father of Country Music, showing on the 4th Floor of Wilson Library through July 13.
We've Got A Flickr
Now there is one more place to find SFC content on the web: popular photo-sharing service Flickr. You can find the SFC photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/southernfolklife/
We’ll be using this space primarily to share items from the collection, mostly vintage photographs, as they are scanned for access. We’ve started with a few things you may know from this blog’s “Photo of the Week” feature, but we’ll continue to add images as they become available. Enjoy!
Photo of the Week: Grayson and Whitter with the Greer Sisters
Henry Whitter (standing), G. B. Grayson, and the Greer Sisters of Boone, North Carolina, photographed ca. 1927.
Jimmie Rodgers Exhibit Opening April 13
Please join us Tuesday evening, April 13th, for the opening of the new Southern Folklife Collection exhibit Jimmie Rodgers: The Father Of Country Music, celebrating the music and legacy of Jimmie Rodgers, one of the most popular and influential musicians of the 20th century.
The event starts with a reception at 5:00 PM, followed by a 5:45 talk by Jocelyn R. Neal, author of The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers: A Legacy In Country Music. Dr. Neal will be delivering a talk based on her research, “The Secrets of the Songs: Jimmie Rodgers and His Legacy.”
Following the talk, old-time musician Matt Kinman will be performing songs originally popularized by Rodgers and his contemporaries.
The opening event will be held on the 4th floor of Wilson Library on the campus of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and is free and open to the public. Hope to see you there!
Photo of the Week: Farmers Federation String Band
The Farmers Federation String Band, performing at the Essex Hotel in Philadelphia, November 1953. Left to right: Gaither Robinson, banjo; “Panhandle Pete” Nash, bass; Clarence Greene, fiddle; Steve Ledford, fiddle; Herman Jones, guitar.