What an inspired performance! I found this original performance of this classic at publicdomainreview.org. The former song-plugger turned composer wrote this song in 1924, and it still resonates today. I especially enjoy this version, and am very glad to share it with you.
A real music pioneer, Paul Whiteman added orchestral instrumentation to the jazz of the day and recorded “Do Wacka Do” over 90 years ago. We mastered the original for streaming, and cleaned up this masterpiece of fun and joy. I can picture a truly great cartoon of the singer and band in my mind just listening to this song.
This is exactly why I love this site so much. I would have never heard Lydia sing, so clearly. Again thanks to Michael Rosen @ East Bay Recorders, he made us a clean digital file. What a great vocal! What fine 12 string guitar playing! What a dark song! Check out the translated lyrics.
Enigmatic blues legend Kid Bailey (AKA Willie Brown) left behind scant few recordings, and clean copies are difficult or perhaps impossible to come by. We downloaded the best audio we could find of Bailey’s classic “Rowdy Blues” from Archive.org, and asked producer Michael Rosen to employ his studio magic to reconstruct the audio with glitches and pops reduced and the warmth of the original recording brought to the fore. It’s a great live take from nearly a century ago, and we are happy to be able to share it for new audiences to enjoy today.
“You Are My Sunshine” is an example of country music’s large contribution to American music. This version shows off the song’s country roots. The tune was made popular by Jimmie Davis, who would later became governor of Lousiana. The song was written by a Paul Rice, but the songwriting was credited to the Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell, who purchased the song from Mr. Rice.
Wilf Carter, who performs this version, was a Canadian who often used the nickname of “Montana Slim.” Carter’s version evokes the deep melancholy in the song. The contrast between the cheery chorus (the most recognizable section), and the tone of the verses, make this version unique.
One curious part of this recording, the fluttery instrument that emerges during the first chorus, sounds like a direct reference point for a similar texture The Clash would employ on “Somebody Got Murdered,” several decades later.
In the American songbook, there are Standards and there are Standards. This would be a front cover of Standard Magazine. “All of Me” by Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons was first recorded by singer Ruth Etting.
This was later recorded and performed by many others including Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and even Frank Sinatra. Mildred Bailey’s lilting vocal helped put this great song on the map, with this early recording by Paul Whiteman’s orchestra.
Born in Canada in 1900, keyboardist and composer Hartzel “Tiny” Parham grew up mostly in Kansas City. As a young man, Parham relocated to Chicago where he established himself as a bandleader and also worked as an arranger and talent scout for Paramount Records. He cut numerous sides for Victor Records, under the name Tiny Parham and His Musicians. Here is one of those classic sides, the ebullient and musically very advanced “Washboard Wiggles.” You had to be on your toes to keep up with this cat, and they were, and they did! Enjoy.
John Len Chatman, better known as Memphis Slim, started his life in (you guessed it) Memphis, Tennessee before emigrating to Paris, France in the 1960’s. He made over 500 recordings in his career, for Bluebird, Okeh, Miracle, and other original blues and folk labels, teaming up with Sonny Boy Williamson, Big Bill Broonzy, Willy Dixon and many other blues greats along the way. This early recording of “I Just Landed In Your Town” features an incredible vocal and piano performance by Memphis Slim, accompanied only by guitar.
Legend has it that “Bogus” Ben Covington earned his title by pretending to be a blind man on the minstrel circuit. Very little is known about Ben Covington, but it is also suspected he and Ben Curry, who recorded one of the earliest versions of the Dirty Dozens, were one and the same person. Convington was also known as “The Human Pretzel.” With so many monickers, who needs a definitive bio? Bogus Ben Covington’s blues reflections on “Adam And Eve In The Garden” were not your average Sunday School fare! Just a banjo, a fiddle, and Bogus Ben’s distinctive voice. Enjoy!
Joe and Cléoma Falcon’s “Allons a Lafayette” is probably the first commercial Cajun music recording ever released. The record is credited to Joseph Falcon, and in their day it was considered improper for a woman to perform in dancehalls. But this didn’t stop them. The couple performed extensively in southern Louisiana and Texas in the 1920’s and 30’s, together enjoying a large following and becoming a major and lasting influence on Cajun music. Cléoma played guitar, Joe played accordion, and they both sang. First released on Columbia Records, this song has since been recorded by many Cajun artists and remains a standard of the genre.
