Mac and The Skillet Lickers- Part 2

Hi,

This is the second installment of Mac and The Skillet Lickers. If you listen to Clayton in his 1959 interview with Bob Pinson and Fred Hoeptner, McMichen essentially viewed the Skillet Lickers as his band. This is perfectly understandable- Riley Puckett was a member his Hometown Band, Fate Norris played with Mac's Lick the Skillet Band, Bert Layne was Mac's brother-in-law and played in many of Mac's bands. Only Gid Tanner was not part of Mac's bands.

So the Skillet Lickers was Mac's band with Gid Tanner added. When the band was called Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers by Frank Walker, I'm sure Mac hated it. The listening public figured that fiddler Gid Tanner was the lead fiddler and leader of the group. Riley Puckett's name was tacked on to make it: Gid Tanner and his Skillet Lickers with Riley Puckett. Even Riley became an afterthought and Gid Tanner was the name associated with the group. Mac considered Gid a "fair country comedian" but not much of a fiddler.

On April 17, 1926 Gid Tanner and his Skillet Lickers cut their classic first eight sides: “Hand Me Down My Walking Cane,” “Bully Of The Town,” “Pass Around the Bottle,” “Alabama Jubilee,” “Watermelon on the Vine,” “Don’t You Hear Jerusalem Moan,” “Ya Gotta Quit Kickin’ My Dog Around” and “Turkey in The Straw.” Their first single, “Bully of the Town,” backed by “Pass Around the Bottle,” was a huge hit, selling over 200,000 units and causing the Skillet Lickers to eclipse Charlie Poole and his North Carolina Ramblers as Columbia’s hottest Country artists. Other songs from that session, "Soldier's Joy" and “Turkey in the Straw,” sold well and “Watermelon on the Vine” became another hit.

The Skillet Lickers were one of the few groups with three fiddlers. Usually Mac and Gid would play the melody and Bert Layne a lower harmony part. Gid would sometimes play a high harmony part and sing in falsetto. Even though Tanner was regarded as an accomplished old-time fiddler, McMichen was more versatile, played louder, and was more dynamic. According Clayton from Clayton McMichen Talking: "I could play louder than the rest of 'em. I played the old man's fiddle. They brought it over from Italy- Antigino Fierini made in Bologna, Italy, in 1723...played it on all them Skillet Lickers records." [Clayton's father, Mitchell was a trained violinst and fiddler, who played Viennesse waltzes as well as standard fiddle repertoire]

When Layne dropped out in 1928, Frank Walker wanted to add another fiddle to match their early sound so they stopped the recording session until Mac located Lowe Stokes. In the new Skillet Licker line-up Lowe played lead and Mac high harmony while Gid doubled or played another part. Riley Puckett was the lead singer but also shared some of the vocals with Tanner. Gid, the clown of the group, sometimes added a high falsetto over Riley’s vocal lead.

Richard Nevins, who wrote about the Skillet Lickers in 1973 when he wrote the song notes for the County Records reissues, credits Stokes for Mac's new longbow style. He says the addition of Stokes "who employed the finest gliding bow strokes" makes the last Skillet Licker sessions the best.

When Bert Layne recorded with the Lickers and Stokes was in the line-up, the trio of fiddles consisted of Stokes (lead); Mac (high harmony) and Bert Layne (Low harmony). Fate Norris wasn't present and Gid Tanner filled in on the banjo. The three fiddlers used organized harmony part plus their bow strokes were in the same direction, making this some of the finest fiddle music in early country music.

More to come,

Richard

Mac and the Skillet Lickers- Part 1

Hi,

Clayton McMichen was one of the founding musicians in the early country music supergroup, The Skillet Lickers.

In the photo from left to right: Gid Tanner (fiddle); Clayton McMichen (Fiddle); Riley Puckett (seated with guitar); Fate Norris (Banjo).

Missing from the photo is Bert Layne (fiddle) who played on the first sessions.

In the early 1920s Atlanta was the "country music" capital of the world. There was Georgia Old-time Fiddler's Convention that drew huge crowds was held yearly in Atlanta. WSB radio began broadcasting local country musicians; Fiddlin John Carson was featured on the first broadcast and Clayton's "Home Town Boys" on the second broadcast. Riley Puckett joined Clayton on subsequent broadscasts and the Home Town Boys became one of the featured and most requested stars on WSB.

Then Okeh Records and Ralph Peer sent Polk Brockman to Atlanta with a portable recording system in 1923. They waxed several songs by Fiddlin' John Carson and to Peer's surprised scored a huge hit with Carson's "Little Old Log Cabin in The Lane." The floodgates were open, other record companies started searching for "country music" talent.

Columbia Records hired Frank Walker to head up their "old-time songs" or "songs from the hills" country music division. Walker knew Riley Puckett was one of the biggest starts on radio station WSB so he sent for Riley to come to New York.

McMichen wrote John Edwards on Jan 5, 1958 that Columbia had wanted the duo based around him and Puckett but McMichen was out of town at the time they scheduled a session with Riley so Gid Tanner went instead.

On March 7 and 8, 1924 Gid Tanner and Pucket waxed their first sides for Columbia in New York City. Among the songs were "Chicken Don't Roost Too High," "I Don't Love Nobody," and Black Eyed Susie." When these songs were successful they were called back to NYC in Sept. 1924 and recorded 14 more sides.

Walker meanwhile obtained a portable recording system similar to Ralph Peer's at Okeh and started making trips to Atlanta to do field recordings. While in Atlanta in April 1926 Walker scheduled McMichen and Puckett to do a session and decided to combine the best Atlanta musicians in one group. That group included his recording stars Tanner and Puckett while adding McMichen (fiddle) and Fate Norris (banjo).

McMichen, who was never satisfied with the playing of Gid Tanner, brought in his brother-in-law Bert Layne. McMichen was used to playing with Layne, who played a lower harmony part to Mac's lead. Layne occasionally played lead on waltzes but for the most part he played lower harmony.

Because Mac had cut some recorded for Okeh with his Home Town Boys in 1925 he was under contract with them at the time of the April 1926 Skillet Lickers' recordings. Putting Mac's name could jeopardize the session so Walker named the group, Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers with Riley Puckett.

The 1926 session scored a string of hits eclipsing anything Columbia has done up to this point- even Charlie Poole's huge hit, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down." Mac became very unhappy that his name was not on the records and that Gid Tanner was getting credit for the fiddling.

At his insistance his name was included in the next session but according to Mac, the damage was already done. He would remain bitter about this for years and later commented, “Two or three in there couldn’t play” and that he didn’t like playing with Gid Tanner and Fate Norris because “they was just thirty years behind us in the music business.”

McMichen came up with the name The Skillet Lickers, a variation on the name of his earlier Lick the Skillet Band which was based on the earlier local assemblage with Fiddlin' John Carson known under the Lick Skillet Orchestra name. Fate Norris played with Mac in that early group. The name "skillet lickers" refers to the impoverished rural settlers where the skillet had to be licked clean in order to feed everyone.

It's important to note that Columbia paid musicians a flat fee to record while at Okeh, Ralph Peer gave the musicians a cut of the royalties. Okeh recording star Ernest Stoneman was making $6,000 in royalties alone by 1927 which was more than triple the wages a normal working job at the mill. Okeh's Henry Whitter got rich from the "Wreck of the Old 97." The record reportedly topped seven million units and according to Whitter, his royalties exceeded “twenty-three thousand dollars,” a huge fortune at that time (approximately $400,000 today). Henry, who didn't even write the song, bought a brand new car and quit his job. He was now a recording star.
When Columbia's Charlie Poole had a huge hit with "Don't Let Your Deal Go down" he received a flat fee of $75 which he split three ways- his take, $25. The record sold 102,000 units, making a huge profit for Columbia (the average record sold 5,000 units). Naturally Poole wasn't too excited to record again- he realized how much money Columbia made from him on that one record.

McMichen was on hire by Columbia Records from 1926 until 1931 when the depression stopped making records profitable. He was paid a larger than average flat rate (Layne in an interview gives $1,000 as a figure but this is surely wrong and was just given by Layne as an example of the flat fee which varied among artists) and made good money recording.

More to come,

Richard

Juanita McMichen Lynch

Hi,

Juanita McMichen Lynch was born in 1924 and is the eldest of two daughters born to Clayton McMichen and Daisy Satterfield McMichen. Junaita, pictured holding Clayton's fiddle, lives near Battletown, KY with her husband Clifford Lynch and their little dog.

Daisy Satterfield (Mac's wife) was Aline Satterfield's sister. On Sept. 17, 1920 fiddler Bert Monroe Layne married Aline Satterfield. "Uncle Bert and Daddy used to play together all the time," said Juanita. "Now Aline Satterfield, his wife, we called her Aunt Dooley. We'd have big dinners over at the house for all the musicians and Aunt Dooley would cook." Bert Layne, known as "Uncle Bert" to Juanita and others, was born Dec. 14, 1889 in Arkansas and died 0ct. 22, 1982 at Juanita's homestead in Battletown, Kentucky.

I interviewed Junaita several times for my upcoming article on Clayton in the Old-Time Herald. She and her husband Clifford were very helpful. Giving me access to boxes and boxes of Clayton's newspaper clippings and articles. I even has some of her manuscript that she started writing about her famous father. Clayton was recently proclaimed fiddler-of-the-century by National Traditional Country Music Association. Even though Clayton was a great fiddler, the award is a little over the top. He's certainly one of the top old-time fiddlers of all time.

I became interested me in Clayton when I moved to Louisville, a stone's throw from the bar Mac owned in the 1940s. Mac moved to Louisville more or less permanently around fall of 1937. He lived in Louisville until around 1968 when he moved to Battletown KY. Mac died in 1970. Juanita, who has lots stories about her dad and his friends, graduated from High School in Louisville in 1942.

"Daddy married my mother, who was Aunt Dooley's sister, when she was just 16 years old." Now Bert Layne was Mac's brother-in-law. Mac and Daisy had two daughters, Daisy "Jaunita," born Dec. 24, 1924 and Nina "June," born Jan. 31, 1926.

Because of Mac's restless nature and his search for new radio positions the McMichen's moved frequently. "I was daddy's little girl," said Juanita. "I went everywhere with him. June usually stayed home with Mama but I went with Daddy. We moved 22 times by the time I finished high school."

The family dinners in Atlanta were attended by the hosts- Layne and McMichen and many of the local musicians including Fiddlin' John Carson, Riley Puckett, Gid Tanner, Hugh Cross, Earl Johnson, Lowe Stokes, Slim Bryant, Kasper Malone, and Boss Hawkins.

Slim Bryant, who became Mac's guitarist in his Georgia Wildcats Band (and for a short time he was a Skillet Licker in 1931 at WCKY) first met Mac at one of the dinners around 1929. I also interviewed Slim who is now over 100 years old.

Hell Broke Loose in Georgia: Lowe Stokes and Mac

Hi,

Here's a photo of Mac's Hometown Boys (click to enlarge) a band he started in the early 1920s. Was it the first country swing band?

On July 7, 1925 McMichen’s Home Town Boys recorded their first sides at Columbia’s Atlanta studio. Above is a photo of the performers (from left to right): Mac (fiddle); Lowe Stokes (guitar) Bob "Punk" Stevens (banjo) and Bob Stevens Jr (clarinet).

The songs were "Alabama Jubilee," "Bully Of The Town," "Silver Bell," and the song that became McMichen's first solo hit and one he would become identified- "Sweet Bunch Of Daisies." The song was a tribute to Clayton's wife, Daisy, and became his theme song on his radio shows in Louisville.

Over a month later on August 25, tragedy struck. Bob Stevens Jr was killed in an auto wreck while Mac was driving, bringing an end to the band. "They were going to a show and got in a bad car wreck," said Juanita. "At first they got out of the car and thought no one was badly hurt but turned out young Bob had a broken neck and he just dropped down and died on the spot. His dad went back home, he never got over it." [Juanita McMichen/Lowe Stokes].

Lowe Stokes was not a regular performer in Mac's Hometown Boys. Lowe was playing guitar for Mac because they were friends and at one time roomates for a year. In fact, Stokes was one of the best fiddlers- period. No one portrayed the tune "Hell Broke Loose in Georgia" better than Stokes. The wild and wooly Stokes was crazy as hell and loose in Georgia. According to Bert Layne, Lowe had more "nerve" than any man he knew.

Lowe Stokes born May 28, 1898, was the sixth of seven children born to Jacob Stokes, who was a fiddler and farm laborer, born in 1848. The Georgia Old-Time Fiddlers' conventions has been credited with launching his career when he defeated Fiddlin John Carson to win the coveted 1924 fiddle competition. To prove that was no fluke, Lowe won the next year.

Whne Stokes beat Carson in 1924 he won playing Carson's tune "Hell Broke Loose in Georgia." Many credit Lowe with inspiring the Charlie Daniels’ song "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" which is reportedly loosley based on the famous competition.

After poet Stephen Vincent Benet read a 1924 article in the Literary Digest describing Stokes victory, he penned his 1925 poem, "The Mountain Whippoorwill" (Or, How Hill-Billy Jim Won the Great Fiddlers' Prize) which begins:

Up in the mountains, it's lonesome all the time,
Sof' win' slewin' thu' the sweet-potato vine.
Up in the mountains, it's lonesome for a child,
Whippoorwills a-callin' when the sap runs wild.

Stokes learned the long bow style from Joe Lee then moved from Cartersville to Atlanta. He met T.M. "Bully" Brewer who invited Lowe to stay with him. Brewer, an accomplished guitarist and singer, wanted to learn the fiddle. "You can come on home with me," said Brewer, "and teach me to play the fiddle and you can stay with me forever."

Although Stokes lived with Brewer for three years, he began his recording career with fellow fiddle genius Clayton McMichen, who quickly became Lowe’s regular sidekick, his roommate for one year and protege. Lowe, who also hung around Mays Badgett's fiddle repair shop, probably met Mac there. Mac began visiting the shop in 1916.

In 1928 he replaced McMichen’s cousin Bert Layne and became the third fiddle in the Skillet Licker band. Frank Walker, Columbia's A & R man, started a Skillet Licker session with two fiddles instead of three. Walker knew something was missing so he sent Mac to find Stokes. With the talented Stokes in the line-up, Stokes played lead and Mac the high harmony.

Charles Wolfe wrote that "Often Stokes used a mute on his bridge to better match McMichen's sound; [Stokes] also said that this idea of [McMichen playing a close harmony to the individual notes of the melody] came from his listening to jazz fiddler Joe Venuti, who was then in his heyday." [Charles Wolfe: The Reluctant Hillbilly]

By 1930 Stokes was married and lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was offered a retainer by Brunswick to back up any singer or group that need a little punch. [Charles Wolfe: Classic Country]

On one tour around 1930, the trouble-bound Stokes was stabbed perilously near the heart as the nasty consequence of a love triangle, then in a drunken altercation at a bootlegging joint a few days later was shot in the upper arm while still healing from the earlier wound. "Lowe knocked him clear out of the place and onto the ground out there," said Layne, "and he'd shot Lowe. It hit him about here in the arm so Lowe he liked to beat him to death with his own gun."

The Skillet Licker session of December 7, 1930 was Stokes last as a leader, and it was almost his last, period. On Christmas Day that year he was involved in a shooting incident near Cartersville, Georgia. Stokes never cared to talk about it afterwards.

According to Juanita, "Lowe was a ladies man. He was always getting into a scuffle over some woman. He was with some woman when her husband come home and pulled out his pistol. Lowe tried to grab the gun but the gun went off and blew off most of his hand. When Daddy heard about it he went to Lowe's house in Cartersville to find Lowe sitting in chair in his front yard drinking whiskey- while the doctor was taking the rest of his hand off!"

According to Bert Lane, after hearing the news, Bert hurried to Cartersville and found Stokes "sittin' up in a barber chair getting a shave! I never saw a man with such a nerve in all my life." Within a year or so he was playing again, using a prosthetic metal attachment devised for him by McMichen.

More to come,

Richard

You Are My Sunshine; Mac and Bud

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,
You make me happy...

For years "You Are my Sunshine" was the theme song for the Governor of Mississippi, Jimmie Davis. For years Davis, a recording artist, guitarist and singer claimed he wrote the song. Would he lie to us? What does Jimmie Davis have to do with Clayton McMichen?

"Mac" and "Bud" were good friends once. This was in Atlanta, Georgia in 1921. Mac was the secretary and Bud was the president but they weren't politicians like Davis. They started a rival competition to the Georgia Old-Time Fiddler's Convention.

On Sept. 29, 1921 the Atlanta Journal reported: On the eve of the opening of the 1921 old-time fiddlers' convention, it is announced that a rival organization was formed on Wednesday night which purports to be the real thing and says the existing bunch of fiddlers will not be recognized by them as the 'Old-time fiddlers' of Georgia. "John Carson and Gid Tanner can't hold a light to "Bud" Silvey and "Mac" McMichen," said J.J. Owen stated Thursday morning.

According to one report, Lowe Stokes (and Mac through Lowe) was influenced by long-bow fiddler Joe Lee but there's another Atlanta area fiddler who was an influence. That's right--- Bud Silvey.

Beginning in 1913 and running until 1935 the Georgia Old-Time Fiddle Contest was the premiere old-time event in the country. The annual fiddlers' conventions were held in the old Atlanta City Auditorium (the lobby and front offices of which later became Georgia State University's Alumni Hall) at the corner of Courtland and Gilmer streets.

A typical convention began on a Thursday and ended the following Saturday night. The Thursday and Friday night programs were exhibition, or warm-up, programs and featured string bands, comedians, dancers, singers, and other types of entertainers in addition to the fiddlers. The contest, held on Saturday night, was usually followed by a square dance in the auditorium's Taft Hall (later Veterans' Memorial Hall). Crowned state champions included J. B. Singley (1913), Fiddlin' John Carson (1914, 1923, 1927), Shorty Harper (1915, 1916), John Silvey (1917), A. A. Gray (1918, 1921, 1922, 1929), F. B. Coupland (1919), R. M. Stanley (1920), Lowe Stokes (1924, 1925), Earl Johnson (1926), Gid Tanner (1928), Joe Collins (1930), and Anita Sorrells Wheeler (1931, 1934).

John H. Silvey, who I assume was related to the 1917 winner, had one son born in 1874- Rufus Marion Silvey. John fought in the Civil War when he was young man and was injured in the battle of Manassas. Rufus Silvey's son, nicknamed Bud was named after his father. Bud was born on Oct. 9, 1892 in Rome, Georgia.

The huge Georgia competition was dominated by Fiddlin' John Carson, A.A. Gray and Gid Tanner, the older crowd favorites. There's a record of McMichen entering the contest two times: In 1915, two weeks after his 15th birthday, McMichen placed 8th in the fiddle competition out of 75 entries. In 1922 he won 2nd place for his rendition of Arkansas Traveler.

The confident and brash young McMichen felt that he was among the top fiddlers yet the top prize was going to the most popular fiddler- not the best performer. No one knows what happened to the rival fiddle contest Bud and Mac organized for one year in 1921. Their fledgling competition couldn't compete with the huge popular contest.

Bud Silvey married the Rice Brother's mother when they were both young. He encouraged them to become musicians, taught them, performed with them and shaped their careers. From the Rice Brothers, Jimmie Davis got the song, "You Are My Sunshine." He paid Paul Rice for it in 1939. Curiously, the Rice Brothers didn't even write the song.

The following is from: The Rice Brothers Hillbillies With Uptown Ambitions By Wayne W. Daniel

Hoke Rice was born January 8, 1909, some 50 miles northeast of Atlanta, Georgia, in Hall County. Four years later, on July 23, 1913, while the family was still living in the same Chestnut Mountain community near Gainesville, Paul was born. Their father, a preacher and cobbler, repaired soles during the week and saved souls on Sundays. From their mother, who played five-string banjo, fiddle and piano, the Rice brothers inherited their musical talent.

Around 1920, when Hoke was 11 years old and Paul was about seven, their parents separated. Mrs. Rice later married a textile mill mechanic and part-time musician named Rufus M. "Bud" Silvey. He subsequently encouraged and helped shape the musical development of his two stepsons. In pursuit of his textile trade, Silvey and his family lived in several small towns in Georgia. Silvey's musical enterprises, which later included Hoke and Paul encompassed a wider circuit and took them to small towns in several Southeastern states.

In his late teens, Hoke took guitar lessons from a classical and pop-oriented guitarist, thus laying the foundation for the jazz and pop stylings that characterized the music of his professional career. By 1929, after having served his musical apprenticeship with his stepfather, he was making a name for himself in the Atlanta area as a solo performer. Into the early 1930's he was a sought-after guitarist by record company executives who brought their portable equipment to the city to record local artists. He recorded with both blues and hillbilly performers and fronted his own band as a vocalist on several records. In addition, he could be heard regularly on Atlanta radio stations.

Paul Rice, like his brother Hoke, also broke away from his stepfather in an attempt to establish an independent career. In the 1920's he worked on WSB and recorded with Fiddling John Carson and with Gid Tanner. In Gainesville, Georgia, while working in a textile mill, he organized his own band to play at dances for mill employees.

Sometime in 1939, Hoke and Paul returned to Shreveport, Louisiana, where they became regular performers on KWKH. They performed on the popular KWKH Saturday Night Roundup, staged in the larger towns around Shreveport, such as Monroe, Louisiana; Dorado, Kansas; and Lufkin, Texas. For a while Hoke and Paul also appeared daily over KTBS on a mid-morning program sponsored by Southern Maid Donuts. For this show they were billed as The Southern Maid Donut Boys.

While in Shreveport they became associated with country singer, recording artist and politician Jimmie Davis, two-time governor of Louisiana. Paul may have wished later that they hadn't. As the acknowledged composer of "You Are My Sunshine," Paul sold the song to Davis for whom it became a hit record and tremendous money-maker. According to a story in the Shreveport Times of September 16, 1956, Paul sold the song to' Davis and his partner Charles Mitchell for $35, money he needed to pay his wife's hospital bills. The Rice Brothers' bass player, Reggie Ward, told writer Louise Hewitt that "they asked me to sign as a witness the typed document transferring all rights to Davis and Mitchell."

Larry Sunbrock, Natchee The Indian & Mac- Part 3

Well that's show biz!

You can see from my last blog that Clayton "Mac" McMichen wasn't above having a little fun and making a little money. Same with Sunbrock. He staged a huge fiddle competition extravaganza in West Virgina with Clark Kessinger later that year (1937). Dubbed by True Magazine "the greatest cowboy conman," Sunbrock's ill-fated rodeo and swing concert at Municipal Stadium in 1939, with Benny Goodman and his Orchestra, was, no doubt, one of the most unusual jazz gigs in Cleveland history.

I asked Juanita McMichen Lynch if Sunbrock had ever scammed Mac. "Why heavens no," she replied. "Larry knew Mac would kill him. They were always straight with each other."

Larry continued promoting his circus and wild west thrill shows through the 1940s and 50s, offering his "rubes" a thousand dollars if they could stay on a Brahma bull named "Big Sid" for ten seconds.

In the 60s Sunbrock turned again to music promotion, sponsoring shows with the Dick Clark Unit, which featured leading artists like Bobby Vee. He even held a rock n'roll extravaganza with rock bands sandwiched around a 20 minute poetry recitation by Cassius "I Am the Greatest" Clay (Muhammed Ali). Clay traded "good-natured banter and insults" with the sold-out audience. Of course his all-time great promotion occured in 1965 (see first Sunbrock blog), when he promoted an all-star country music show in Birmingham, Alabama, faked a heart attack, fled with the proceeds in a hired ambulance, and never paid the artists, including country music legend Red Foley.

Was Natchee a real Apache Indian? Larry Sunbrock would never confess. You can read his newspaper article in the last blog. Perhaps I should shed some light on this mystery man.

Natchee the Indian was born Lester Vernon Storer around 1913 in Peebles, Ohio. He was an old-time musician whose tricks included loosening the bowstrings and playing with the bow on back side of the fiddle and the strings against the fiddle strings. The trick fiddler was popular in West Virginia and southern Ohio in the early 1930s before being hired by Sunbrock to play against the top fiddlers including McMichen, Curly Fox and Clark Kessinger.

In the mid-1930's Natchee and guitarist Lloyd "Cowboy" Copas traveled with promoter Larry Sunbrock, whose staged fiddle contests were fixed (most of the fiddlers were paid a flat fee by Sunbrock regardless whether they won or lost. Curly Fox was paid a fee of $250). There is some doubt that Natchee, who dressed as an indian, was even an Indian; he was rumored to be either Italian or Greek.

To add to the confusion, he worked on radio with "Indian Bill and Little Montana" (Bill and Evalina Stallard). He also worked around Dayton and Cincinnati with Emory Martin and with Jimmie Skinner. Aside from all rumors, people who saw Natchee remembered him for his showmanship. By the 1950s was found living in Chicago.

Juanita McMichen Lynch, Clayton's daughter knew him. When I asked her about Natchee she handed me a photo of him (see last blog) and related how Natchee turned up broke and dirty at Bert Layne's door. Dooley (Bert's wife, who was her mother's sister) let him in- he hadn't eaten or bathed in days. After he showered and ate they turned him loose, never to see or hear from him again.

It was a far cry from his hey-day in the 1930s when thousands and thousands of admiring fans cried his name...

All the good times are passed and gone,
All the good time are o'er.

Larry Sunbrock, Natchee the Indian & Mac- Part 2

What do you mean we, Kemosabe?

If you look at the photo on the left you will see Cowboy Copas, Natchee the Indian and an unidentified bassist. (Click to enlarge)

According to Merle Travis, Natchee the Indian did not talk so he couldn't have utter the immortal line above- it must have been Tonto.

If you got to know Natchee The Indian you could just call him by his nickname, The Indian.

Here's how promoter Larry Sunbrock presented Natchee. This is from an actual newspaper article circa 1936:

Times were hard in the 1930s. Sometimes performers had to play anywhere just to survive. Maybe we should just let Merle Travis tell the story of McMichen and Natchee, after all he was there in 1937, playing with the Georgia Wildcats.

According to Travis in his The Clayton McMichen Story 1982: "We played lots and lots of major theaters, the biggest halls in many towns. A man named Larry Sunbrock was doing the bookings. They called them "Fiddlin' Contests" but they were nothing more than today's country Music Spectaculars.

They had worlds of people who were famous on the radio. Records didn't mean alot they couldn't be played on the radio. Records were something you did now and then. We would go to one big city, say Cleveland- Larry Sunbrock would buy an hour each day on two different radio stations.

One hour was taken by Clayton McMichen and his Georgia Wildcats. The other was taken by Natchee The Indian and his band which was fronted by a young feller who called himself Cowboy Copas.

"We were all friends but you'd never know it by listening to our radio programs. We'd play our show and all week this is the way things would go. McMichen would say in his nasal Georgian accent: Howdy, howdy howdy. I hear there's an Indian in town playing on another station that thinks he can beat me fiddlin'. If that indian Natchee beats me Sunday, I'll eat my fiddle on the stage."

"On the other show Cowboy Copas, doing the talking for Natchee the Indian (Natchee never talked on the radio) would say: I'm just a country boy from Oklahoma. This Indian Natchee is my friend. There's a man named Clayton Mcmichen that says he can beat my Indian friend fiddlin' but come down Sunday afternoon and we'll send this braggin' Georgian back down south were he belongs."

"This was the way Larry Sunbrock wanted things to go. There'd be arguments, fist fights and hair pullin' to show faith in their favorite fiddler. Pepole would line up for blocks, they wanted to get in and root for their fiddler to win. The way of judging was to hold a hand over each fiddler's head and judge from the applause. McMichen got a nice response but when the hand went over Natchee the Indian they almost tore the house down- Natchee was the winner.

Clayton McMichen went to the microphone and delivered this classic speech: Ladies and gentlemen, all of you who applauded for me, much obliged.. and the rest of you can just go to hell."

Larry Sunbrock, Natchee the Indian, & Mac- Part 1

Hi,

The circus is in town! Two if the most colorful and bizarre characters to ever invade old-time hillbilly music are here: promoter Larry Sunbrock and Natchee the Indian.

What does this have to do with Mac? You say Clayton McMichen wouldn't stand for this foolishness...

Don't tell me Merle Travis is involved, what! Clark Kessinger you say...noooooo. Curly Fox was there, I don't believe it! Red Foley, nah. Even Hank Jr. and Tammy Wynette, no way.

It's true- I swear, and if you don't believe me ask Larry, he will tell you the truth...

Well, let the show begin!!! Here's an article about Larry, somehow still alive in '65. Who'd o' thunk it:

Sting of Stings? By David Vest

This is the story as I watched it unfold, and as those who could get into rooms I couldn't enter shared it with me. Most of it I know to be true, the rest I have on good authority.

The year was about 1965. It was the biggest country music show to hit Birmingham in many years. As a matter of fact, it was so big it made no sense. All over town, music professionals were shaking their heads. Even if he sold out the Municipal Auditorium, filling every seat, how was the promoter, a man named Larry Sunbrock, planning to cover his expenses and pay all the high-priced talent he had booked?

Surely Sunbrock knew what he was doing. He had been a successful promoter at least since the 1930s, when he used to stage wildly popular fiddling contests. But if you did the math, multiplied the ticket price ($3 or $4) by the number of seats in the old Albert Boutwell Municipal Auditorium (well under 5,000), you couldn't see how Sunbrock was going to break even, much less make a profit.

The legendary Red Foley topped the bill. Then came Sonny James, followed by The Wilburn Brothers (Teddy and Doyle) and young Hank Williams, Jr., plus a busload of veteran Nashville musicians including Don Helms on pedal steel guitar, and a special appearance by the reigning Miss World.

As if this weren't enough, local musicians' union rules required Sunbrock to hire a local back-up band on top of everything else. The best-known local outfit was the Country Boy Eddie Show Band, which featured Wynette Byrd (later known as Tammy Wynette) on vocals and yours truly on piano.

The show had everything but fire-eaters, so Country Boy Eddie brought one along. The thing to consider is that in those days any one of these major acts might have filled the hall unaided. Red Foley, famous for songs like "Smoke on the Water," "This Old House" and "Old Shep," was something like the Bing Crosby of country music, not to mention Pat Boone's father-in-law. Sonny James was a local favorite and major crossover artist with a string of pop hits. The Wilburn Brothers had their own syndicated television show out of Nashville. Hank Williams, Jr. was only 14 or 15 but had his first hit record on the charts ("Long Gone Lonesome Blues") plus his famous father's name and his mother's road managing skills (yes, Audrey Williams was on the show, too).

No doubt about it, Birmingham was excited. Country Boy Eddie had Sunbrock on his program all week, giving him free air time for promotion. Homer Milam gave him the run of his recording studio to tape radio spots, feeling it was good for business just to be associated with an event of this magnitude. Milam later said that Sunbrock ran up a sizable long distance bill on the studio phone.

As the Country Boy Eddie band took the stage, just before the curtain opened, Hank Williams, Jr. appeared at the piano with a guitar and said, "Gimme an E." I had barely played the note for him when his mother appeared, glaring at me and telling Hank, Jr., "Don't be talking to him!" as she pulled him away. I have no idea what that was about. I asked Red Foley about it and he said she was keeping the boy on a tight leash and not letting him out of her sight.

The people in the audience probably had no idea that the opening act included someone who would become one of the greatest stars in country music history. The artist not yet known as Tammy Wynette sang her number and joined in background vocals. It was a strange assembly. The band included Whitey Puckett, an Albino clarinet player (not every country and western act had one of those); Butterbean Flippo, who painted speckles on his face with a magic marker and played electric bass; Johnny Gore, a lady's man who played hot electric guitar but tended to solo all the way through every song; Mickey, the fire-eater; Mason "Tex" Dixon, Lee Hood and Bill Compton on acoustic guitars; a steel player whose name I don't recall; me on piano; and Country Boy Eddie on fiddle and spontaneous (and highly realistic) mule noises.

We played our tunes and got offstage, returning later to help back up The Wilburns and Red Foley. At one point Miss World came out and I was asked to dance with her while the band played "The Twist."

I walked out into the audience to watch Hank, Jr. Everyone in the business had been talking about him. In those days he sang nothing but his father's material, but he was damned effective in doing it. You could feel the goosebumps rising in the crowd. Hank, Sr. had been dead only about 13 or 14 years, and many of the audience had seen him perform.

Shortly before Red Foley was to go on, there was a commotion backstage. A stretcher appeared, and the promoter, Sunbrock, was on it. Someone whispered that he had suffered a heart attack. I got close enough to see that his usually pink skin was pale. There was a white line around his mouth.

Red Foley leaned over to him and said, "Larry, this is awful. I'm so sorry. Obviously we'll send everyone home right now and attend to you."

"No," said Sunbrock, "no, never mind me." And, painfully trying to lift himself, he said, "the show must go on."

"I can't go out there now, under these conditions," said Foley. "I couldn't live with myself, and you like this."

"Please, Red," said the man on the stretcher. "Please. For me."

"All right, Larry, all right." You could practically feel the lump in Foley's throat as he promised the fallen promoter that he'd say nothing to the audience and fulfill the commitment.
So we went back onstage and played "Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy" and "Old Shep" and the other favorites. The crowd roared its approval.

Later someone came backstage and announced that the gate receipts were missing. It was rumored that a satchel of money had been carried out on the stretcher, under the sheet. Calls were made. None of the local hospitals had admitted a Larry Sunbrock. Someone claimed to have seen Sunbrock's assistant driving the ambulance, heading out of town.

A few months later I visited Red Foley in his office, in Nashville. He told me that none of the artists had been paid for the Birmingham show. "I understand that Sunbrock put on a rock and roll show the next night in Mississippi," he said. And a gospel show in Louisiana soon after.

I thought it best not to mention that, unlike the famous people, and unlike Homer Milam, I had been paid for my night's work. Musicians Local #256 had required the money up front for the local players' services.

Whether it was the sting of stings or just a bizarre misunderstanding, it was one hell of an experience.

Jimmie Rodgers and Clayton McMichen

Hi,

Here's a photo (Click to enlarge) of Jimmie Rodgers and Clayton McMichen in Tupelo, Mississippi, in December 1929 that's displayed in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

By 1929, Jimmie Rodgers had experienced a meteoric rise from obscurity to stardom similar in many ways to the later experiences of Hank Williams and Elvis Presley. By summer he was making in excess of $1,000 a week in royalties.

On top of this, according to Rodgers, he made "$1,500 a week" playing the R-K-O’s Interstate Circuit tour and Loew’s vaudeville circuit. By 1929 he was a millionaire; he built a house in Kerrville Texas, bought a fancy new Buick, new clothes and had all the trappings of success.

So Jimmie was planning a some concerts during the winter of 1929. Who did he select to play fiddle? One of the best: Clayton McMichen.

"Everybody knows McMichen" said a concert poster advertising a concert featuring Jimmie Rodgers and McMichen in Chattanooga which was part of Rodger's tour across the south and southwest. Rodgers considered Mac his "good pal" and in 1932 would call on Mac to help him with his recordings.

Cccording to the 1977 book, Jimmie The Kid: "Clayton McMichen, the Georgia fiddler, with whom Rodgers later recorded, claimed he introduced Rodgers to Ralph Peer in Atlanta in 1926 or 1927."

This claim seems unlikely for many reasons. We know from the two photographs of McMichen and Rodgers (the above dated Dec. 1929 and another dated 1930 that's clearly early in the year) and the Chattanooga concert poster that Mac was part of the winter tour. When they met is uncertain. According to the book Jimmie The Kid, Gid Tanner met Rodgers in Atlanta so it could be assumed Rodgers met Mac in Atlanta as well.

More on Jimmie and Mac later,

Richard

Clayton McMichen Story- Cont'd

Hi,

For all you music triva buffs: Who was Clayton McMichen's first fiddle teacher? If you look on the web you'll probably see that his father and several uncles who played fiddle taught the youngster fiddle tunes.

The photo (click to enlarge) is a PR photo for WLS in 1933. From left to right, Bert Layne, Clayton McMichen, Jack Dunnigan and Slim Bryant.

When Clayton was a young boy he did learn to play the fiddle from his uncles and his father, a trained violinist. His father Mitchell played Viennese waltzes at the uptown hotel "crinoline" dances. But his father wasn't his first teacher!

According to Juanita McMichen Lynch. "Mitchell was a concert violinist and wouldn't let my dad touch his violin. So Mitchell hid the fiddle under his bed so no one could mess with it. When he would go out my Dad would take it out from under the bed and sneak out to Mitchell's saw mill."

Clayton befriended an old black gentleman who the family fondly called, "Uncle." Clayton loved Uncle and spent as much time as he could with him. Whenever Clayton disappeared, they knew to go to Uncle's house first. Uncle encouraged Clayton to play the fiddle and taught him his first song, Sally Goodin. Young Clayton played it "over and over" until he almost drove his sisters and mother crazy "see-sawing back and forth." [The McMichen Family by Joann T. Allen]

Clayton took his father's fiddle everyday when he went to work and put it back when he heard him coming home. One day his father came home and heard young Clayton playing by accident. When asked what he thought he was doing the 6 year old Clayton replied "Trying to play this durn thing." When Bertha, his oldest sister, asked if he could play Sally Goodin, he tuned his fiddle and rendered the tune perfectly. Grandpa was so amazed at how well the boy could play he got him his own fiddle and told him he'd help him any way he could." [Unpublished Manuscript on her father by Juanita McMichen Lynch]

That's all for now,

Richard

Who Yer Daddy? Part 2 Clayton McMichen Story

Hi,

Here's the only photo I have of Clayton McMichen's Georgia Wildcats with then 18 year-old Merle Travis. (Click To Enlarge)

Clayton has arm around Merle, after all he was Merle's mentor and briefly his father, at least for one day!

That one day, according to Travis was in March 1937. Merle told Clayton he and his fiance were under age and couldn't get married and Clayton replied:

"The hell you are, son. Right now I'm your pappy. I'll tell the justice of peace I'm your father."

So it came to pass that Clayton McMichen and Bert Layne (who posed as the girl's father), former members of Skillet Lickers and two of the most famous fiddler's in the world married off Merle and Mary Elizabeth Johnson.

At the time Juanita McMichen Lynch, Mac's daughter who lived in an old house in Covington with Mac and the Wildcats added, "We had a honeymoon from Merle back at the house."

According to legend Juanita added, "The preacher that married them recognized Mac and turned to him and asked, 'Do you expect me to believe that you are this boy's father?' Mac reassured the preacher and the ceremony went on."

In 1982 at the end of his life Merle did a tribute to Mac, a recording titled "The Clayton McMichen story." Mac died in 1970 but Merle wrote Juanita:

"I only wish we could have made this album half as great as your Dad was-

Your friend,

Merle Travis 1982"

Merle died later that year. His tribute to his mentor was the final musical act of his great career.

Who's Yer Daddy?

Hi,

Here's a photo (click to enlarge) of one of the all-time great country guitarists, Merle Travis. I never got to meet Merle but I did meet Thom Bresh, Merle's son. Bresh is an outstanding thumbpicker/fingerpicker like his dad.

Not everyone knows that Merle got his start in the big time with fiddler Clayton McMichen. One of the last albums Merle made was "The Clayton McMichen Story" in 1982, which was a tribute to his mentor McMichen.

Was Clayton McMichen Merle's daddy? He sure was...at least for one day! And Uncle Bert Layne was Merle's wife-to-be's daddy? Alton Delmore is right: truth is stranger than fiction.

Merle tells the story best and when I have time, I'll include here. Juanita McMichen Lynch has a good version. It's also told in the following from an interview in 1960 by Ed Kahn (it's at the end of the excerpt). Ed gets most of the info right but-

Merle's birthdate is Nov. 29, 1917

Both Doc Watson and Chet Atkins named children after Merle but Chet named his daughter Merle.

Merle claims he played guitar, his first recording, on Clayton McMichen's Decca session in NYC. Tony Russell credits Slim Bryant, who was in Pittsburgh in early 1937. Did Slim come back by the summer? Rich Kienzle said he did. I called Slim today and told him the songs and he assured me he was there. Was Merle there? Not according to Slim who said he only met Merle once. This is mystery to me.

Did Merle meet Mac three times before he started playing with him. Maybe so, but I know of two... and the third?

Merle Travis (1917-1983) occupies a unique position in the history of country music. In a career that spanned nearly a half acentury, he participated in the transformation of country music from a regional to a national style and introduced his Western Kentucky style of guitar playing to the whole world. He made a mark for himself as a singer, guitar stylist, song writer, performer,and actor. He also pioneered the design of the solid body guitar, now widely used by electric guitar players of every genre. Few musicians have been so influential.

Both Doc Watson and Chet Atkins credit Merle as their inspiration. *Both men named their sons after Travis. Today, Merle’s style shows up as a main ingredient in pop, rock, and country music. Attesting to his greatness, countless musicians who have never heard of Merle Travis have unknowingly incorporated his influence into their music. His influence has become mainstream. In recognition of his contributionto country music, Merle was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1978. But his influence was considerably wider than just country music.

The earliest days of country music were dominated by performers who, for the most part, took their home grown music into the recording studio. They were simply performing into a microphone rather than before a live audience. These musicians provided the foundation upon which a second generation of musicians built their careers. Merle was part of this next generation. He consciously entered into the music business. While there was little precedent for people making their living in this area, Merle never doubted that he could. Merle Travis was born on November 17, 1917.

“I was born in Rosewood, Kentucky, which is...in Muhlenberg County. They raise tobaccer up there. My dad raised tobacco and my older brother, Taylor, he moved to Muhlenberg County and got a job in the mines, so he went back to Rosewood and told dad, said,‘Pappy, you’re crazy raising this tobacco,’ said ‘you could godown to the mines and really make some money.’ So Dad spent the rest of his days after going to the mines in Browder, Kentucky,and then of course eventually to Beach Creek where heworked sixteen years. Dad always said, I wish I’d a stayed on the farm,’ you know, but I think he kind of liked coal mining.”

Merle was the youngest of four children. His father worked outside the mines, never venturing underground. In time, Merle’s next oldest brother, John, took a job in the mine. Merle knewbefore the end of the eighth grade, his last year of school, that he had no intention of working in the mines. Rather, he reasoned,he could make a living with his guitar.

Merle lumped all musical things together: “I was always fascinatedby things about music...our talkin’ machine and...the fiddle and the guitars and things, had a smell all its own—smelled so musical, you know...now we had a neighbor, his name was Maynard Matterley, and they had a guitar hanging on the wall, and I remember that somebody, and I don’t know, maybe Mr. or Mrs. Matterley played the guitar and it smelled so good. You know, it had the round hole and it had a musty sort of smell.”

As a kid, he absorbed the rich musical culture of his region. “There was music in the home, of course...then there was a fellow named Colie Addison who played the fiddle and he played the guitar and the old ‘tater bug’ mandolin, and that just sounded the purtiest that I ever heard, to me. And of course in home, whymy dad was a five string banjer picker. But he didn’t have a banjer and he talked about the old time banjer players...I remember he used to talk about a guy named Jim Winders who was a great banjo player. So finally my dad’s brother, named John, Uncle Johnny Travis, he got a five string banjo and Dad traded him outof it and brought it home and Dad, he’d play... pick it, you know, had two different ways, he called it knockin’ the banjer and then pickin’ the banjer. He’d sing songs...he’d sing ‘Jenny Weaver,’and a song about Jeff Davis swore when the cruel war begun,

I wouldn’t be the Union man and carry the Union gun,
But I’d rather be the Union man and carry the Union gun
than to be the rebel, the rebel had to run.

“That was the words to the song he sung. And of course he sung some little old verses to ‘Ida Red’ and a bunch of stuff. Just a world of things he’d pick on the banjer and sing ‘em. And evenmy mother played a little bit. She played what they call...we call it ‘Hot corn.’ Now you’ve heard ‘Green Corn?’ ‘Green Corn,’Hot Corn,’ I’ve heard it called two or three different things sinceI’ve growed up, but she called it ‘Hot Corn.’ And that’s the first thing I ever learned to play was ‘Hot Corn’ on the banjo.

And of course all kids make instruments. I used to make banjers out of carbide cans, you know, just cut the bottom of the round can off and put a neck on it and strip a screen wire..that’s where I got my strings and oh, I’d just pick it. I wish I had an instrument that would sound as good today...My dad always talked about the banjos without a fret...he lived until the early forties and he always talked about the banjers, you know, he saw some awfully good ones, because I was working on a radio station at the time he passed on, but until his dyin’ day he said ‘No banjer sounds as good as the kind that Jim Winders used to play made out of a hickory rim, and a groundhog hide for the head, and they didn’t have no frets on them.’ Dad said they’d gotten away.”The Travis family had a phonograph in their home. His father loved to order records from the Sears catalog. Each time they put in an order from the catalog, his father would add a record or two to the order. He especially liked Vernon Dalhart’s ballads. In addition to Dalhart’s music, his dad loved to listen to the string band music of Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers and of Clayton McMichen and his groups.

“And ninetime out of ten, it would be a song that, in the case of my dad, he’d say, ‘I’ve knowed that song all my life.’ So he was meetin’an old friend as well as hearing some awful good fiddlin’ andbanjo pickin’, you know. So that, no doubt, was the appeal.”

At an early age, Merle’s musical interests focused on the guitar. There were lots of excellent guitar pickers in his area. Histwo favorite musicians, however, were Ike Everly — father of the Everly Brothers, Don and Phil — and Mose Rager. These men were strongly influenced by the guitar style of Arnold Shultz, a black itinerant musician from Ohio County, Kentucky. Shultz,who died in 1931, traveled the area and worked along the Green River, which separates Muhlenberg County from Ohio Countyand flows on to the Ohio River. [Paradise by John Prine] Just where he got the style is unclear, but his influence extended not only to these Muhlenberg County musicians, but also to Bill Monroe who recalls seeing Shultz and credits him as being a major influence on his music.

By the time Merle Travis was a teenager, he was already awhiz on the guitar. He hung around all the musicians of his area and credits a number of the young men with influencing the Travissound. Kennedy Jones, Raymond McClellan, and Lester“Plucker” English were names that Travis often mentioned. Traviswas like a sponge. Mose Rager affectionately recalled that wheneverhe would play, young Travis would get up as close as he could and before Mose knew it, Travis would have stolen a chordor lick.

One of the things that set these Muhlenberg County musiciansapart was their interest in a wide range of music. They were fascinated by harmonies and chords. Arnold Shultz not only played blues, but jazz and popular tunes of the day. These Muhlenberg County musicians all loved musical complexity. Merle once commented that he was more interested in learning new chords than new songs.

By the time Merle was fifteen, he was on his way out of town. His first journey away from home was to join the Civilian Conservation Corps. The arrangement was that part of the money earned was given to the youngster and the rest was sent home to the parents. Shortly after his time in the CCC, Merle rode a freight train to Evansville, Indiana, where his brother, John, had gone towork in the Servel Refrigerator plant. Merle asked his mother for the $65 that he had earned in the CCC. He promised that he was going to buy clothing with the money.

John Travis recalls Merle’s trip to Evansville. Merle slipped out on the first day and bought a new guitar. When John questioned Merle about this, Merle replied that he was going to enter a talent contest and win prize money that would pay for the clothing. Merle reasoned that he could make money with the guitar, but not with clothing. Merle entered the contest that night and came in third, behind a little girl who did an acrobatic dance, and a dog who walked a tightrope. When John challenged Merle that he had not won, Merle replied that he had. When John pointed out that the little girl had won, Merle replied that he was the highest ranking musician! Merle recalled another early trip and contest, saying that he had stepped up to the microphone and played “Tiger Rag” as much like Mose Rager as he could.

Merle soon left home for good. He teamed up with a bunch of young musicians and played the local area. Next, he teamed up with the Walt and Bill Brown and Sleepy Marlin to form the Drifting Pioneers, a group that he worked with off and on for years. [fiddler Morris "Sleepy" Marlin still lives in the Louisville area.]

In the middle of his Drifting Pioneers years, in late 1936 or early ’37, old time fiddler Clayton McMichen invited him to join his band. Merle met McMichen three times before he was asked to become a member of the group. He recalls getting a letter from his mother saying that he had a telegram from Clayton McMichen: “I quit the Drifting Pioneers and took off and found a way of catchin’ the boat across the Ohio River at one of themost flooded parts down there and then I caught a freight train down through Kentucky and got home, which is some hundred miles or so and there was the telegram, which said ‘Meet me in Columbus,’ which was about four days from then, so I started gathering up money, you know,...friends that had a dollar or two...and I bought a railroad ticket to Cincinnati and when I got to Cincinnati, why, they hadn’t left yet, so I went on to Columbus, Ohio, and that’s when I joined Clayton McMichen and his Georgia Wildcats. And boy I was in hog heaven then. And we allwore yellow checkered shirts and everything... and that was a great experience, you know, because we had records at home and I’d look at McMichen and think. ‘There is a man who actually made a talking machine record.’ And he sold ‘em too in his day, you know. So I was with them some eight months or something and finally we...the band sort of starved out, you know, and I went back to Evansville and got my job back with the Drifting Pioneers.”

In any case, he joined the band and says that his first recording session was playing guitar on McMichen’s recording of “Farewell Blues.” McMichen named Travis Ridge Runner. Clayton McMichen’s daughter, Juanita, recalled to me that during the time Merle was with McMichen, she would always see him in his room playing the guitar. He practiced constantly. During his stint with McMichen, he married for the first time. His bride was Mary Elizabeth Johnson, his teenage sweetheart. Because neither Merle nor Mary were yet 21 and didn’t havetheir parents’ consent, McMichen posed as Merle’s father while old time fiddler, Bert Layne, posed as Mary’s dad so the young couple could get married.

Clayton McMichen

Howdy, Howdy Howdy,

The next several blogs will feature Clayton McMichen, the lead fiddler for the Skillet Lickers and Georgia Wildcats. Here's a photo of Clayton when he appeared on Pittsburgh's KDKA radio in 1932 (Click to enlarge)

I'm writing an article for the Old-Time Herald and I'll feature excerpts and new facts about his life and the musicians he encountered.

I've interviewed Slim Bryant, the Georgia Wildcats first guitarist, and Juanita McMichen Lynch, his daughter. I think I have most of the facts right but some details may never be fathomed.

Fiddler of the Century
Bob Everhart, President of the National Traditional Country Music Association bestowed a new award on the fiddler from Georgia. "We just finished our 34th festival of old-time music in LeMars, Iowa," said Everhart, "and Juanita McMichen was on hand to accept the proclamation we made, making her father the "Fiddler of the Century" for our upper Midwest area. Clayton McMichen was an incredible fiddler."

Mac's Influence
The number of musicians Mac played with and influenced are enormous. Beside the long list of talented musicians in his main bands, the Skillet Lickers and Georgia Wildcats, McMichen recorded with country music's first superstar Jimmie Rodgers. There are a host of fiddler's indebted to McMichen- the short list includes Carl Cotner, Cliff Gross, Curly Fox, Chubby Wise, and Bob Wills. Two of the best country guitarists got their start with Mac- Slim Bryant and Merle Travis. The first concert Ralph Stanley saw as a young man was Clayton McMichen's Georgia Wildcats, who shared the bill with The Delmore Brothers.

More to come,

Richard

A House Divided: Close-Ups

Hi,

Here's a close-up of the speech (Click to enlarge)

The location is the Moir Bank which was located on what is now Schuyler St. and 2nd St. (Schuyler St. was Main St.)

To the left of Lincoln is SS Phelps, then seated is a reporter for the Oquawka newspaper and next to the flag, standing on a chair is Barrack Obama.

There are many stories about SS Phelps who founded the town of Oquawka along with his two brothers. SS was nicknamed 'hawk eye' by the Blackhawk Indians because he was an excellent marksman and hunter.

The Burlington newspaper, The Hawk-Eye, is named after him as well as the state of Iowa- "The Hawk-Eye State."

Richard

A House Divided

A House Divided- Lincoln in Oquawka

I just finished a commission of my painting of "Lincoln in Oquawka." (Click to enlarge) Lincoln was in Oquawka, Illionois in Oct. 1958 to give a speech in his election campaign for the Illinois senate seat. Running against Lincoln was Douglas who didn't make the Oquawka stop. Here's the report:

Saturday, October 9, 1858.Oquawka, IL and Burlington, IL.
Escort with brass band meets Lincoln at Oquawka Junction (now Gladstone) and takes him to home of S. S. Phelps. At 1 P.M. he is escorted to stand in business section, where he speaks for hours. After meeting he leaves for Burlington, Iowa, for evening speech at Grimes' Hall. Oquawka Spectator, 4 October 1858; Burlington Hawkeye, 11 October 1858; J. W. Grimes to Herndon, 28 October 1866, William H. Herndon Papers, Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.

The site where Lincoln spoke was the Moir Bank in 1858 and is now the Oquawka Diner:

[Starting from the levee that was once the abandoned railroad bed we come to the Oquawka diner, owned and operated by George Olson, Jr. In 1952 George and Ida Olson along with their children, George Jr. and Donna, started this small riverside restaurant. Small, because at the time they opened, it was just a small place with very good food. About a year later they enlarged by moving what used to be an old city boat or warehouse and later the Jim and Harry McOlgan fish house, to the east side of the Diner, thus giving a much larger seating capacity for the patrons. George Jr. is still running the Diner today. In an earlier day yet, just east of the Diner was the Hodson Canning Factory. It has long since been gone. Just two years ago in 1984 the old brick structure that used to be the quarters of the Moir Bank that Abe Lincoln stood in front of and gave his part of the Lincoln-Douglas debate, had to be torn down because of deterioration. During its past useful years it was known as the Blue Goose Tavern.]

In 1827, Dr. Isaac Galland erected a log cabin and began trading with the Indians at the site now known as Oquawka. In 1828 Stephen Phelps of Lewistown, IL purchased the claim for his son, S.S., who made his home there. Oquawka was laid out by Alexis Phelps and his brother, Stephen Sumner Phelps on July 9, 1836."Oquawka" was derived from an Indian word Oquawkiek meaning "Yellow Banks".

This is what I came up with. Rosie Melvin, who helped commission the piece suggested I do a young Lincoln. In 1858 Lincoln had no beard. I thought that besides the protrait I'd need to have Lincoln giving the speech. So he's on a platform in front of the Moir Bank with the "Yellow Banks" and Mississippi River in the background. I figured it would appear something like this in 1858. It proved to be difficult to say the least. The front right spectators are loosley drawn and painted.

I used an earlier sketch I found on-line as the basis for the speech. I added S.S. Phelps and Barrack Obama. I'm sure S.S. Phelps was there and since Lincoln's speech directly influenced events that led to President Obama, I figured it would be fitting to include him also.

I'll have some close-ups next blog,

Richard

Walter Cronkite

Hi,

It's been a while since I posted anything. Basically I'm swamped and working hard on my Bluegrass Lyrics page: http://bluegrassmessengers.com.temp.realssl.com/bluegrass-lyrics.aspx

Walter Cronkite passed away on July 17, 2009 in New York City. I was watching CNN today and saw Winton Marsales playing some jazz at the memorial ceremony, then President Obama.

I played for Cronkite and his family back in the 1980's. Walter Cronkite's sailboat, which in 1986 he named Wyntje, was a 48 foot, 50,000 pound, custom built ketch. The ketch was built to Cronkite's specifications, and he enjoyed it for eleven years. Cronkite would sail up and down the the east coast in his sailboat.

When I was in Beaufort, SC in the mid 1980s, I played classical/pop music on a classical guitar every Sat. night at the John Cross Tavern on Bay St. for the dinner crowd. One Saturday, the owner, Harry Chikades, came upstairs and announced, "Walter Cronkite is coming upstairs to eat." Harry rushed around preparing the staff and waiters/waitresses. He came over to me while I was playing and whispered,"Don't do anything to upset him, just play quiet."

I wasn't worried-- but Harry sure was. Walter Cronkite came in with his wife, son and two other people. They were casually dressed after a day of sailing. I was sitting about 12 feet away from their table and clearly Walter was interested in music. They ordered and listened. Walter's son requested a number then Walter asked me if I played Malaguena.

I said, "Sure," and ripped through my flamenco arrangement. Suddenly, his son hopped up on a chair and did some form of dance while clapping his hands. Harry came rushing out and saw that the commotion was made by Cronkite and his party. He smiled embarrassed and disappeared to the kitchen.

Later, as I was leaving, I went over to Walter and got him to write a note to my grandmother, since I knew she was a big fan. He wrote the note and I gave it to her- she was impressed. My grandmother Matteson was hard to impress, she'd been a professional pianist and performer and had met a number of famous people in her life.

She died about 8 years later and now- Walter's gone.

Richard

Pretty Polly close-ups- Click to enlarge

Pretty Polly: the Professional Pics- Whole painting

Hi,

Here's the finished painting of Pretty Polly, professionally digitized (click to enlarge).

I'll have some close-ups tomorrow.

Hope you like it,

Richard

Pretty Polly- finished

Hi,

My painting of Pretty Polly is finished. I took some rough photos with my camera; Click to enlarge.

I'll enclose one close-up Pretty Polly "yonder she stands"

I'll have some better shots professionally done soon. Hope you like it,

Richard

Cripple Creek Painting

Hi,

I got the profession digital pic back on Cripple Creek (Click to enlarge).

I'll have copies (or the original available next week). Please email me at richiematt@aol.com if you're interested.

Here are the painting lyrics:

Cripple Creek

I've got a gal and she loves me,
She's as sweet as she can be.
She's got eyes of baby blue,
Makes my gun shoot straight and true.

Goin’ up Cripple Creek, goin’ in a whirl,
Goin’ up Cripple Creek, to see my girl.
Goin' up Cripple Creek goin' in a run,
Goin' up Cripple Creek to have some fun.

My gal lives at the head of the creek,
I go up to see her ‘bout twice a week.
She’s got kisses sweet as any wine,
Wraps herself ‘round me like a sweet pertater vine.

Cripple Creek's wide and Cripple Creek's deep,
I'll wade old Cripple Creek before I sleep.
Roll my britches to my knees,
I'll wade old Cripple Creek when I please.