Ed Andrews ( 1920s) was an American blues singer and guitarist, who made what are considered to be the first commercially-released country blues recordings, in 1924, some three years before such releases became commonplace.
Biography
Virtually nothing is known of Andrews' life. After the commercial success of some of the first female "
classic blues
Classic female blues was an early form of blues music, popular in the 1920s. An amalgam of traditional folk blues and urban theater music, the style is also known as vaudeville blues. Classic blues were performed by female singers accompanied by ...
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the " Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock and ...
in the early 1920s, the
Okeh
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 Ott ...
record company made field trips to the
southern states Southern States may refer to:
*The independent states of the Southern hemisphere
United States
* Southern United States, or the American South
* Southern States Cooperative, an American farmer-owned agricultural supply cooperative
* Southern Stat ...
to discover unrecorded musicians. In
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
, they discovered and recorded Andrews in April 1924. He recorded two tracks, "Barrel House Blues" and "Time Ain't Gonna Make Me Stay", which were issued as
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 Ott ...
(OK 8137). They were the first commercially-released recordings of a male country blues singer. The record company's advertisement stated: "Right where the blues songs were born is where Ed. Andrews was singing ‘em and playing ‘em when the special OKeh Recording Expedition discovered him. Why, man alive, he was just scattering happiness all around, wherever he appeared." "Ed Andrews" ''BlindCarre.com'', September 22, 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2017
It is not known whether Andrews originated from Atlanta, or was an itinerant musician passing through the city. He played
12-string guitar
A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...
, and sang with a pronounced vibrato. His style has been likened to that of
Peg Leg Howell
Joshua Barnes Howell, known as Peg Leg Howell (March 5, 1888 – August 11, 1966), was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist, who connected early country blues and the later Twelve bar blues, 12-bar style. Tony Russell, "The first bluesman?", ''Jazz & Blues'', June 1972, p.15 reprinted at ''WeenieCampbell.com'', December 9, 2005. Retrieved 12 May 2017
Andrews made no further recordings. He was thought to have been "approaching middle age" when he recorded, but other aspects of his life are unknown.