the DIXIELAND JUG BLOWERS
National Blues & Southern Shout
Victor 20954
Well, we're back again folks with another great record. The Dixieland Jug Blowers doing National Blues backed with Southern Shout.
An incredible record in excellent shape. A real file copy.... Rare too!
...But as my buddy Malcolm Vidrine would probably say: "yeah, but who would want it with all that label damage?!". HA!
I got this one, on a trade a few years back, from my buddy Brody Douglas Hunt, who Junked it in Seattle. Paid like 10 bucks for it! What a score!
Pretty soon here, Brodys gonna be a guest on Stack O' Sides, and we're gonna upload a few records from his collection.
He's got some great and uncommon stuff, especially in the Hillbilly department.
This Record was recorded on 6-16-1927 in Chicago, IL, and according to the
Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings (EVDR), National Blues features:
Clifford Hayes on violin,
Lockwood Lewis on alto saxophone,
Earl McDonald on jug,
Cal Smith on tenor banjo,
George Allen on alto and soprano saxophones,
Hense Grundy on trombone,
and Johnny Gatewood on piano
Southern Shout, basically features the same line up, with the only difference being, Cal Smith plays tenor guitar, and Dan Briscoe is listed as the pianist instead of Johnny Gatewood.
the Dixieland Jug Blowers
front row left to right: Lockwood Lewis, Earl Macdonald, Clifford Hayes. Back row left to right: unknown. -band personnel info and photo from redhotjazz.com
If you're not familiar with this band, you've either been living under a rock, or you're probably an asshole..... in the case neither of these apply to you, (which they don't, cause only people with excellent taste read this blog) .... The Dixieland Jug Blowers were an awesome Jazz/Jug band, that was based in the storied birth place of Jug Band Music: Louisville, KY.
Clifford Hayes and Earl McDonald are the two big names in this group. Both made records under their own names, and worked with a lot of really talented musicians that were in and out of the Louisville scene.
On September 16th, 1924, as part of Sara Martin's Band, they also made history, as they were the first musicians to record jug band music.
I got to visit Earl McDonald's grave when my band played at the Jug Band Jubilee in Louisville a few years ago. Walking around that graveyard was incredible.
...Also, Sylvester Weaver, the guitarist who recorded the first example of ragtime country blues finger style guitar(while also backing Sara Martin, incidentally) is also buried in this same cemetery but doesn't have a tombstone.
Sara Martin is buried there too...when I couldn't find her grave I was told she didn't have one either.
Ok, side note... It seems really wrong to me that so many legendary figures don't even have a marker indicating where their dead body is. Most of these performers received little success in their lives only to be praised as genius pioneers in death... but we can't even get em' a grave marker?
But you need to hand it to the Jug Band Jubilee for giving Earl McDonald a grave stone! I hear they're also trying to get tombstones for other pioneer blues musicians of Louisville.
It's a big undertaking, and they're doing it.
F-yeah A-holes. Win for humanity.
Ok, rant over, back on track here... This is a great record, and a hard one to find in this condition.
If you wanna find more of this stuff, the complete recorded works of the Dixieland Jug Blowers has been re-issued across a hand full of cd's as part of Document Record's "Clifford Hayes and the Louisville Jug Bands".
They're great and I highly recommend them. check em' out, but first....
click here to DOWNLOAD BOTH SIDES OF THIS SWEET RECORD!!!
Cheers ~Stymee
Update: Ok folks, upon posting this I was contacted by Heather from the Jug Band Jubilee, who informed me Sylvester Weaver DOES have a tombstone (we just didn't know about it at the time I was there) and we have the Kentuckiana Blues Society to thank for it. Also she informed me that the Jug Band Jubilee is working to get Sara Martin a tombstone this year!
