Mac and the Skillet Lickers- Part 3 Corn Licker Still

Hi,

The famous “Corn Licker Still in Georgia” series of fourteen skits (fourteen sides; seven 78s) originally recorded between 1927 and 1930 consisted of rural humor and social commentary at its best mixed with great fiddling by Clayton McMichen, Bert Layne, Lowe Stokes, and Gid Tanner, the popular crooning of Riley Puckett, and the banjo of Fate Norris and sometimes Gid Tanner. According Clayton from Clayton McMichen Talking: "The Corn Licker Still was Bert Layne and my idea. We had a brother-in-law down there in Georgia that did actually make liquor."

According to Mac, Wilber C. "Bill" Brown, an A&R man with Columbia Records, took the idea and wrote our scripts for the band members. Another contributor was recording engineer, part-time vocalist Dan Hornsby, who appeared as Tom Sly. Frank Walker, head of the division, also had a hand in the scripts.

Corn Licker Still in Georgia became the Skillet Lickers biggest selling series, reportedly selling over a million units. Not only were the skits funny with great music but they were crafted on personal experience. Clayton McMichen and Bert Layne were two of the Skillet Lickers who actually made money from running moonshine. It must have been doubly funny to them.

According to Juanita McMichen Lynch (Clayton's daughter) it was a family operation; her uncles would make it and Clayton would help with the supplies and sell it. Bert Layne told Stephen Davis in an interview, "Me and Mac would go out there (to the still) and buy it, you know. We'd give him $4 for a gallon and we'd take it to Cartersville and sell it for $8." On one trip Clayton was forced to carry two one-gallon jugs to Cartersville under his sister's large overcoat. One jug went to a restaurant and another to the 5-and-10 cent store!

According to Juanita, "Clayton used to even sell moonshine to the policemen. But they always had to worry about revenuers." Bert Layne said one day their car, which was loaded with moonshine, slipped off the road and was stuck in the mud. A revenue officer happened by and Clayton, fearing the consequences of getting caught, lifted the car right out of the mud- by himself. Later Clayton remarked, "My boot tracks was in that clay for six months afterwards!"

Here is an example of the dialogue found on the skits:

As the routine opens, Riley Puckett is leading a few of the Skillet Lickers in an old lament called "Rye Whiskey." A sharp knock at the cabin door brings the music to an abrupt halt. " Hear, hear! We can't have all that fuss around here," protests fiddler Clayton McMichen. "If we're going to make this liquor, why, let's make it and get through with it. You go up there on the hill and bring that thumper keg down here and bring that rye paste with you."

After the still has been assembled, the distilling begun, a customer satisfied, and a few fiddle tunes played, the inevitable happens. "All right, you boys, stick 'em up, there, we got you covered!" a revenue officer barks. "Who's running this place?"

"I'm running it myself," McMichen answers in a slow, sly drawl. "What kind of a run you got started?" "We got about five hundred gallons done run off."

"I'm sorry," says the officer, "we'll have to bust you up and take you down to Gainesville."

But the wily McMichen is ready for him. "Well, looks like there's some way to get out of this," he says, offering the officer a taste.

Though he refuses at first, the revenuer is finally obliged to comment, "Well, that is pretty good liquor, I'll admit that! What's all these instruments doing around here?"

"All right boys, come on play him a little tune," McMichen exhorts. "Whoop it on up. It's either play or go to jail." After more product demonstrations and a rousing rendition of "Pass Around the Bottle," the officer is won over.

"Tell you what I'm going to do, Mac," he proposes, "I'm going to let you off this time if you'll give me about ten of those cans. Can you do that?"

"I'll give you a hundred if you want," McMichen replies happily.

"I want you to keep quiet from here on," the officer warns. "Good luck to you boys!" Of course, the narrow escape calls for a celebration and the band strikes up the old fiddle tune "Katie Hill."

The next time they come in contact with the law, the moonshiners aren't so lucky, and for a while they find themselves on the chain gang. Nevertheless, a public letter-writing campaign gets the popular string band paroled.

"Now you boys go home," the warden tells them, "and remember, don't make any more corn liquor."

"We're through for good," McMichen promises. Back home in the mountains, however, the musical moonshiners distill some potent economic theory. "We got about five, six hundred bushels of corn out yonder in the crib that's going to ruin if we don't do something with it, " McMichen observes.

"I don't think there's no use to try to farm no-how as long as Prohibition's in effect," banjoist Fate Norris comments.

"What's the use to try and sell corn for two dollars a bushel in the ear when you can get $20 for a can?" asks Riley Puckett.

More to come,

Richard

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.