(Vocals, 1899–2000) Born in rural Louisiana, Davis first made his name singing on radio station KWKH in Shreveport. From 1928 onwards, he was a popular recording artist, initially with sentimental and cowboy songs, then with raunchy blue yodels in the manner of Jimmie Rodgers. These included ‘She’s A Hum Dum Dinger From Dingersville’ and ‘Bear Cat ...
(Clarinet, 1895–1944) The most fluid and graceful of the classic New Orleans clarinetists, Noone worked with trumpeter Freddie Keppard (1914) and also with the Young Olympia Band (1916) before following Keppard to Chicago in 1917. A member of King Oliver’s first Creole Jazz Band (1918–20), he also played in Doc Cooke’s Dreamland Orchestra (1920–26) before forming his popular Apex ...
(Bandleader, arranger, 1902–47) While working as a music teacher in Memphis, Mississippi-born Lunceford formed a band called the Chicksaw Syncopators. They first recorded in 1930 and after four years of touring gained a residency at the Cotton Club and became the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra. Renowned for its polished stage presence, the band was nevertheless musically tight and ...
(Guitar, harmonica, banjo, vocals, 1896–1972) Gary D. Davis was born in Laurens, South Carolina and was completely blind by the age of 30. He taught himself harmonica, banjo and guitar and played in string bands throughout the teens, going on to work the Carolinas as a street singer in the 1920s. Ordained as a ...
The history of post-war jazz tracked the musical development of Miles Dewey Davis III so closely that it is tempting to see the trumpeter as the orchestrator of each of the most significant stylistic shifts of the era. With the notable exception of free jazz, Miles seemed to trigger a new seismic shift in the music with each passing decade. ...
Although routinely – and fairly – described as the father of country music, Jimmie Rodgers (1897–1933) was actually something more. Having established himself in that genre, he gradually moved towards mainstream popular music and, but for his early death, would probably have found a niche there. So far as country music is concerned, though, his ...
(Vocal/instrumental duo, 1927–33) The sound of the steel guitar has been part of country music almost from the beginning. An influential early exponent was Jimmie Tarlton (1892–1979), who partnered singer-guitarist Tom Darby (1891–c. 1971) in a series of duet recordings between 1927 and 1933, including two of the biggest hits of the period, ‘Birmingham Jail’ and ‘Columbus Stockade ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1930s–50s) Jimmie Revard And His Oklahoma Playboys formed one of the best and most prolific of early western-swing bands. Revard (1909–91) was from Oklahoma but his band was based in San Antonio, Texas; the original band included Adolph and Emil Hofner, among others. In their heyday, the Playboys struggled locally to compete with The Tune ...
(Vocals, songwriter, 1909–79) Born in Blue Lick, Kentucky, James Skinner performed on radio stations in Knoxville, Tennessee, Huntington, West Virginia and elsewhere, worked in Nashville as a successful songwriter and also owned and operated a popular record store in Cincinnati, Ohio, for years. Styles & Forms | War Years | Country ...
(Vocals, 1931–2004) Davis (real name Mary Frances Penick) began her career in a duo called The Davis Sisters, along with her friend Betty Jack Davis. They had a No. 1 hit for RCA with ‘I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know’ in 1953 before Betty Jack was killed in a car crash later that year. On her own, ...
(Vocals, songwriter, folklorist, 1907–98) James Corbett Morris, born in Mount View, Arkansas, started writing songs for the entertainment and edification of his students when he was a schoolteacher. He later penned some country classics, including ‘Tennessee Stud’ (a hit for Eddy Arnold in 1959), ‘The Battle Of New Orleans’ (a No. 1 single for ...
(Vocals, songwriter, actor, b. 1942) Also a television host, composer and one-time representative for Vee-Jay records, Texas-born Davis is responsible for several bestselling songs, including ‘In The Ghetto’ and ‘Don’t Cry Daddy’, both 1969 US Top 10 hits for Elvis Presley. Davis himself topped the US pop chart in 1972 with the million-selling ‘Baby Don’t ...
1927–2013 English conductor Davis came to public notice as the conductor of early performances by the Chelsea Opera Group. He made his debut at Sadler’s Wells Opera in 1958, and was music director 1961–65. He was principal conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra 1967–71, music director of the Royal Opera 1971–86 and of the Bavarian State Radio Orchestra 1983–92 ...
(Vocals, 1897–1933) Jimmie Rodgers, ‘The Singing Brakeman’, struggled against poor health and the rigours of the road to forge a new American folk music that would influence country music for generations. Rodgers wrote songs like ‘T.B. Blues’, ‘Travelin’ Blues’, ‘Train Whistle Blues’ and his 13 ‘blue yodels’. Rodgers’ voice and inherent honesty attracted legions of listeners. Rodgers developed ...
‘The fiddle and guitar craze is sweeping northward!’ ran Columbia Records’ ad in Talking Machine World on 15 June 1924. ‘Columbia leads with records of old-fashioned southern songs and dances. [Our] novel fiddle and guitar records, by Tanner and Puckett, won instant and widespread popularity with their tuneful harmony and sprightliness… The records of these quaint musicians which ...
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David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
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sweep of incredible photographs.