[78-L] "Mystery" Country Record

[Cary Ginell]

Footnote: the two Coleman & Harper sides can be found on the Historical LP anthology, "Early Country Music, Vol. 2" (BC-2433-2). I'm listening to it now. Five titles by Joe Evans and Arthur McClain (spelled "McLaine" in the track listings but "McClaine" on the front cover) are included: New Huntsville Jail, Take a Look at That Baby, Sittin' On Top of the World, Old Hen Cackle, and Sourwood Mountain. Evans is identified as being the guitarist and McClain plays mandolin. Arnold Caplin's notes do not indicate that he was aware that Evans & McClain were black. He does note, however, that a phrase used in "New Huntsville Jail," "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust" was "frequently used by early jazz bands at Negro funerals."

Cary Ginell 

> From: soundthink at live.com
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2010 17:07:37 -0800
> Subject: Re: [78-L] "Mystery" Country Record
> 
> 
> There were two red herrings at work here, then. First, the tune titles were traditional white fiddle tunes. Most people (thanks in part to Wynton Marsalis) assume that white people appropriated music from blacks, but never, or rarely, the other way around. Second, the Perfect and Oriole issues of this disc were issued in the hillbilly series. GD&R mentions that the artists' names on these two issues were misspelled "Colman & Harper." Mandolin was used by some African American string bands (such as Howard Armstrong's groups), so this is not without precedent. According to "Country Music Sources," the only other African American to have recorded "Sourwood Mountain" was "Stovepipe No. 1" (Sam Jones). Now that I've got DG&R open, I see that Evans and McClain (aka Coleman & Harper) recorded 2 sessions for Gennett in 1927 prior to their ARC session of 1931. There don't appear to be any other songs from white tradition that they recorded for ARC. 
> 
> Cary Ginell
> 
> > From: pf13 at cornell.edu
> > To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> > Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2010 19:14:34 -0500
> > Subject: Re: [78-L] "Mystery" Country Record
> > 
> > This is not in Russell because it is in Dixon, Godrich & Rye.  Presumably Evans & McClain were African-American.  There are other "country" performances that you might expect to appear in Russell's discography but do not, for the same reason, such as Jim & Andrew Baxter.
> > 
> > Peter Fraissinet
> > West Danby NY
> > ________________________________________
> > From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com [78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] On Behalf Of Cary Ginell [soundthink at live.com]
> > Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 6:45 PM
> > To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> > Subject: Re: [78-L] "Mystery" Country Record
> > 
> > As I noted earlier, the disc was recorded in May 1931 for ARC. Since it has been proven to exist as an ordinary ARC dime store issue, one wonders how Tony missed documenting it. The other side of the ARC discs by Coleman & Harper is "Sourwood Mountain," which also is documented in "Country Music Sources." I checked Art Satherley's log book, and there is no entry for this duo. Not having the Old Hat release, I don't know anything about the performers other than their real names, as mentioned previously. Were there other sides recorded at the session that produced these two songs? I have a Conqueror numerical but I'll have to do some digging to find out if somebody like Will Roy Hearne published numericals of the dime store catalogs to see if there were other recordings by this duo that exist.
> > 
> > Cary Ginell
> > 
> > > From: udmacon1 at hotmail.com
> > > To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> > > Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2010 18:24:37 -0500
> > > Subject: [78-L] "Mystery" Country Record
> > >
> > >
> > > It's nowhere to be found in the Russell Country Music Dsscography. After listening to it I think it was recorded within the last 20 years.
> > >
> > > GREAT rendition!
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > #########################################################################
> > >
> > > BILL KNOWLTON, "Bluegrass Ramble," Sundays: 9 pm to midnight (EST) over WCNY-FM (91.3) Syracuse, WUNY (89.5) Utica, WJNY (90.9) Watertown NY, also: www.wcny.org udmacon1 at hotmail.com  Since 1973! PO Box 2400, Syracuse NY 13220-2400. 315-457-6100
> > >
> > > My proposal for the REAL reunification of the North & South: a feast of Moxie and GooGoos....
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