Hi,
On the left you can see the cover of the 1939 Drifting Pioneers song folio. Sleepy was kind enough to give me a copy.
Featured are the Drifting Pioneers with their coonskin caps. From left to right: Walt Brown (mandolin); Merle Travis (guitar); Sleepy Marlin (fiddle) and Bill Brown (bass).
Merle left the Pioneers in spring of 1937 to join Mac's Georgia Wildcats. Then in the summer of 1937 he rejoined the Pioneers.
Sleepy and Mac crossed paths many times and he eventually ended up playing for Mac in the late 1940s. It didn't last long because Mac, a lifetime drinker, was hitting the bottle hard and Sleepy couldn't get along with him.
Sleepy did relate a story (second hand) about Mac and Natchee. Mac and Natchee were rivals in a series of fiddle competitions sponsored by Larry Sunbrock, even though the contestants were paid a flat fee they still tried to win the audience vote and the competition by fiddling their best.
According to Sleepy, Mac decided he would play a trick on Natchee and put soap on Natchee's bow hair before the big final. Of course Natchee couldn't make much sound with soap on his bow and confronted Mac who was never afraid of a fight. Sleepy said Mac who was only 5' 7" and weighted about 155 pound was no match in a fist fight with the 6' 2" indian. Sleepy said Mac took a beating.
Then in the late 1940s Sleepy started playing the state competition at the Kentucky fair held every year in Louisville. At the time Mac was playing with his big swing band at Howell's Furniture Store while Sleepy started his own band, The Wagoneers, then joined Randy Atcher's band on WHAS and was featured on the Hayloft Hoedown TV show.
Sleepy won the contest at least two times when Mac entered. According to Sleepy, "I beat him one year playing Bile Dem Cabbage Down , which was his contest song. Mac didn't like that much."
Sleepy played on WHAS in Louisville from around 1950 until 1962 on Randy's hit TV show. More on Sleepy later.
Richard
Hi,
Hi,
Hi,Here's one for the Guinness Book of Records: First live performance from an airplane!
Yes, Mac and Slim were there. Here's the promo photo for the event from WLS. Mac and Slim are in their checkered shirts Slim is seated and Mac is behind him. Jack Dunnigan is on right with guitar. Also on the flight was future country star Red Foley (standing with guitar on left).
On opening night of the Chicago World's Fair in 1933, Clayton McMichen and his Georgia Wildcats broadcast a segment of the WLS "Barn Dance" from an airplane circling Chicago. A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago, Illinois from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial which opened on May 27, 1933.
"We were the first musical group to play from an airplane," explained Slim. "We played and so did Red Foley. It was broadcast down to the stage on the Eighth Street Theater."
"In the Fall of 1933," said Bryant, "the fairs were closing down and the bookings at WLS had dried up so we (Georgia Wildcats) headed for NY landing a job at WGY in Schenectady. Jack Dunnigan and I think Bert Layne stayed on in Chicago for a while, I was offered a job at WLS but I went to NY with Mac."
In 1926, WGY became an early affiliate of the NBC Red Network, and after the split of the sister NBC Blue network into today's ABC Radio, WGY remained with NBC radio until it folded in 1989.
"We stayed at WGY through the winter and then we went to the Village Barn in NY," said Slim. "We were guests a few times on what they called the 'Yankee' radio network (WMCA)." "Dick Powell was the MC in NYC," remembered Juanita, "and Alice Faye was a showgirl trying to make it. Dad said NY was was too tough with a family; cost too much to live."
The Georgia Wildcats headed back south; to the city that would eventually become their home: Louisville.
More to come,
Richard
Hi,
In our last segment the Slim and Mac where in NYC cutting records Odie McWinders and Bob Miller as the Georgia Wildcats.
After an exciting stay in NJ and NY Slim and Mac ended up in Louisville and WHAS in the fall of 1932. "Then in October Mac went to WLS Chicago with the idea that he would bring us up in the spring after he got established," said Bryant. "We stayed behind still playing as the Georgia Wildcats."
In 1933 WLS (World's Largest store), known as The National Barn Dance, broadcast from the large stage of the Eighth St. Theater in Chicago. Sears moved to the Eighth St. Theater in 1932 so they could do the popular show "live" for paying customers. They had a 50,000 watt clear channel station that could broadcast from coast to coast and be heard in Canada.
WLS featured a large number of groups including Hoosier Sod Busters, Prairie Ramblers with Patsy Montana, and Girls of the Golden West. Gene Autry, who first met Mac in New York was there and making a name for himself. By the spring of 1933 McMichen had brought Bert Layne, Jack Dunnigan and Slim Bryant to Chicago where they performed as the Georgia Wildcats.
[See photo above (click to enlarge) from left to right Bert Layne, Clayton McMichen, Jack Dunnigan, and Slim Bryant)]
The Wildcats formed about the time John Dillinger was on his bank-robbing spree in May 1933. Chicago was and exciting town and WLS was one of the top country radio stations on the planet.
Bill and Charlie Monroe were hired by WLS as part of a dance troupe. In the early 1930s Bill was working in East Chicago cleaning 55 gallon oil drums in a dirty Sinclair "barrell house." Bill lived with his two brothers and two sisters when thye were discovered in 1932 by Tom Owen of WLS who hasd set up a series of dance exhibitions on the Saturday night show. So Birch, Charlie, Bill and a friend, Larry Moore became part of the WLS dance troupe. Bill still worked his Sinclair job but his contact with the performers at WLS changed his life.
Bill Monroe: "Years ago people played a little on the mandolin just to fill-in or be playing. But to have heard really good fiddle players back in the old days- Clayton McMichen and people like that- and to really get on a mandolin and play the old-time notes that's in a fiddle number, has really helped to create an original style on the mandolin."
Gene Autry and Bill Monroe weren't the only future stars impressed with McMichen. A young guitar player at WLS named Lester Polfuss (Rubarb Red AKA the late great Les Paul) kept hanging around watching Slim play guitar. In a 1959 interview Mac said, "Les Paul spent more time in the rehearsal room with Slim than Slim did rehearsing with the Georgia Wildcats." Les has acknowledged Slim as a major influence on his guitar playing.
More to come,
Richard
Hi,"I got a royalty check last week," said Slim Bryant. "Every Mother's Day the country stations play it. It's been recorded by 178 different artists and the first was Jimmie Rodgers."
The song Slim wrote that Rodgers recorded was "Mother Queen of My Heart." It became Slim's biggest hit and Mac's song "Peach Pickin' Time in Georgia" was also recorded by Rodgers in that session and became Mac's biggest hit.
Here are the stats for the Victor sessions in Camden NJ: Aug. 10, 1932 Jimmie Rodgers recorded "In the Hills of Tennessee" (unissued) with Clayton McMichen fiddle, Dave Kanui- steel guitar; Oddie McWinders- banjo; Slim Byrant- guitar, George Howell- stand up bass; Recorded Aug 11: “Mother, the Queen of My Heart” (Victor 23721); “Rock All Our Babies to Sleep” (Victor 23721); “Whippin’ That Old T.B.” (Victor 23751); “No Hard Times” (Victor 23751). Recorded August 15: “Long Tall Mama Blues” (Victor 23766); “Peach-Pickin’ Time Down in Georgia” (Victor 23781); “Gambling Barroom Blues” (Victor 23766); “I’ve Only Loved Three Women” (Bluebird 6810)
McMichen had a short fiddle solo on Rodgers' version of St. James Infirmary, a rewrite Rodgers titled, "Gambling Barroom Blues." Mac also contributed two songs. The first one was recorded as “Prohibition Has Done Me Wrong” but not issued possibly because of copyright conflicts with Columbia. According to Juanita McMichen Lynch, Peer thought it was "too contoversial for the times." The master was put aside and then accidentally lost. A similar version was done later by Ernest Tubb. The second song Mac contributed was the popular “Peach Pickin’ Time Down In Georgia,” a song that was recorded a year earlier with Hugh Cross that McMichen copyrighted.
While in the New York area McMichen, Byrant and McWinders played a few vaudeville gigs and contacted Bob Miller, author of “Twenty-One Years” and sometime recording director with Columbia. Through Miller they were signed to record some twenty-four sides for Crown, an independent cut-rate label for Victor owned by Peer’s competitor, A & R man Eli Oberstein.
The sides for Crown include some great old-time songs. The Crown songs were: Georgia Wildcat Breakdown; Hog-Trough Reel; Wreck of the Old 97; Singing an Old Hymn; Way Down In Carolina; Back In Tennessee; Arkansas Traveler; Old Hen Cackled; Give The Fiddler A Dram; Ider Red; Blue Hills Of Virginia; Down The Ozark Trail; Counting Cross Ties; Log Cabin in The Lane; Where The Skies Are Always Blue; Bummin’ On The I.C. Line; Red Wing; All I’ve Got Is Gone; Down In Old Kentucky; Yum Yum Blues; Smoky Mountain Home; I Don’t Love Nobody; Old Joe Clark; When The Bloom Is On the Sage.
Peer set up another Rodgers session with another group of NY musicians. Because of Byrant’s innate ability to follow Rodgers, who played his own rhythm, Peer said of Bryant “he’s our regular guitar player.” Mac didn't play on the session.
About Byrant's last NY session with Rodgers on Aug. 29 he said, "We'd go over the songs for a while until Jimmie was ready. They were done in pop music style." The four songs produced were “In the Hills of Tennessee” (Victor 23736) written by Billy Hill; “Prairie Lullaby” (Victor 23781); “Miss the Mississippi and You” (Victor 23736); and “Sweet Mama Hurry Home (or I’ll Be Gone)” (Victor 23796). "Jimmie asked me and Mac to go to England on a tour," said Bryant, "but he was so sick the doctors wouldn't let him go. It was a shame I was looking forward to going. After Rodgers went back to Texas he send me a one penny postcard, thanking me. I still have that postcard."
More to come,
Richard
Hi, On the left is a picture of Jimmie Rodgers, the Father of Country Music. Rodger became famous in 1928 with a series of hit songs- starting with his megahit, "T for Texas" also known as Blue Yodel Number 1. Jimmie was largely a blues oriented pop singer. He wrote or reworked blues and pop songs attaching his famous blues yodel as a fill at the end of the verses.
Rodgers was one of the few musicians still able to sell records in the Great Depression. By 1932 he was still one of the biggest stars in music and the biggest in country music. The problem was- he was dying of TB. Ralph Peer, who managed Rodgers and the Carter Family, tried to have Rodgers record regularly for Victor. Ralph had a deal with Victor- he received no salary for managing their 'country music' division, but instead got the royalties from record sales.
In the late 1920 Peer was receiving royalties of $250,000 a quarter which today translates to a figure around $60 million a year. Peer needed Rogers to do a session in the summer of 1932 so Rodgers called his good friend and pal Clayton McMichen to join him in Victor's Camden Yard studio located in a revamped church in New Jersey.
When Rodgers called Mac on the phone they briefly discussed some of the recording details. Mac wanted to bring the Georgia Wildcats but Jimmie didn't think Peer would pay for the whole band. Peer had already arranged for session players including banjoist Oddie McWinders. Since Mac had played had on Jimmie's 1929 winter tour Peer and Rodgers just wanted Mac to play the fiddle- not the band. Mac finally asked if he could bring Slim, his guitar player. Rodgers, who played guitar, but not well, was slated to play the guitar and sing.
Jimmie wrote to Mac: “Mr. Peer says he wonts [sic] me to do at least 10 numbers so if you have anything of your own be sure to bring it along because I'm pretty sure I can get several of your songs recorded.” Regarding Bryant, Rodgers wrote: “I will pay his expenses if he cares to come along with you and takes a chance on working with us.”
In August 1932 Clayton brought Bryant with him and they met Jimmie in Washington, DC. After being chauffeured to Victor studios in Camden, New Jersey, the men rehearsed with Oddie McWinders (banjo) Dave Kanui (steel guitar) and George Howell (string bass). They tried to record "In the Hills of Tennessee" but when the first session produced no suitable takes, Ralph Peer dismissed Kanui and Howell.
[Banjoist Oddie McWinders, whose real name was Odie Winders, was born in Todd County, KY on March 9, 1887 to Susie Bell Rager. Nothing is know of his father whose last name was Winders. Oddie was nationally recognized for his banjo picking and owned one of finest banjos. He also recorded the Crown sessions with Mac and Slim. He died shortly thereafter on Sept 24, 1933. One song in his repertoire was "Bound To Ride" which has become a bluegrass standard.
I have a copy of Jimmie's letter, dated July 27th, 1932 to Mac. Here's what Jimmie says about Odie: "I am planing to have a good banjo player to go with us. You may know him, his name is Oddie McWindows (sic). And boy can he play a banjo? I'll say he can. Mac, he plays a banjo old style and also plays all the popular stuff. I mean takes solos and plays leads. He beats any dam thing I ever heard of playing a banjo- baring no body... ]
Rodgers was so sick he could only play the guitar for short periods of time. When the pain from his TB got bad, Mac gave him shots of morphine. Even when he was feeling well Rodgers played his own rhythm on the guitar. Jimmie would leave out beats and add them whenever he felt like it much as the traditional bluesman of the day. Playing with him was not easy.
Slim just listened and whenever Rodgers changed chords Slim would change. Slim became so good at following Rodgers that Jimmie called Slim, "his guitar player." A month later when Mac and Slim were still in NYC recording a session for Crown Records, Peer called Slim to do another session with Jimmie, this time without Mac. Peer had lined-up some New York session players. Peer asked Slim if "he could keep up with these New York players?" Slim replied, " I can play with anyone."
More to come,
Richard
This is my last installment for now of Mac and The Skillet Lickers.
On the left you can see a photo of Slim Byrant who became Mac's guitarist for most of the 1930s. Here's a trivia question for you: When did Slim Byrant first play with the Skillet Lickers?
You can check some of the great articles on Slim by Rich Kienzle but you won't find the answer there. I actually found it out from Slim, himself.
The year was 1929 and Slim was invited by McMichen to do a road show with the Skillet Lickers. Slim had met Mac through Mac's uncle Elmer. Elmer and Slim cut one record for Okeh on March 15, 1929. This is what Slim related to me about the Birmigham show: "The deal was we'd all go down the Birmingham and divide up what ever money we made. So I took off work on Wednesday and Thursday and we played at this big festival. All the Skillet Lickers were there, Uncle Dave Macon and the McGees. I had to go back to Atlanta to play a baseball game, so I left. I never got paid a dime for the show."
Besides the Skillet Lickers, members of the Skillet Lickers played and recorded with any number of spin-off bands. Mac's main two bands were McMichen’s Home Town Boys and McMichen’s Melody Men (Usually a trio with Riley Puckett; sometimes Bert Layne as McMichen- Layne String Orchestra or Lowe Stokes). Mac did several duo projects usually under the alias of Bob Nichols: Riley Puckett and Bob Nichols (Clayton McMichen); Claude Davis and Bob Nichols (Clayton McMichen); Bob Nichols (Clayton McMichen) and Hugh Cross. Mac played with the Georgia Organ Grinders (1929 featuring McMichen- Fiddle; Bert Layne- Fiddle; Lowe Stokes- Organ; Fate Norris Banjo; Melvin Dupree- Guitar; Dan Hornsby- vocals) and also
Oscar Ford (McMichen, Bert Layne, Riley Puckett).
When Mac started playing with Slim, he found his perfect playing partner. Slim played jazz, knew modern chord comping and could play old-time country. By now it was 1930 and the record industry which was king in the mid to late 1920's was quickly slowing down. On Bryant's birthday, Dec. 7, 1930, Slim was included in his first recording session with Mac cutting a jazzy version of "When The Bloom is on the Sage." McMichen used his nickname as the new band name that weekend. "He called us McMichen's Georgia Wildcats with Slim Bryant," recalled Bryant. "I never asked him to put my name in there—he just did it."
The Skillet Lickers were over as far as Mac was concerned. Columbia, reeling from the depression, turned once more to their cash cow- the Skillet Lickers- hoping they could save the company. Mac, who was well paid for his sessions, couldn't turn down the kind of money they offered. He had a family to feed. On October 24, 1931, the original Skillet Lickers (with Clayton McMichen) made their last recordings: “Miss McLeod’s Reel,” “Four Cent Cotton,” “Molly put The Kettle On,” “Sleeping Lulu,” “McMichen’s Breakdown,” and “Whistlin’ Rufus.” The Skillet Lickers would record one last time in 1934 but not with Mac.
The band was still famous and the individual members, mainly Riley Puckett and Mac would form bands that would be called the Skillet Lickers. At one time in 1931 there were two bands with original members named the Skillet Lickers that played at rival radio stations: WCKY (Riley and Gid) and WLW (Mac with Slim, Barfield and Berryman). So Slim played on the radio on two bands named the Skillet Lickers, first at WCKY (Mac, Riley, Layne, Bryant) and then at WLW.
This prompted Mac to finally adopt his earlier band name, The Georgia Wildcats, based on Mac's nickname.
More to come,
Richard
