The blues scholar Paul Oliver noted that the "raspy, buzzing sound" of some of the jug band instruments was close to the musical aesthetic of Africa and that the jug and kazoo represented the voices of animals or ancestral spirits. A new version of Last.fm is available, to keep everything running smoothly, please reload the site. Will Shade, a multi-instrumentalist and singer, grasped the jug band’s potential when he heard the Dixieland Jug Blowers from Louisville, Kentucky. The Memphis Jug Band sounded like a spontaneous, riotous good time but only because Will Shade rehearsed and drilled them. We don’t have any upcoming events for this artist right now. [3] The Victor recordings were made in Memphis and Atlanta, Georgia, between 1927 and 1930; the Champion-Gennett recordings were made in Richmond, Indiana, in August 1932; and the final sessions for Okeh were held in Chicago in November 1934. With a revolving lineup of singers and musicians, Memphis Jug Band performed old-timey hokum/Dixie-styled classics in the Delta regions from the pre-war era until the 1960s. Will Shade continued playing straightforward country blues songs for the rest of his life, but he also introduced some jazz elements, as in his 1962 field recording of "Jump and Jive", which incorporates lyrics from Cab Calloway's "Jumpin' Jive". If the influence of the Memphis Jug Band is not obvious, consider that two of their songs were included by Harry Smith on his genre-defining Anthology of American Folk Music. By the 1960s, he was living in government housing at Fourth and Beale, still able to assemble a band within seconds, calling on his wife Jennie, neighbor Furry Lewis, vocalist and ukulele giant Little Laura Dukes, and other stars from the medicine shows and chitlin’ circuit who lived near Beale. Compact disc title: "The Best Of The Memphis Jug Band - Classic Recordings From The 1920s". ), the band's music takes a whimsical, circus-like feel. Among the recorded members were (at various times) Will Shade (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Charlie Burse (pronounced Bursey) (guitar, mandolin, and vocals), Charlie Nickerson (piano and vocals), Charlie Pierce (violin), Charlie Polk (jug), Tewee Blackman (vocals, guitar), “Hambone” Lewis (jug), Jab Jones (jug, piano, vocals ), Johnny Hodges/Hardge (piano), Ben Ramey (vocals and kazoo), Casey Bill Weldon (guitar and vocals), Memphis Minnie (guitar and vocals), Vol Stevens (vocals, violin, and mandolin), Milton Robie (violin), Otto Gilmore/Gilmer (drums and woodblocks), and Robert Burse (drums). The band featured harmonicas, violins, mandolins, banjos, and guitars, backed by washboards, kazoo, and jugs blown to supply the bass; they played in a variety of musical styles. | The album is almost an audio documentary tour through different corners of Cannon's life and career that, ideally, might've run to several volumes. The song became one of the group's best known, especially after the Grateful Dead recorded it as its first single, in 1966. ), the band's music takes a whimsical, circus-like feel. [3], The group recorded under several names for various record labels: the Picaninny Jug Band, the Memphis Sanctified Singers, the Carolina Peanut Boys, the Dallas Jug Band, the Memphis Sheiks, and the Jolly Jug Band. Vocals were provided by Hattie Hart, Memphis Minnie, Jennie Mae Clayton (Shade's wife), and Minnie Wallace. The band featured harmonicas, violins, mandolins, banjos, and guitars, backed by washboards, kazoo, and jugs blown to supply the bass; they played in a variety of musical styles. Find Memphis Jug Band bio, music, credits, awards, & streaming links on AllMusic - One of the definitive jug bands of the 1920s and… American Epic: The Best of the Memphis Jug Band, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Memphis_Jug_Band&oldid=971459880, Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 6 August 2020, at 08:37. All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. As their personnel changed, so did their repertoire. Very nice write up. [6] Some members also contributed to gospel recordings, either uncredited or as part of the Memphis Sanctified Singers. A genius on the washtub bass, Shade had a solid understanding of technology and a strong personal drive. The attributed names of the group led by Shade on various recording labels vary quite a bit, but recent scholarly consensus has led writers to compile all of these works under the over-arching rubric of the Memphis Jug Band. The Memphis Jug Band borrowed from this model but added kazoo as a prominent lead instrument, similar in sound to a trumpet in a jazz band. The band featured harmonica, kazoo, fiddle and mandolin or banjolin, backed by guitar, piano, washboard, washtub bass and jug. Shade would often gather musicians at his apartment at Fourth and Beale for informal recording sessions featuring former musical rivals (including his former romantic rival Furry Lewis[13]), playing together in different combinations. Vocal duties could be passed around, and often included Shade’s wife, the Beale Street beauty Jennie Clayton. The large membership pool gave the Memphis Jug Band the flexibility to play a mixture of ballads, dance tunes, knock-about novelty numbers, and blues. Between 1927 and 1934 various African-American musicians in the Memphis, Tenn., area grouped around singer, son…. The Memphis Jug Band was an American musical group in the 1920s and 1930s. Shade never told scholars why he liked this sound, and since many of the performers were also part Native American, it is a good question as to which ancestors—if any—the kazoo was supposed to represent. Will Shade made the Memphis Jug Band a well-planned party that was always a good time. The band initially played mostly country blues, but its repertoire expanded as new members contributed their own styles. The band featured harmonicas, violins, mandolins, banjos, and guitars, backed by washboards, kazoo, and jugs blown to supply the bass; they played in a variety of musical styles. In total, they made more than eighty recordings, first for Victor Records, then—as the Picaninny Jug Band—for the Champion-Gennett label, and finally for OKeh Records. The band made the first commercial recordings in Memphis, Tennessee, and recorded more sides than any other prewar jug band. The Memphis Jug Band made their first recordings in February 1927 (some sources say these were the first records ever recorded in Memphis). They played slow blues, pop songs, humorous songs and upbeat dance numbers with jazz and string band flavors. Let us know what you think of the Last.fm website. Music by people who came from nothing, played on DIY instruments made of salvaged junk… and all the while great fun and endlessly clever. The Memphis Jug Band accompanied Memphis Minnie on two sides for Victor Records in 1930, one of her first recording sessions. Shade continued using the name Memphis Jug Band, even for recordings consisting only of him and one or two other members. The Memphis Jug Band, led by Will Shade, was a rotating group of musicians who made more than 60 recordings for Victor Records between 1927 and 1932, and continued to record into the 1950s, well after the jug’s heyday. These blues may appeal more to fans of Michigan J. Frog than Howlin' Wolf, but with their influence easily detected in the work of countless post-war Memphis bluesmen, Memphis Jug Band's place in history cannot be disputed. The remarkable sound of the Memphis Jug Band was partly due to its unusual instruments. His ongoing activity as a performer and his accessible location in Memphis made him a popular starting point for scholars looking for other musicians in the area. When the sounds of modern music are traced from their pop music peaks to their roots, buried there at the bottom where it all started, deep but not forgotten, is the Memphis Jug Band. Mike McGuirk, Curley Weaver, Furry Lewis, Jim Kweskin, Memphis Minnie, The Coasters, The Skillet Lickers, Terms of Use The band featured harmonica, kazoo, fiddle and mandolin or banjolin, backed by guitar, piano, washboard, washtub bass and jug. Twenty-eight of the group's commercial recordings from 1927 to 1934 were reissued by Yazoo Records in 1980 on the double album Memphis Jug Band. It was among the first set of inductees into the Jug Band Hall of Fame, an informal website run by jug band musicians, in 2010. | Shade — who also went by the name Son Brimmer — assembled the first version of the Memphis Jug Band around 1925, and they quickly were brought to the attention of Ralph Peer, the traveling talent scout who’d recorded Mamie Smith and Fiddlin’ John Carson (and would soon record the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers). The Memphis Jug Band’s home was Beale Street, a most appropriate location since jug band music is party music and the Beale neighborhood was the South’s Harlem. The other jug band song on The Country Blues was Gus Cannon's "Walk Right In", which was a hit for the Rooftop SIngers in 1962. The personnel of this jug band varied from day to day, with Shade booking gigs and arranging recording sessions. Between 1927 and 1934 various African-American musicians in the Memphis, Tenn., area grouped around singer, song writer, guitarist, and harmonica player Will Shade (also known as Son Brimmer). These blues may appeal more to fans of Michigan J. Frog than Howlin' Wolf, but with their influence easily detected in the work of countless post-war Memphis bluesmen, Memphis Jug Band's place in history cannot be disputed. The amazing thing about these songs is the light-hearted approach to such subjects as cocaine addiction and mental illness. Memphis Jug Band. Between 1927 and 1934 various African-American musicians in the Memphis, Tenn., area grouped around singer, song writer, guitarist, and harmonica player Will Shade (also known as Son Brimmer). Let us know what you think of the Last.fm website. [10] By that time, their style of music was no longer in demand by record companies, as commercial styles were moving toward a more urban sound. Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. We cover a lot of their songs. Find Memphis Jug Band bio, music, credits, awards, & streaming links on AllMusic - One of the definitive jug bands of the 1920s and… They were popular with white and black audiences, playing at country clubs and parties at the Peabody Hotel. Feel free to contribute! Many people know songs that originated with the Memphis Jug Band, they just don’t know the source. Memphis Minnie’s husband, who would soon achieve his own success as Casey Bill Weldon, shared guitar duties with Shade in the early days, and a couple years later the jug band backed Minnie on her first hit, “Bumble Bee Blues.”.

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