FIDDLIN' JOHN CARSON
- + Add to Faves
- + Translate
- + Share
العربية
ä¸å›½
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिनà¥à¤¦à¥€
Italiano
日本語
Português
РуÑÑкий
Español
'Fiddlin' John Carson' (March 23, 1868–December 11, 1949) was an early country music musician.
The music of Fiddlin' John Carson from Fannin County, Georgia, was the first of what we know today as "country music" to be broadcast by radio and recorded for phonograph. He and his daughter, Rosa Lee, who was known as "Moonshine Kate," were the first stars despite the fact that little of the fame and none of the fortunes produced in the country music industry ever were theirs.
Carson was fifty-four years old, had won the Georgia Fiddlin' Championship seven times, and had a colorful reputation as a traveling performer who made a living playing and "passing the hat" when he was not working in the cotton mill, painting houses, or making moonshine when he walked into the "studios" of the brand new radio station WSB started by the Atlanta Journal.
When he announced that he would "like to have a try at the newfangled contraption," Lambdin Kay obliged him. His only pay being a snort of the engineer's whiskey, Carson performed "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane."
The ''Journal'' reported that Carson's fame spread "to every corner of the United States were WSB was heard." His popularity inspired Polk Brockman, an Atlanta furniture dealer who had been successful in developing and merchandising "race" records for the black market for OKeh records, to persuade OKeh president Ralph Peer to bring his recording equipment to Atlanta to record Fiddlin' John.
On June 14, 1923, in a vacant building on Nassau Street in Atlanta, Georgia, Carson cut two sides, "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" and "The Old Hen Cackled and the Rooster's going to Crow."Archie Green, Hillbilly Music: Source & Symbol (part 2), Southern Folklife Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Accessed 19 August 2007. Peer announced them "pluperfect awful" but agreed to press five hundred on a blank label for Brockman's personal use.[1]
With Fiddlin' John hawking them from the stage of the next Fiddler's convention, Brockman promptly sold every disc. Peer immediately rushed into a major pressing on the OKeh label and invited Carson to New York to record twelve more sides.
He died in Atlanta, Georgia on December 11, 1949.
1. Charles K. Wolfe, "The Birth of an Industry", in Patrick Carr, ed., ''The Illustrated History of Country Music'' (New York: Anchor Books, 1980), p. 35, cited in David Sanjek, "All the Memories Money Can Buy: Marketing Authenticity and Manufacturing Authorship", p. 155–172 in Eric Weisbard, ed., ''This is Pop'', Harvard University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-674-01321-2 (cloth), ISBN 0-674-01344-1 (paper). p. 156, 351n.
★ Biography
★ From the Georgia Encyclopedia site
★ All Music Guide
★ Fiddling Around
★ Youtube video
The music of Fiddlin' John Carson from Fannin County, Georgia, was the first of what we know today as "country music" to be broadcast by radio and recorded for phonograph. He and his daughter, Rosa Lee, who was known as "Moonshine Kate," were the first stars despite the fact that little of the fame and none of the fortunes produced in the country music industry ever were theirs.
Carson was fifty-four years old, had won the Georgia Fiddlin' Championship seven times, and had a colorful reputation as a traveling performer who made a living playing and "passing the hat" when he was not working in the cotton mill, painting houses, or making moonshine when he walked into the "studios" of the brand new radio station WSB started by the Atlanta Journal.
When he announced that he would "like to have a try at the newfangled contraption," Lambdin Kay obliged him. His only pay being a snort of the engineer's whiskey, Carson performed "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane."
The ''Journal'' reported that Carson's fame spread "to every corner of the United States were WSB was heard." His popularity inspired Polk Brockman, an Atlanta furniture dealer who had been successful in developing and merchandising "race" records for the black market for OKeh records, to persuade OKeh president Ralph Peer to bring his recording equipment to Atlanta to record Fiddlin' John.
On June 14, 1923, in a vacant building on Nassau Street in Atlanta, Georgia, Carson cut two sides, "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" and "The Old Hen Cackled and the Rooster's going to Crow."Archie Green, Hillbilly Music: Source & Symbol (part 2), Southern Folklife Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Accessed 19 August 2007. Peer announced them "pluperfect awful" but agreed to press five hundred on a blank label for Brockman's personal use.[1]
With Fiddlin' John hawking them from the stage of the next Fiddler's convention, Brockman promptly sold every disc. Peer immediately rushed into a major pressing on the OKeh label and invited Carson to New York to record twelve more sides.
He died in Atlanta, Georgia on December 11, 1949.
| Contents |
| Notes |
| External links |
Notes
1. Charles K. Wolfe, "The Birth of an Industry", in Patrick Carr, ed., ''The Illustrated History of Country Music'' (New York: Anchor Books, 1980), p. 35, cited in David Sanjek, "All the Memories Money Can Buy: Marketing Authenticity and Manufacturing Authorship", p. 155–172 in Eric Weisbard, ed., ''This is Pop'', Harvard University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-674-01321-2 (cloth), ISBN 0-674-01344-1 (paper). p. 156, 351n.
External links
★ Biography
★ From the Georgia Encyclopedia site
★ All Music Guide
★ Fiddling Around
★ Youtube video
This article provided by Wikipedia. To edit the contents of this article, click here for original source.
psst.. try this: add to faves
