Kentucky

burnettrutherford.jpg

Burnett & Rutherford (aka Southern Kentucky Mountaineers)

Knoxville Rag (Su 9310)

Leonard Rutherford and Dick Burnett recorded six sides for Columbia on November 6, 1926. Thus began a storied recording career for these two Kentucky musicians. Richard D. Burnett, after being blinded by a gun-wielding robber, began his music career in the early part of the twentieth century playing fairs, country courthouses, at train stations, on street corners--anywhere he could attract a crowd.  By the time World War I broke out, Burnett was for all practical purposes a professional country musician, well before the era of radio or the phonograph record. He found a young apprentice and helper in Leonard Rutherford, a fourteen-year-old fiddler.  This was the beginning of a thirty-five year partnership, with Leonard playing the fiddle, Dick, the banjo and guitar, and both singing. (Wolfe, 1982)

The track featured here, "Knoxville Rag," was issued on the Supertone Label and recorded on October 29, 1928 in Richmond, Indiana at the Gennett Recording Company. More often than not, record companies in the twenties and thirties would release additional versions, known as "stencil issues" of a recording, with a different artist or name listed as the artist who originally recorded the side. These releases were recorded on cheaper, poorer quality recording equipment and were usually issued without the approval of the original recording artists. Sometimes recording artists were aware and used several different aliases in under to make more money per side or even to get additional royalties, if they had negotiated that in their recording contract, but these instances were not the norm. Ironically, these "stencil issues" sometimes sold well above the original recording's output because they were distributed to larger retailers such as Sears-Roebuck.

Burnett and Rutherford are listed as the Southern Kentucky Mountaineers on this track. They were also listed on additional releases as Bunch and Jennings and Norton, Bond, and Williams, when Byrd Moore recorded with the duo.

jilson-setters.jpg

Jilson Setters (J.W. Day)

Wild Horse of Stoney Point (Vi V-40025)

James William Day was born in Rowan County, Kentucky in 1860 and was blind from childhood. As a young man, he took up the life of a wandering minstrel playing his fiddle and singing on the courthouse lawns and street corners throughout the area. Day composed his first topical broadside ballads on local events as early as 1884. He made his living by playing for handouts on the street, and on a good day would bring home five dollars to his wife.

In 1926, Day met Jean Thomas, a former Hollywood script writer and publicist. She signed Day to a management contract and convinced him into changing his name to "Jilson Setters." Thomas and Jilson travelled to New York in February of 1928 to introduce the nation to the Kentucky sage. He appeared at Loew's Theater, broadcast over the radio, and recorded ten titles for the Victor phonograph company. Victor executives were more interested in Day's fiddle breakdowns than his ancient ballads and paired him with Carson J. Robinson, who provided back-up guitar for Day. (Wolfe, 1982)

The track featured here, "The Wild Horse of Stoney Point," was recorded during this February session in 1928. This tune can be found on numerous modern bluegrass and old-time recordings.

FiddlinDocRoberts.jpg

Fiddlin' Doc Roberts

 Leather Breeches-Flop Eared Mule-Irish Washerwoman (Si 8176)

The Girl I Left Behind (Ge 6826, Ch 33001, Spt 9397)

Phillip (Doc) Roberts was born on April 26, 1897 in Madison County, Kentucky. He began fiddling at the young age of seven, alongside his older brother, Levert. They both listened to and learned a great deal of fiddling from Owen Walker, an older African-American fiddler in Madison County. Walker was well-known in the area and was much in demand for social events. It is estimated as much as seventy percent of Doc Roberts' repertory came from Walker. (Wolfe, 1982)

Roberts' fiddling is characterized by the "long bow" style, and many of his tunes have the blues-influenced smoothness carried over from the African-American influence. In October of 1925, Roberts traveled to Richmond, Indiana to record for Starr-Gennett record company at the urging of his neighbor-turned-booking agent, Dennis Taylor.

Roberts was another victim of numerous "stencil issues" during his recording career, and the tracks featured here are examples of the numerous aliases (Jim Burke, John Baltzell, and Fiddlin' Frank Nelson) that Gennett and other record companies used for Doc Roberts on their subsidiary labels: Champion, Supertone, Silvertone, Perfect, and Conqueror. 

The two tracks featured here, "Leather Breeches" and "The Girl I Left Behind Me," are examples of stencil issues where Doc Roberts was listed under different aliases.

The Archives of Appalachia at East Tennessee State University provides access to the digitized recordings on this website for the purposes of research and education. Any commercial uses of the materials or any uses that exceed the limits of fair use and other relevant statutory exceptions require the permission of the Archives of Appalachia and the copyright holder(s). It is the user's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials. The Archives of Appalachia makes every effort to adhere to all known copyright and rights of privacy, publicity, or trademark of these materials. If you are a rights holder of material on this site and believe that inclusion of this material violates your rights, please contact archives@etsu.edu.

Kentucky