Mississippi
The Leake County Revelers were responsible for one of the biggest selling recordings of the late twenties, "Wednesday Night Waltz." This Mississippi-based quartet consisted of Dallas Jones (guitar), R.O. Mosley (mandolin), Jim Wolverton (banjo), and Will Gilmer (fiddle). The recording sold over 200,000 copies, setting off a chain reaction of cover versions. (Russell, 2007)
The Revelers had a highly distinctive sound, with the clean, bright fiddling of Will Gilmer often sharing melodic leads with the mandolin of R.O. Mosley. In their heyday the Revelers played throughout central and southern Mississippi and were heard on Saturday evenings on WJDX in the state capital of Jackson. (Russell, 2007)
The two tracks featured here are fine examples Gilmer's clean fiddling, specifically "Leather Breeches." "Saturday Night Breakdown" features some nice interplay between fiddle and banjo.
William T. Narmour and Shellie W. Smith were native to Carroll County, Mississippi and by the late twenties were well known in the area, playing dances, picnics, county fairs, and other social events. Narmour and Smith were regular attendees at local fiddlers' conventions and in February of 1928 were summoned to Memphis to record for Okeh Records where they cut their first of thirty-two recordings. In March of 1929 the duo travelled to Atlanta to record the two sides that made them famous, "Carroll County Blues" and "Charleston, No. 1." (Russell, 2007)
The duo would go on to record several different versions of these two tunes in an effort to capitalize on their initial success. The second round of tunes is featured here: "Carroll County Blues No. 2" and "Charleston No. 2."
Notably, Narmour lived a few doors away from blues guitarist Mississippi John Hurt. Hurt sometimes played dances with Narmour and Smith and was a source of much information about the duo. (Russell, 2007)
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