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Eck Robertson
Alexander Campbell "Eck" Robertson (born November 20, 1887 in Delaney, Arkansas, died February 15, 1975 in Borger, Texas) was an American fiddle player, mostly known for commercially recording the first country music songs in 1922 with Henry Gilliland (1845 - 1924). Early life Robertson was born in Arkansas and grew up on a farm in the Texas panhandle where his family moved when he was three years old. His father, grandfather and uncles were fiddlers who competed in local contests. His father, a veteran of the Civil War, was also a farmer, and later quit fiddling to become a preacher. At the age of five, Robertson began learning to play the fiddle, and later learned banjo and guitar. In 1904, at the age of 16, he decided to become a professional musician and left home to travel with a medicine show through Indian Territory. In 1906, he married and settled in Vernon, Texas and became a piano tuner for the Total Line Music Company. Recordings Robertson and his wife Nettie performe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Borger, Texas
Borger ( ) is the largest city in Hutchinson County, Texas, United States. The population was 12,551 at the 2020 census. Borger is named for businessman Asa Philip "Ace" Borger, who also established the Hutchinson County seat of Stinnett and several other small towns in Texas and Oklahoma. History Ace Borger and his business partner John R. Miller purchased a townsite near the Canadian River in March 1926 after the discovery of oil in the vicinity. Within a few months, the boomtown had swollen to a population of 45,000, most lured by sensational advertising and " black gold". In October 1926, the city charter was adopted, and Miller was elected mayor. By this time, the Panhandle & Santa Fe Railway had completed the spur line to Borger, a post office had opened, and a school district was established. The boomtown of Borger soon had steam-generated electricity, telephone service, a hotel, and a jail. Regionalist artist Thomas Hart Benton depicted this period of Borger i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vernon, Texas
Vernon is a city and the county seat of Wilbarger County, Texas, United States. and as of the 2010 Census had a population of 11,002. History The original town was called Eagle Springs by the indigenous community as early as 1858. After the American Civil War, more settlers began moving in the area, and in 1880, they applied for a post office as Eagle Flat. However, the U.S. Post Office rejected the name, saying too many Texas towns were already called Eagle something. The town then chose the name Vernon, after George Washington's home, Mount Vernon. An estimated seven million head of cattle passed through Vernon on the Great Western Cattle Trail between 1873 and the 1890s. The historic trail was located 90 miles west of and parallel to the better-known Chisholm Trail. Geography Vernon is located at (34.151116, −99.290473). According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 8.1 sq mi (21.0 km2), of which 8.1 sq mi (21.0 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bluebird Records
Bluebird Records is a record label best known for its low-cost releases, primarily of kids' music, blues and jazz in the 1930s and 1940s. It was founded in 1932 as a lower-priced RCA Victor subsidiary label of RCA Victor. Bluebird became known for what came to be known as the "Bluebird sound", which influenced rhythm and blues and early rock and roll. It is currently owned by parent company Sony Music Entertainment. History The label was founded in 1932 as a division of RCA Victor by Eli Oberstein, an executive at the company. Bluebird competed with other budget labels at the time. Records were made quickly and cheaply. The "Bluebird sound" came from the session band that was used on many recordings to cut costs. The band included musicians such as Big Bill Broonzy, Roosevelt Sykes, Washboard Sam, and Sonny Boy Williamson. Many blues musicians were signed to RCA Victor and Bluebird by Lester Melrose, a talent scout and producer who had a virtual monopoly on the Chicago blues ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nat Shilkret
Nathaniel Shilkret (December 25, 1889 – February 18, 1982) was an American musician, composer, conductor and musical director. Early career Shilkret (originally named Natan Schüldkraut) was born in New York City, United States, to parents who emigrated from Lemberg (now Lviv in Ukraine).Shilkret, Nathaniel, ed. Shell, Niel and Barbara Shilkret, ''Nathaniel Shilkret: Sixty Years in the Music Business'', Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland, 2005. Shilkret, Nathaniel, Barbara Shilkret, and Niel Shell, ''Feast or Famine: Sixty Years in the Music Business'', archival edition of Shilkret autobiography, 2001 (copies deposited in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, The City College of New York Archival Library, The New York Philharmonic Archives, The Victor Archives (SONY)). His father played a number of instruments, and made certain that Nat and his three brothers were all accomplished musicians at an early age. Older brother Lew Shilkret was a fine pianist who also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Lost City Ramblers
The New Lost City Ramblers, or NLCR, was an American contemporary old-time string band that formed in New York City in 1958 during the folk revival. Mike Seeger, John Cohen and Tom Paley were its founding members. Tracy Schwarz replaced Paley, who left the group in 1962. Seeger died of cancer in 2009, Paley died in 2017, and Cohen died in 2019. NLCR participated in the old-time music revival, and directly influenced many later musicians. Career The Ramblers distinguished themselves by focusing on the traditional playing styles they heard on old 78rpm records of musicians recorded during the 1920s and 1930s, many of whom had earlier appeared on the ''Anthology of American Folk Music''. The New Lost City Ramblers refused to "sanitize" these southern sounds as did other folk groups of the time, such as the Weavers or Kingston Trio. Instead, the Ramblers have always strived for an ''authentic'' sound. However, the Ramblers did not merely copy the old recordings that inspired them. R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Newport Folk Festival
Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival. It was one of the first modern music festivals in America, and remains a focal point in the expanding genre of folk music. The festival was held annually from 1959 to 1969, except in 1961 and 1962. In 1985, its founder revived it in Newport, where it has been held at Fort Adams State Park ever since. History Founding The Newport Folk Festival was started in 1959 by George Wein, founder of the already-well-established Newport Jazz Festival, and owner of Storyville, a jazz club located in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1958, Wein became aware of the growing Folk Revival movement and began inviting folk artists such as Odetta to perform on Sunday afternoons at Storyville. The afternoon performances consistently sold out and Wein began to consider the possibility of a "folk afternoon embedded within the 1959 Newport Ja ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tracy Schwarz
Ginny Hawker and Tracy Schwarz are an American folk music duo known for performing traditional music from the early American canon of bluegrass, gospel, and old time music. The duo, however, on occasion does record original songs and music by contemporary songwriters. They live in West Virginia. Tracy Schwarz was a member of the New Lost City Ramblers. Selected discography Ginny Hawker and Tracy Schwarz * ''Draw Closer'' (2004, Rounder) ** with Ron Stewart, Peter Schwarz, and Kari Sickenberger ** produced by Dirk Powell * ''Good Songs for Hard Times'' (2000, Copper Creek) ** with Buddy Griffin, Jim Martin, and Peter Schwarz Ginny Hawker * ''Letters from my Father'', Ginny Hawker (2001 Rounder) ** with Tim O'Brien, Darrell Scott, Ron Stewart, Dirk Powell, Dennis Crouch, and Kenny Malone * ''Bristol, A Tribute to the Carter Family'', Ginny Hawker & Kay Justice (1999, Copper Creek/ June Appal) ** with Tracy Schwarz and Mike Seeger * ''Heart of a Singer'', Hazel Dickens, Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Seeger
Mike Seeger (August 15, 1933August 7, 2009) was an American folk musician and folklorist. He was a distinctive singer and an accomplished musician who played autoharp, banjo, fiddle, dulcimer, guitar, mouth harp, mandolin, dobro, jaw harp, and pan pipes. Seeger, a half-brother of Pete Seeger, produced more than 30 documentary recordings, and performed in more than 40 other recordings. He desired to make known the caretakers of culture that inspired and taught him. Family and early life Seeger was born in New York and grew up in Maryland and Washington D.C. His father, Charles Louis Seeger Jr., was a composer and pioneering ethnomusicologist, investigating both American folk and non-Western music. His mother, Ruth Crawford Seeger, was a composer. His eldest half-brother, Charles Seeger III, was a radio astronomer, and his next older half-brother, John Seeger, taught for years at the Dalton School in Manhattan. His next older half brother was Pete Seeger. His uncle, Alan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Cohen (musician)
John Cohen (August 2, 1932 – September 16, 2019) was an American musician, photographer and film maker who performed and documented the traditional music of the rural South and played a major role in the American folk music revival. In the 1950s and 60s, Cohen was a founding member of the New Lost City Ramblers, a New York-based string band. Cohen made several expeditions to Peru to film and record the traditional culture of the Q'ero, an indigenous people. Cohen was also a professor of visual arts at SUNY Purchase College for 25 years. Life and career Early life Cohen was born in Queens, New York, where his father, Israel, owned a shoe store. Throughout most of his life John grew up in the eastern parts of Long Island where he learned to play the guitar and banjo. He later attended Yale University where he studied painting. He later on met one of his good friends Tom Paley. They began organizing small concerts for people on their universities campus. Later on, he and Tom bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Okeh Records
Okeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Otto K. E. Heinemann but later changed to "OKeh". Since 1926, Okeh has been a subsidiary of Columbia Records, a subsidiary of Sony Music. Okeh is a jazz imprint, distributed by Sony Masterworks, a specialty label of Columbia. Early history Okeh was founded by Otto (Jehuda) Karl Erich Heinemann (Lüneburg, Germany, 20 December 1876 - New York, USA, 13 September 1965) a German-American manager for the U.S. branch of Odeon Records, which was owned by Carl Lindstrom. In 1916, Heinemann incorporated the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, set up a recording studio and pressing plant in New York City, and started the label in 1918. The first discs were vertical cut, but later the more common lateral-cut method was used. The label's parent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiddlin' John Carson
"Fiddlin'" John Carson (March 23, 1868 – December 11, 1949) was an American old-time fiddler and singer who recorded what is widely considered to be the first country music song featuring vocals and lyrics. Early life Carson was born near McCaysville in Fannin County, Georgia. He moved to Cobb County in his youth. His father worked as a section foreman for the Western and Atlantic Railroad Company. In his teens, Carson learned to play the fiddle, using an old Stradivari-copy violin brought from Ireland in the early 18th century.Malone, McCulloh 1975, p. 17.Miller 1996, p. 73. In his teens, he worked as a racehorse jockey. In 1894, Carson married, and a couple of years later, in 1900, he began working for the Exposition Cotton Mills in Atlanta, followed by work in other cotton mills of the Atlanta area for the next twenty years, eventually being promoted to foreman.Wolfe 2001, p. 65. In 1911, Carson's family moved to Cabbagetown, Georgia and he and his childre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turkey In The Straw
"Turkey in the Straw" is an American folk song that first gained popularity in the 19th century. Early versions of the song were titled "Zip Coon", which were first published around 1834 and performed in minstrel shows, with different people claiming authorship of the song. The melody of "Zip Coon" later became known as "Turkey in the Straw"; a song titled "Turkey in de Straw" with different music and lyrics was published in 1861 together with the wordless music of "Zip Coon" added at the end, and the title "Turkey in the Straw" then became linked to the tune of "Zip Coon". The song is related to a number of tunes of the 19th century and the origin of these songs has been widely debated. Links to older Irish/Scottish/English ballads have been proposed, such as "The Old Rose Tree". The song became highly popular and many variations of the song exist. It was also frequently adapted and used in popular media. A song based the tune of "Turkey in the Straw", "Nigger Love a Watermel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
