The Biddleville Quintette was a vocal group from the Biddleville neighborhood of

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, United States, who recorded

traditional black gospel Traditional Black gospel is music that is written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding African American Christian life, as well as (in terms of the varying music styles) to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular mu ...

for

Paramount Records Paramount Records was an American record label known for its recordings of jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey, Tommy Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Early years Paramount Records was formed in 19 ...

between 1926 and 1929. Although little information is available about the ensemble, the group is thought to have been led by a laborer, Adam Brown, and comprised four male singers and one woman. Their 36 recordings, released by Paramount on

78 rpm A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove ...

records, have become prized by collectors for their "passionate intensity and soulful delivery", featuring "call and response sanctified singing and sermons peppered with emphatic shouts and hollers. The 1929 recordings include instances of shape-note singing and progressive congregational polyphony...". Biography by arwulf arwulf, ''Allmusic.com''
Retrieved 12 May 2020 The group's 1926 recording of "Way Down in Egypt Land" has been cited by researcher Steven Baur as an early forerunner of

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

, for its consistently sustained and forceful

handclap A clap is the percussive sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. Humans clap with the palms of their hands, often quickly and repeatedly to express appreciation or approval (see applause), b ...

ped

backbeat In music and music theory, the beat is the basic unit of time, the pulse (regularly repeating event), of the ''mensural level'' (or ''beat level''). The beat is often defined as the rhythm listeners would tap their toes to when listening to a pi ...

. A later recording of the song, in 1929, was among the first gospel recordings to feature

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

instruments, thought to be a

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

and washboard. The group's complete recordings have been released on two albums by

Document Records Document Records is an independent record label, founded in Austria and now based in Scotland, that specializes in reissuing vintage blues and jazz. The company has been recognised by The Blues Foundation, being honoured with a Keeping the ...

. The Biddleville Quintette, Document Records
Retrieved 12 May 2020

References

Musicians from Charlotte, North Carolina {{US-southern-gospel-stub