Description
In 1918 Cecil Sharp found Joe Blackard a rich source as he collected songs for his book English Folksongs from the Southern Mountains. Joe Blackard’s daughter Clarice learned to play piano by listening to her father play banjo and, after her marriage to fiddler Jesse Shelor, they formed a family band. In 1927, along with Jesse’s brother Pyrhus, the band traveled to Bristol, Tennessee to record four songs for the famous session that has been described as the “big bang of country music.” In the summer of 1975, Dave Spilkia and I rented a house in Meadows of Dan, Virginia to spend time with this marvelous family. On Sundays, Jesse and Clarice’s children Joe, Paul, Jimmy along with nephew Bill and granddaughter Susan would come for a visit and tunes would result. For more information about this abundantly musical family, read my essay about them here. – Ray Alden
Additional Notes: The Shelor and Blackard Families
Track List
FRC112 – The Shelor Blackard Family
- Susanna Gal (2:25)
- Susanna Gal (1927) (3:11)
- Sandy River Belle (1:44)
- Sandy River Belle (1927) (2:58)
- Flying Indian (1:52)
- Coon Dog (2:13)
- Watermelon Vine (1:17)
- Flop Eared Mule (1:24)
- Untitled Tune ( related to Polly put the Kettle on) (1:20)
- Ten Thousand Charms (3:12)
- Billy Grimes the Rover (1:52)
- Billy Grimes the Rover (1927) (2:44)
- Talk (the family band) (1:39)
- Callahan (1:15)
- Rich Mountain (1:35)
- There’s a Lock on the Chicken Coop Door (2:27)
- There’s a Lock on the Chicken Coop Door (1920) (2:50)
- Yellow Rose of Texas (1:10)
- In the Shadow of the Rock (2:52)
- Old Aunt Katie (1:16)
- Yellow Cat (0:54)
- Put your Foot down (1:34)
- Big Ben Gal (instrumental) (0:44)
- Big Ben Gal (Clarice singing) (1:34)
- Big Ben Gal (1927) (2:47)
- Old Joe Clark (0:52)
- Arkansas Traveler (1:08)
- Whistling Rufus (1:14)
- Iowna (Clarice singing) (1:53)
- Sally Ann (2:15)
- Under the Double eagle (1:18)
- Clog Dance (1:25)
- Sourwood Mountain (0:39)
- Fire on the Mountain (0:33)
- Billy Grimes the Rover (1:07)
- Old Richmond (1:00)
- Sally (1:47)
- There was an Old Woman (1:44)
- Iowna (Piano version) (1:09)
- Talk (1:08)
- Sweet Sixteen (0:44)
- Sweet Sixteen (words) (0:10)
- Hell Broke Loose in Georgia (2:02)
- Mississippi Sawyer (2:23)
- Callahan (1:16)
- Wonderful Love (2:09)
