The First Country Music Recordings – The Fiddlers ･ﾟ✧

Guess what? Recorded country music is over a hundred years old! YYyeyYYYEAAAHHH WOOHOO!!! HOT DIGGITY ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF AWESOME! Fiddlers Henry C. Gilliland and A. C. "Eck" Robertson are usually credited with the first commercial country record [Victor 18956]. Limited distribution began September 1, 1922; the record was brought into full circulation by April 1923, complete with an (amusingly undercutting) announcement in Victor's monthly sales catalogue [New Victor Records April 1923]. It tickles me that Victor announced this in a pamphlet amidst hoity-toity opera and symphonic releases. At the same time, it's wicked we have advertised documentation of the milestone.

This record sold well enough you can find it cheap on eBay. But the fanfare for first successful country record arrived later that year. In August of 1923, Fiddlin’ John Carson’s inaugural release with OKeh became the first successful, trend-starting country music record. OKeh prolly didn't expect this - Ralph Peer, who recorded Carson, considered the emitted sounds "pluperfect awful," and OKeh did an initial run of just 500 copies... which sold out when Carson brought them to one (1) fiddling convention. OKeh obviously rushed for a second pressing and the copies went wheeee all over. Victor, meanwhile, being like, "Well how about that!" responded by releasing more material from Gilliland and Robertson's June 30 and July 1, 1922 session [Victor 19149]. OKeh, of course, yoinked Carson back for his second studio session [OKeh 40020].

Thus the record company clambor for star fiddlers commenced. Columbia strategically signed Carson’s fiddle convention rival, Gid Tanner, and organized a band of well-known regional players like fiddler Clayton McMichen and blind guitarist Riley Puckett. Frankly, Gid Tanner was a trick fiddler, wowing people onstage with quirky tricks, rather than someone who had... uh, you know, tone? Clayton McMichen brought that expertise, and the uneasy combo of Clayton and Tanner fiddling semi-together, and Puckett taking advantage of sitting near the mic to take over with guitar runs, resulted in a deliciously off-kilter ensemble. The first song they recorded was Hand Me Down My Walking Cane [Columbia 15091-D] in 1926. This ensemble, dubbed Gid Tanner and His Skillet-Lickers with Riley Puckett, released early hits like Dance All Night With A Bottle In Your Hand [Columbia 15108-D]. In their repertoire, they also captured one of the oldest pre-Civil War Black-composed plantation songs, Run Nigger Run [Columbia 15158-D]. (Uncle Dave Macon was the first to record Run Nigger Run, but I like the Skillet-Lickers's version better, so nyeh, I picked up that one.)