Breakfast taco

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Happy National Fried Chicken Day (belated)!

Apparently yesterday was National Fried Chicken Day. We have to admit that we were caught unawares and unprepared for the celebration. Making it up today with this image from the D. Kent and Sue Meyer Thompson Collection (20479) featuring some of the world's most studied fried chicken aficionados, Southern Culture on the Skids. Above, Rick Miller offers up snacks for appreciative fans at the Milestone in Charlotte. Below, SCOTS play Sleazefest, 1994 at the Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC and the band--Rick Miller, Dave Schmidt, and Mary Huff--gather around the tape recorder in an early promo shot. All photos by D. Kent Thompson. 

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It’s Archie Green‘s birthday today, he would have been 100 years old. The photo above, l-r: Archie Green, Dorsey Dixon, unidentified mule, was taken while Green was recording Dixon’s Babies in the Mill (Testament, 1963) album. Below he is seated with his friend and fellow collector, Eugene Earle. 

Archie played many roles throughout his career–folklorist, archivist, field worker, professor, and public sector advocate. His constant drive to document, archive, and curate is illustrated by his remarkable collection of work, the Archie Green Papers (20002), now housed at the Southern Folklife Collection.

Happy Birthday, Archie. 

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A couple of posters from gigs I would have liked to attend. I was lucky to grow up not 1/2 mile from the Broken Spoke, and despite the best efforts of "New Austin," I am very glad to report that it's still there, still honky-tonkin, and the Lone Star is still cold. Both of these posters come from the Archie Green Papers (20002), collected by Archie while a professor at the University of Texas in the 1970s. I feel like artist Michael Priest's comment written on the bottom of the poster reflects the general sense of wonder those cosmic cowboys and post-hippy hipsters must have felt to be able to attend shows like this on a regular basis, singular moments in music history that transcended the consumer drive of the social scene.

"We seen it right here didn't we?"

I wish we had, Michael. Long live the kings.

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Jason Lonon's poster for a "Halloween Ho-down," call no. OP-20451/16 from the Jason Lonon Poster Collection (20451). Happy Halloween.

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Really enjoying the fashion of the folk scene in the Photo-Sound Associates images lately. We love these images of Liz White wearing an absolutely fabulous belt in the studio at WNCN-New York for George Lorrie’s radio show on May 25, 1959. Photo by Aaron Rennert for Photo-Sound Associates. See more in the Ron Cohen Collection (20239). 

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Stunning photographs made by Aaron Rennert for Photo-Sound Associates, from the Ron Cohen Collection (20239). Shot in New York City, in the late 1950s, the images document a party attended by members of the famed Ballet Español de Ximenez-Vargas. Dancers include (from top to bottom): an unidentified man, Carmen Rivas, Antonio Hector de Jesus, and Maria Alba (Flamenco dance star who studied with Mariquita Flores and by 1957 or so was dancing with Ximenez-Vargas).

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Promotional photo of the great Jesse "Lone Cat" Fuller from Manny Greenhill's legendary Folklore Productions. Best known for his song "San Francisco Bay Blues," Fuller was a renaissance man, appearing in silent films like The Thief of Baghdad, hoboing cross-country, working in the California shipyards, and playing music. Fuller built his own bass accompaniment, the "fotdella," and played harmonica and washboard along with his 12-string guitar to make himself a one-man jug band. Fuller died in 1976 in Oakland, California. The image is call no. p673 in the John Edwards Memorial Foundation Collection.

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Some excellent classic, old-time country from Robert McFarland and Lester Gardner for you readers today. Also known as “Mac and Bob,” the duo met at the Kentucky School for the Blind in the early 1920s and recorded over 200 songs for Brunswick and other labels. They appeared regularly on the WLS Barn Dance for twenty years, retiring in 1950. Originally recorded but rejected by Brunswick, we digitized these two sides from a disc on the Australian imprint, Regal Zonophone, SFC call no. 78-11592. “The Hut on the Back of the Lot” is at the top of the list for one of my favorite songs of 2014. Life lessons from “Little Ned.” This one’s for dear old Dad.

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From the Eugene Earle Collection (20376), we have Del Reeves doodling' away at his tune "Santa's Boy." This track appeared on transcription disc recording of the Ralph Emery Show, call number TR-12-245. Doodily-do everybody. 

Ralph Emery Show No. 1184, 24 December 1971. Special Guest: Sonny James.

"Jingle Bells," Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

"Only Love Can Break a Heart," Sonny James.

"Blue Christmas," Elvis Presley.

"Kentucky," Sammi Smith.

"Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," Gene Autry.

"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," Ray Price.

"Santa's Boy," Del Reeves.

"Do You Hear What I Hear," Sonny James.

"One's on the Way," Loretta Lynn.

"Here Was a Man," Johnny Cash.

"Baby's Smile, Woman's Kiss," Johnny Duncan.

"Silent Night," Sonny James.

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Folklorist Bill Ferris celebrated Christmas in the summertime at Wade Walton's barber shop in Clarksdale, Mississippi (pictured above). One of the patrons played a lively version of "Silent Night" before getting his hair cut. We're not sure if the smoking monkey was involved, but one can hope. Happy holidays from the Southern Folklife Collection.

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Carson Robinson and his Pioneers appeared on BBC run Radio Luxembourg and Normandy on Sunday mornings in the late 1930s. They are often credited as the first Country & Western group from the United States to tour Europe. Robinson was a well known singer, guitarist, and professional whistler in his native Kansas before he moved to New York City for a contract with Victor records and began collaborating with the legendary singer Vernon Dalhart in 1924. Robinson accompanied Dalhart on the recording of country music’s first million selling record, “The Wreck of the Old 97" b/w "The Prisoner’s Song."

The postcard above was a holiday card sent to John Edwards for Christmas dated 1957, the year that Carson Robinson died. P1401, John Edwards Memorial Foundation Collection (#20001).

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For more of country legend Noble Ray Price, the Cherokee Cowboy, see today's post Field Trip South. 

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Mandatory Monday archival cat photo, call no. 20239_pf0021_0005. This playful Siamese kitten probably loved scratching on that woven rug in this late-1950s New York apartment. Cat possibly owned by photographer Aaron Rennert or his colleague Ray Sullivan. Cat’s name is unknown, but I think we can all agree that it’s having a good time. 

From the Photo-Sound Associates images in the Ron Cohen Collection (20239). 

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The “5” Royales Obscure but Essential Related Recordings, vols. 1 - 8: a subjective view of a great R&B vocal group. 

Audiocassettes in the J. Taylor Doggett Collection (20286), call nos. FS-9139 through FS-9146. 

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Images from the Glenn Thompson Collection (20341).

Above: P-20341/4344: Glenn Thompson and the Dixie Playboys on the road

Below: P-20341/4348: Publicity for Glenn Thompson and his Dixie Playboys, Carolina Theatre, Burlington, N. C. (*note his name is misspelled throughout)

More here.

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Tommy Jarrell playing one of my favorite tunes, "Let Me Fall," solo on banjo, Thanksgiving, 1981, Toast, NC. They had ham.