Mix Show:
Today's program is a long delayed sequel to a show I did almost exactly two years ago. 'Before The Blues' is something of catch-all phrase that can mean a number of things. What I'm talking about, however, is some of the older black music styles that were captured on record in the 1920's, often labeled blues even though it was clearly something different. In the 1920's and 30's when black music first came on record blues scholar Paul Oliver noted that 'for a dozen years a remarkable documentation of black vocal traditions was purchasable on commercial releases. …The diversity of singers, entertainers, jazz bands, preachers and other black artists represented on these records was remarkable.' Prior to the blues, reaching back to the nineteenth century there was a variety of black music before it got on record; there was ragtime, black vaudeville, minstrels, coon songs, work songs, dance tunes, medicine show entertainers, sheet music that found its way into black music and emphasis on banjo and fiddle music among other types.
Bonus Cuts: Birmingham Jug Band - Bill Wilson, Dallas String Band - Dallas Rag
http://www.sundayblues.org for playlists, show notes, reviews and more.
