Around the same time in 1920 that "Crazy Blues" revealed a market for "race records" another market was realised - that of "hillbilly records", or "old-timey" music made by and made for rural white southern audiences. So, string bands, fiddlers, guitarists, banjoists and more were recorded by the bucketfull in the Southern states, playing music which they had been playing for a hundred years, but which they suddenly were able to make money from. The songs were usually traditional songs and ranged from well known standards like "Turkey in the Straw", to more obscure songs like "Mole in the Ground" and even branching out into pop songs and blues songs. Still, this was first and foremost, "folk music".
The first hillbilly record is a bit controversial - a fiddler named Don Richardson recorded "Old Zip Coon" in 1916 and some have argued the point for this being the first hillbilly record - it could well be, but I'd discount it for a number of reasons. Firstly, the record is so badly preserved that its unlistenable. Secondly, no information is known about Don Richardson, whether he was even from the south or not. Thirdly, this was released before the actual concept of the hillbilly record had been created and there were plenty of other people in vaudeville playing old-timey songs, albeit not in a traditional style. Basically, its too complicated and I will discount it for now.
So, among most scholars, the two musicians slated to have kicked off the Hillbilly record industry are Eck Robertson and Fiddlin' John Carson. Eck Robertson was born in 1887, the son of a confederate soldier; his father and grandfather were also fiddlers. Honing his skills in medicine shows across the US, his recording of "Sallie Gooden" was released on the 1st September 1922 and was not a commercial success. It is, however, one of the most amazing pieces of fiddling ever recorded. The very poor quality of the record somewhat hinders this, but you can still get the sheer virtuosity shining through:
I must note, there are better sounding copies than the YouTube version presented here. Next up was Fiddlin' John Carson. Born in 1868, he was one of the oldest hillbilly musicians to record. He was already proclaimed champion fiddler of Georgia by the time he recorded "Little Old Log Cabin In The Lane" for Okeh records in 1923. Head of Okeh, Ralph Peer, hated the record describing it as "pluperfect awful", but the 500 copies pressed sold out immediately and they suddenly realised there was a market for this kind of music available. "Little Old Cabin In The Lane" is a much recorded standard in string band and bluegrass circles as a jaunty, bouncy rave up but the original version is a slow, mystic-sounding waltz, sounding as though he were singing from a foggy mountain top:
After this, the Hillbilly scene just took off and fiddlers and old-time conventions across the south became more popular than ever. Here's a video of one such convention in which a couple of hillbillies dance like freaks to an army of banjos, fiddles and guitars:
The greatest hillbilly of them all - the man who became known as "King of the Hillbillies" was Uncle Dave Macon. Born in 1970, he was ancient old lunatic by the time his recording career kicked off in 1924 with the first hillbilly anthem: "Hill Billie Blues". Unfortunately, YouTube seems a bit sparse on Uncle Dave Macon (I will upload some when I get to making his page) so for now here's his stompin', chompin', whoopin' and a-hollerin' banjo freakout, "Way Down the Old Plank Road":
He's backed up by legendary guitar picker Sam McGee on that song - both Sam and Dave will require their own pages, so I won't go into great detail on them here.
The next big thing to get recorded on the Hillbilly scene were the string bands. These were bands of fiddlers, banjoists and guitarists who rocked out fast, loud and noisy old-timey songs with a reckless abandon. Many of the original solo artists like Uncle Dave and Fiddlin' John formed string bands soon after their careers took off. They were often done with family members and usually were secondary to their main jobs. There were a shiteload of string bands in the 1920's - with Uncle Dave's Fruit Jar Drinkers being my personal favourite - but the quintessential string band was almost certainly the Skillet Lickers.
They were formed by the musically inept mental case Gid Tanner, who couldn't read a note of music, but memorised around 5000 songs and could barely play his fiddle, but was expert at making high-pitched screeching noises and could allegedly turn his head 180 degrees and bend it so far back that he looked headless. All useful skills. More ssubstantial was virtuoso blind guitarist, Riley Puckett - Puckett, like most hillbilly guitarists, played the guitar with a flatpick and used it mostly for bass lines and strumming. He also provided vocals. The other most important member was Clayton McMichen who was a virtuoso fiddle player. Other band members came and went but these were the most important. The majority of the Skillet Lickers song tended towards the more well-known side, at least by the standards of old-time music. They even played bloody "Old MacDonald" for christ's sake. One of their best recordings is that of the oft-covered Civil War song "Soldier's Joy". Their 1929 recording of this is maybe the definitive version:
Maybe the greatest moment is the chorus when the duelling fiddles just take off into the slightly-dissonant stratosphere. The Skillet Lickers had internal conflicts - Gid Tanner wanted to keep a traditionalist stance, while Clayton McMichen wanted to play more ragtime and jazz. McMichen did get his wish occasionally resulting in odd covers like the jazz standard "Darktown Strutters Ball", but generally they were traditionalists. Another classic recording is their version of "Bully of the Town" from 1926. Compare this to Mary Irwin's more racially slurring version from 1907 as I posted it in the ragtime post:
One of the biggest hillbilly stars of the time was Charlie Poole. Charlie Poole, who seemed unable to take a photo without looking like a psychopath...
...fronted one of the most popular string bands, the North Carolina Ramblers and created a unique hillbilly sound based on bluesy fiddle playing and Charlie's unusual method of banjo fingerpicking. They did less mainstream traditional songs than the Skillet Lickers although one of the more well known is their cover of "Didn't He Ramble" from 1929:
He could also do more sentimental songs like "Goodbye Mary Dear" from 1929:
Charlie Poole died in 1931 after a...wait for it...13 week bender! Iggy Pop, eat yer heart out! He had just been informed that he had been hired to do some music for Hollywood films and presumably got a bit carried a way...
The term "Hillbilly Music" was used to refer to country music up until the 1950s - even Hank Williams was once referred to as hillbilly music. In retrospect though, hillbilly music can been seen to have burnt away around the mid 30s, with the onset of more polished country music genres like Western Swing, Bluegrass and Cowboy music. Both Uncle Dave Macon and the Skillet Lickers continued for decades after, but otherwise there was no real revitalisation of the music and there hasn't really been to this day.
Perhaps it's because, more than any other kind of music, hillbilly music comes from true authenticity - unless you spent your time drinking moonshine, swinging on porch swings and hollerin' in the 1920's, it's hard to imitate without coming across as patronising and insincere.
To finish, here's me playing a classic hillbilly number, "Cripple Creek" with clawhammer banjo. It starts off slow, but picks up speed:
Gang ploose, muds!
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