Part 1: The Big Bang Arena


Part 1: The Big Bang

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In the Roaring '20s, two worlds collided.

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One southern, rural and traditional.

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The other northern, urban and industrial.

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America was in motion.

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Record companies sent scouts across the United States,

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searching for new artists and sounds.

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They travelled to remote regions,

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auditioned thousands of everyday Americans and issued

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their music on phonograph records.

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It was the first time America heard itself.

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The artists they discovered shaped our world.

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Here are some of their stories.

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The Appalachian mountain range was the western frontier

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of America's first British colonies.

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Over the centuries,

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its isolated rural communities preserved and evolved

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their own dialects, customs and music.

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MUSIC: Wildwood Flower by Maybelle Carter

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# Oh, I'll twine with my mingles and waving black hair

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# With the roses so red and the lilies so fair

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# And the myrtle so bright with the emerald dew

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# The pale and the leader and eyes look like blue... #

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Though poor in material goods,

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the mountain folk are rich with tradition.

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And none more so than the founders of modern country music,

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the Carter Family.

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My name's Dale Jett and I'm the grandson of AP and Sara Carter,

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and I'm sitting on my great aunt Maybelle Carter's porch as we speak.

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This area has been Poor Valley as long as I've known it

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and I grew up half a mile from here.

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It may not look like it, but, as the name implies, it's a poor area.

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There's not a lot of work here and it's pretty rugged terrain.

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Hillside farming is about all that you can do around here so,

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you know, whether we like it or not,

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we're in what a lot of people refer to as poverty-stricken Appalachia,

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and we are indeed, but in this area, these big porches lend theirselves

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to people just hanging out and picking music.

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And to me, music,

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that's probably the most important thing to come out of Poor Valley.

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The mountain folk had always sung and played together,

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but those familiar sounds were transformed by AP Carter

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into a popular style and a national career.

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And like every great country song, it all started with a love story.

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Clinch Mountain's about 3,000 feet and my grandfather AP was over in

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that area selling fruit trees and went up a holler one evening

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and said he heard the prettiest singing that he'd ever heard,

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a just angelic voice.

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# Bring back my boy, my wandering boy... #

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You know, it just pulled him up the holler and it was Sara.

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She was sitting out on the porch and AP stopped over there.

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He wanted her name and everything, cos aunt Sara was beautiful.

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She was one beautiful woman and she had that gorgeous voice,

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and he just fell deeply in love with her.

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# ..with faded cheeks and hair

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# At their old home is waiting him there... #

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Sara was actually selling china.

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You know, mail-order dishes, and AP bought all the dishes that he could

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afford to try to put himself in good graces.

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Oh, her voice was out of this world.

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Everybody noticed it.

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I mean, all she had to do to get a crowd in was to get out and sing

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on anybody's porch.

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# Bring back my boy My wandering boy

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# Far, far away Wherever he may be... #

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He worshipped her, I really believe, from the time that he first heard

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her singing in that holler across the mountain.

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I don't think that he ever lost that love.

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# At their old home is waiting him there. #

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AP and Sara married, started a family and began singing together

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with Sara's teenage cousin, Maybelle.

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Aunt Maybelle, she was the kindest, sweetest person you ever saw,

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and one of the most talented.

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She was a musician and wonderful car driver.

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She could do anything.

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She taught herself the guitar when she was six years old, I think.

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Not much to do except to pick up an instrument and start playing.

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She did it with such ease, it was like it was no struggle with her.

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It was just there.

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# Sweet fern

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# Sweet fern

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# Sweet fern

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# Sweet fern

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# Oh, tell me, is my darling still true?

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# Sweet fern

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# Sweet fern

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# Sweet fern

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# Sweet fern

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# I'll be just as happy as you... #

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You know, they didn't really have any influences,

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because in Poor Valley there were no record players, there wasn't radio,

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there wasn't television.

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I mean, the only influences they had were family and friends,

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was the people immediately around them that you heard live and first-hand.

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The Carter Family played only at home and for small local gatherings,

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but the world outside Poor Valley was about to come calling.

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For 30 years, record companies had marketed their music primarily to

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the urban middle class.

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But, by the mid-1920s,

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that audience was switching to the new technology - radio.

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Faced with plummeting sales,

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the record-makers turned to rural and ethnic consumers,

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who were being ignored by the national broadcasters.

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They sent recording teams south and advertised for musicians

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to come and audition.

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Well, this was in about 1927 and the first time that we'd ever gone out

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on the road.

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So, we would decide that we would record, for instance,

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in Johnson City, Tennessee.

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And then it would be mentioned in the paper and the word would get

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around in churches and schoolhouses that somebody was going to come

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down there for a recording to do.

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And these people would show up from sometimes 800-900 miles away.

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How they got there, I'll never know.

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And how they got back, I'll never know.

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They never asked me for money.

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They didn't question anything at all.

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They just were happy to sing and play.

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They had made a phonograph record, and that was the next thing to being

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President of the United States in their mind.

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Field recording sessions, organised by producers like Frank Walker,

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immortalised Americans from every walk of life.

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The Victor Talking Machine Company hired Ralph Peer,

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a man with a proven track record, to find and develop new talent.

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Peer's landmark recordings already included the first hit record

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marketed to an African-American audience,

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the first hit by a white country musician,

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and the most important artist in the history of jazz.

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He was the man who caught lightning in a bottle.

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If I have a favourite saying,

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it's the art of being where the lightning is going to strike.

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And how in God's name you can detect that, I wouldn't know,

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but I have always been able to do it.

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Ralph Peer must have been a visionary, because he saw potential

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in music and acts that I don't think anybody else really did.

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He was very much in favour of ethnic music and also promoted, you know,

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acts, some of which became legendary later on,

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that would never have been recorded without his support.

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Ralph Peer recorded the music of everyday working people.

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He was using the revolutionary new Western Electric recording system

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which, for the first time, could capture the true sound of voices and instruments.

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It was the beginning of modern sound recording.

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I'm Craig Raguse, my grandfather Eimer Raguse was

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a Western Electric engineer.

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And he helped develop the electrical recording system at Western Electric

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that Ralph Peer and others took on the road with them.

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And when they went to these makeshift studios,

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they couldn't just plug it into the electricity,

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it was not a stable source.

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So they had to take West cell batteries, similar to these,

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to run the system.

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The artists basically had a single take to record.

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If they made a mistake, they had to scrap what they were doing

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and do it over again.

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So, there were no overdubs or anything like that,

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because there was no mix, it was all one take, one microphone,

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recorded onto a wax disc.

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What's great about America is someone will work hard

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in some garage or basement somewhere and invent something incredibly

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cultured and life-altering for everybody to experience.

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And the next step is to figure out how we can monetise

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and make money off of this, and that's the part that starts to get

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really interesting, because once you are aiming to try to make money off

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of a format of some kind, then happy accidents start happening.

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And that's how we accidentally got all these amazing artists to record,

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who never would have been recorded.

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In the summer of 1927, Peer travelled to Bristol, Tennessee,

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and set up his recording equipment in the empty warehouse

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of the Taylor-Christian Hat Company.

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He placed an article in the local newspaper, tempting musicians

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to come and audition.

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So, here's a copy of the Bristol News bulletin from July 27, 1927,

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which was just at the start of the Bristol sessions,

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and this was typically a way my father, Ralph S Peer,

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would look for new talent.

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And so the story reads, "Mountain songs recorded here

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"by the Victor Company.

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"This morning, Ernest Stoneman and company, from near Galax, Virginia,

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"were performers and they played and sang into the microphone.

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"Stoneman receiving 100 and each of his assistants 25.

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"He received from the company 3,600 last year as his share

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"of the proceeds from the songs."

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Now, that was a lot of money in those days and, believe me,

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a lot of people who had talent said,

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"Gee, I'd like to give that a try myself."

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-VOICE OF ERNEST STONEMAN:

-After you read this,

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if you could play a C on the piano,

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you're going to become a millionaire.

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The news of Peer's session attracted dozens of performers to Bristol.

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JP Nestor from Galax, Virginia.

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Ernest Phipps and his Holiness Singers from Corbyn, Kentucky.

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And an aspiring singer, who drove across the Smoky Mountains

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from Asheville, North Carolina.

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His name was Jimmy Rogers.

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# Doo-doo-doo-doo

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# Doe-dee-oh-doe

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# Doe-dee-oh-doe-dee-oh-doe

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# All around the water tanks

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# Waiting for a train

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# A thousand miles away from home

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# Sleeping in the rain

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# I walked up to a brakeman

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# To give him a line of talk

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# He says if you've got money,

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# I'll see that you don't walk

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# I haven't got a nickel

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# Not a penny can I show

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# Get off, get off, you railroad bum

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# And he slammed the boxcar door... #

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HE YODELS

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Jimmy Rogers brought a new bluesy flavour to country music.

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YODELLING CONTINUES

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But country's deep, traditional roots will forever be associated

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with another group who showed up at the Bristol sessions.

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AP had been to Bristol one day and he'd heard about this guy,

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Ralph Peer, looking for new talent

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and, of course, he was insistent on going.

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They were, "Oh, that's way out there, we do need to do that.

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"Nothing good'll come of it." But he persisted.

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It would have been a difficult task to sell Sara and Maybelle in that

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we're going to go record in Bristol,

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which would have been a big journey itself, so he had to coax them to go.

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Maybelle was pregnant with Helen.

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Uncle Eck did not want her to go

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because she was close to her ninth month.

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And Sara had Joe, who was still nursing.

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Of course, AP was very persistent.

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It took them all day to get from here to Bristol.

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They had the ford creeks,

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they avoided the river, and they were in a Model T,

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constantly fixing flats.

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There was muddy roads, you know.

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They didn't even have gravel roads, it was mud tracks.

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So, they'd been trying to get there any way they could.

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And you know, Aunt Maybelle was nine months pregnant,

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didn't feel very good,

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and every time she hit a bump, she didn't know,

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you know, we going to have this baby out here or what?

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When they got to the studio that day they said that they went in

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the back way because they were ashamed of

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the clothes that they wore.

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They didn't have stage clothes.

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They didn't know anything about that.

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'They came into record and brought the children dressed in rags

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'and he's dressed in overalls.

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'And the women are countrywomen from

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'way back there, calico clothes on.

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'They looked like hillbillies. That's just what they looked like.

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'But on that very first test record, why I recall distinctly,

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'as soon as I heard Sara's voice, that was it.

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'I began to build around it.

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'And all the first recordings were on that basis.'

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# My heart is sad and I'm in sorrow

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# For the only one I love

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# When shall I see him?

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# Oh, no, never

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# Till I meet him in heaven above

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# Oh, bury me under the weeping willow

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# Yes, under the weeping willow tree

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# So he may know where I am sleeping

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# And perhaps he will weep for me

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# They told me that he did not love me

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# I could not believe it was true

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# Until an angel softly whispered

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# He has proven untrue to you

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# Oh, bury me under the weeping willow

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# Yes, under the weeping willow tree

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# So he may know where I am sleeping

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# And perhaps he will weep for me... #

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The second day of August 1927,

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it was my first record.

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Well, they just had an old building

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that we recorded in,

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that wasn't a regular studio.

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It was just an old warehouse.

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They cut it on a big wax.

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If you make a mistake, you have to shave it off, you know.

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You couldn't erase it like you do a tape.

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And a lot of times we should have done it,

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but we didn't, you know.

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I'd say, "Please, do that over."

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And when it come out, it come out with the mistake on it.

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He said, "Well, it makes people listen, you know."

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Just see what's going to happen next.

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# Tomorrow was our wedding day

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# But, oh, Lord, oh, where is he?

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# He's gone to seek him another bride

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# And he cares no more for me... #

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We were extremely lucky in the 1920s and '30s that rural artists were

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recorded that would never have been recorded had these companies

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not wanted to sell records to urban and rural people.

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And a lot of these songs have changed the world, really.

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They changed music, they changed popular music

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and they changed popular culture around the world

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for the last hundred years.

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# Oh, bury me under the weeping willow

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# Yes, under the weeping willow tree

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# So he may know where I am sleeping

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# And perhaps he will weep for me. #

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Those Carter family records are treasures

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that are passed from generation to generation to this day.

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If you're lucky enough to have good Carter Family 78s that are in good

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condition...

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When you pass them down along with, you know,

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great-grandma's Victrola...

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with extra needles that haven't been opened from back then,

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you can't even imagine what that is.

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They were really very popular.

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And the backbone of any kind of country, old-timey music.

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# Oh, listen to the train

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# Coming down the line

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# Trying to make up for all of her lost time

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# From Buffalo to Washington... #

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After that first trip to Bristol they recorded 12 places like Camden,

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New Jersey, New York City, Memphis,

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Lowville, Charlotte, Atlanta.

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And after all of that they recorded 326 songs.

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# My baby's left me

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# She even took my shoes

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# Enough to give a man doggone weary blues

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# She's gone, she's solid gone. #

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I grew up hearing all their songs

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and I was a huge fan of theirs all my life.

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# Can the circle be unbroken

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# Bye and bye, Lord, bye and bye

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# There's a better home a-waiting

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# In the sky, Lord, in the sky. #

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Mother Maybelle and the Carter Family,

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they were the founder and the starter of a lot of great artists

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across the board.

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And I think once you hear the original Carter Family

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you don't have to explain why they were special. It all was.

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# Oh, can the circle be unbroken?

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# Bye and bye, Lord, bye and bye

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# There's a better home a-waiting

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# In the sky, Lord, in the sky... #

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Always heard that the Carter Family,

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that they didn't charge widows and orphans...

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..at a performance. And I know that seems odd,

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but there was a gentleman walked up one day, and he said,

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"When I was a little boy," he said, "I went to a Carter Family concert."

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And he said, "I paid my 15 cents and they gave it back to me."

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So I know it's true, you know.

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That touched me, so, I mean...

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I mean, that...

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I'm sorry.

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That tells me it was about music and not about money.

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You know what I mean.

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It's the way it ought to be.

0:22:480:22:50

I'm sorry.

0:22:500:22:52

# Can the circle be unbroken?

0:22:540:22:58

# Bye and bye, Lord, bye and bye

0:22:580:23:03

# There's a better home a-waiting

0:23:030:23:07

# In the sky, Lord, in the sky. #

0:23:070:23:11

In the '30s, during the Depression era, the recording, I think,

0:23:140:23:18

was kind of winding down and maybe they weren't finding as many songs.

0:23:180:23:23

AP and Sara separated, ultimately divorced.

0:23:230:23:27

He was gone a lot, she was home a lot

0:23:270:23:30

and she didn't really care that much about going after the music.

0:23:300:23:34

She liked kind of being at home.

0:23:340:23:36

I think he was broken-hearted because he worshipped Sara,

0:23:370:23:41

and it's sad.

0:23:410:23:42

I mean, I'm not sure that he ever really wanted a whole lot

0:23:420:23:45

more so than to make music with her.

0:23:450:23:47

He didn't just lose his wife, he lost his showmanship,

0:23:480:23:53

and he loved that part of his life.

0:23:530:23:55

And he was a sad man, more than anything,

0:23:550:23:58

the fact that they weren't working together any more.

0:23:580:24:01

I mean, that was his passion,

0:24:030:24:04

and I can't help but believe that he was alone,

0:24:040:24:08

that you would have to think back about those times

0:24:080:24:10

and the songs and the lyrics and the love.

0:24:100:24:13

I would think that that would be

0:24:140:24:17

really foremost on your mind.

0:24:170:24:19

After the original Carter Family from 1927 to 1940,

0:24:260:24:30

Maybelle went on to have her own successful career,

0:24:300:24:33

and Elvis even toured with her for a time.

0:24:330:24:36

And then in Knoxville she picked up a guitar player by

0:24:360:24:40

the name of Chet Atkins.

0:24:400:24:41

And they took him to the Grand Ole Opry and, I mean,

0:24:410:24:44

Chet Atkins changed the whole way that things were done in Nashville.

0:24:440:24:48

And then June Carter, Maybelle's daughter, she married Johnny Cash,

0:24:480:24:52

and that led into yet another love story.

0:24:520:24:55

And then June's children,

0:24:550:24:58

you've got Carlene is a successful recording artist, married Nick Lowe.

0:24:580:25:02

Rosanne Cash, who's a singer-songwriter,

0:25:020:25:05

married Rodney Crowell.

0:25:050:25:06

Cindy Cash married Marty Stuart.

0:25:060:25:08

It gets really complicated.

0:25:080:25:11

It's hard for me to keep track,

0:25:110:25:13

but of all that came from that first recording trip to Bristol in 1927.

0:25:130:25:19

So, as Johnny Cash referred to it, The Big Bang of country music.

0:25:190:25:23

Hey, that sound that you hear there,

0:25:240:25:27

that's the sound of the original Carter Family,

0:25:270:25:29

who were just elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

0:25:290:25:32

The original Carter Family were AP, Sara and Maybelle.

0:25:320:25:35

And tonight, for the first time together in 27 years,

0:25:350:25:39

Mother Maybelle and Sara Carter.

0:25:390:25:41

Mama, I've long been a Carter Family fan,

0:25:430:25:46

as you well know, and I'd love to take Uncle AP's part on one of those

0:25:460:25:49

-final hymns.

-We'd love to have you, John.

-How about that, Aunt Sara?

0:25:490:25:52

-Sure.

-All right.

0:25:520:25:54

APPLAUSE

0:25:540:25:57

# When my soul is singing

0:26:010:26:02

# In that promised land above

0:26:020:26:05

-# I'll be satisfied

-Satisfied

0:26:050:26:09

# Praising Christ the Saviour

0:26:090:26:11

# For redeeming grace and love

0:26:110:26:14

-# I'll be satisfied

-Satisfied

0:26:140:26:19

-# I'll be satisfied

-Satisfied

0:26:190:26:23

-# I'll be satisfied

-Satisfied

0:26:230:26:28

# When my soul is resting in the presence of the Lord

0:26:280:26:32

-# I'll be satisfied

-Satisfied... #

0:26:320:26:36

APPLAUSE

0:26:410:26:42

Many of the songs that the Carters developed,

0:26:420:26:46

these songs have become popular throughout time since then.

0:26:460:26:49

And you can hear a lot of songs today that,

0:26:490:26:52

if you listen just a little bit harder,

0:26:520:26:54

you can understand the original Carter Family songs

0:26:540:26:57

were at the root of these.

0:26:570:26:59

You know, there's so much music and so many branches to that tree

0:27:030:27:08

that came from three people piling in a little car

0:27:080:27:12

and leaving here to go to Bristol,

0:27:120:27:14

and leaving pretty much right where I sit.

0:27:140:27:18

# Oh, bury me under the weeping willow

0:27:180:27:21

# Yes, under the weeping willow tree

0:27:210:27:25

# So he may know where I am sleeping

0:27:250:27:29

# And perhaps he will weep for me. #

0:27:290:27:33

A world away from Poor Valley, the teeming city of Memphis,

0:27:480:27:51

Tennessee, was the commercial and cultural gateway for the south.

0:27:510:27:55

Set on the banks of the Mississippi River, Memphis is a rowdy port city,

0:27:550:28:00

famous for its booming cotton trade.

0:28:000:28:03

Memphis never closed up then.

0:28:030:28:06

The boats would run from Memphis to New Orleans,

0:28:060:28:11

Stop all down through the Mississippi Delta,

0:28:110:28:15

pick up cotton bales.

0:28:150:28:18

And they had me working on the boat.

0:28:180:28:20

When they came in, the man from the boat would tie up

0:28:200:28:23

and you'd get paid off, then you'd go uptown

0:28:230:28:24

and start spending the money, get drunk. Memphis was an open town.

0:28:240:28:29

It never closed up.

0:28:290:28:32

A wide-open town with one of the highest crime rates in the country,

0:28:320:28:36

Memphis was home to a vibrant music scene known for its witty lyrics

0:28:360:28:41

and rough street rhythms.

0:28:410:28:42

As the Carter Family's music reflects the hills of Appalachia,

0:28:440:28:47

the songs of the Memphis jug band reflect an urban underworld

0:28:470:28:51

full of drugs, gambling, prostitution and violence.

0:28:510:28:56

By the 1920s, the heart of the action was Beale Street.

0:28:560:29:00

The jazz addict is not likely to find on Beale Street today

0:29:000:29:04

very much of what the music historian calls

0:29:040:29:06

"the style of the '20s",

0:29:060:29:09

but there is a kind of music that still continues

0:29:090:29:11

the feeling of the past.

0:29:110:29:13

It's as old as peewees and as authentic.

0:29:130:29:16

And you can still hear it played by an occasional wandering minstrel

0:29:160:29:20

or two, in the guise of a jug band with or without a jug.

0:29:200:29:24

For example, take the work of Charlie Burse and Will Shade,

0:29:240:29:28

two practising musicians of Beale Street 1958.

0:29:280:29:32

How about an example, Charlie?

0:29:320:29:33

Yes, we've been here a long time, we would like to give you a little

0:29:330:29:36

-synopsis of what we used to hear. Would you like to hear one?

-Fine.

0:29:360:29:40

# I went up Main

0:29:480:29:50

# I turned down Beale

0:29:500:29:51

# I's trying to find the little chick that they call Lucille

0:29:510:29:54

# I gotta move to Kansas City

0:29:540:29:57

# Sure as you're born

0:29:570:29:58

# I gotta move to Kansas City

0:29:580:30:00

# Where I belong

0:30:000:30:02

# I gotta move, baby

0:30:020:30:04

# Honey, where they don't allow you

0:30:040:30:06

# Lordy, lordy, lordy, Lord, oh, boy

0:30:060:30:09

# T for Texas, T for Tennesee, ha

0:30:090:30:13

# Boll weevil's got the cotton and the gal's got me

0:30:130:30:16

# I'm gonna move to Kansas City

0:30:160:30:18

# Sure as you're born

0:30:180:30:20

# I'm gonna move to Kansas City Where I was born... #

0:30:200:30:24

Well, I'll tell you, ladies and gentlemens,

0:30:240:30:27

my name is William Shade Jr.

0:30:270:30:29

I was born in Memphis, Tennessee, born in 1893.

0:30:290:30:35

# Them boll weevils got the cotton and the women's got me

0:30:350:30:39

# I gotta a move to Kansas City

0:30:390:30:41

# Oh, yeah, sure as you're born

0:30:410:30:43

# We gotta move to Kansas City

0:30:430:30:45

# Where I belong

0:30:450:30:46

# We gotta move, baby

0:30:460:30:49

# Honey, where they don't allow you

0:30:490:30:51

# Lordy, lordy, lordy, Lord, oh, boy

0:30:510:30:54

# If you don't like my peaches

0:30:540:30:56

-# Why did you shake my tree?

-All right

0:30:560:30:58

# I wasn't after that chick But she was after me

0:30:580:31:02

# We gotta move to Kansas City... #

0:31:020:31:04

I learned to play music the hard way. I learned from the stump on up,

0:31:040:31:09

so I didn't have no money to get no bass.

0:31:090:31:12

So, I got a can that some people called a garbage can

0:31:120:31:14

with a streamlined base.

0:31:140:31:17

# If you didn't like my peaches

0:31:170:31:18

# Why did you shake my tree?

0:31:180:31:21

# I wasn't after that chick But she was after me

0:31:210:31:24

# I gotta move to Kansas City

0:31:240:31:28

# We're gonna move to Kansas City... #

0:31:280:31:30

And everybody in Memphis had a jug back then, so I breezed me up a

0:31:300:31:33

little band which was called the Memphis Jug Band.

0:31:330:31:36

# Lordy, lordy, lordy, Lord, oh, boy

0:31:360:31:38

# Lookee here, some like high yellow

0:31:390:31:41

-# Some like teasin' brown

-Hey!

0:31:410:31:43

# It takes a teasin' woman to get me down

0:31:430:31:47

# I gotta move to Kansas City

0:31:470:31:49

# Well, well, move to Kansas City

0:31:500:31:53

# Where I belong

0:31:530:31:54

# We gotta move, baby

0:31:540:31:57

# Honey, where they don't allow you

0:31:570:31:59

# Lordy, lordy, lordy, Lord. #

0:31:590:32:02

In the 1920s, the Memphis Jug Band and other street musicians

0:32:030:32:07

too poor to afford trumpets and clarinets

0:32:070:32:10

picked up home-made instruments and formed groups called jug bands.

0:32:100:32:15

# Went downtown to have a little fun

0:32:310:32:32

# Bought myself a razor and a shiny gun

0:32:320:32:34

# Carried it home, laid it on the shelf

0:32:340:32:36

# Doggone hard got to get it myself

0:32:360:32:38

# Off that sheet, foldin' bed,

0:32:380:32:40

# I believe I'm gonna tear it down

0:32:400:32:42

# Tear it down, slats and all

0:32:420:32:44

# Tore it down You make my baby squall

0:32:440:32:46

# Tore it down

0:32:460:32:47

# Baby, come on

0:32:470:32:48

# Don't take no time at all

0:32:480:32:49

# Come on out of that foldin' bed

0:32:490:32:51

# I believe I'm gonna tear it down

0:32:510:32:53

# I went home about four o'clock

0:33:080:33:10

# Knocked on the door and found it locked

0:33:100:33:12

# Round to the window and I took a peek

0:33:120:33:14

# A sheik there fast asleep

0:33:140:33:16

# That'll only be my foldin' bed

0:33:160:33:18

# Come on out of that foldin' bed

0:33:280:33:34

# I believe I'm gonna tear it down. #

0:33:340:33:39

Well, a jug band is some guys making music off of cheap instruments.

0:33:410:33:47

You know, they couldn't afford, like, trumpets and fancy brass instruments,

0:33:470:33:51

so they have like, a washboard, a kazoo, harmonicas and guitars.

0:33:510:33:57

Just, affordable instruments that they could get their hands on.

0:33:570:34:00

The jug band was just really infectious. It makes you smile,

0:34:030:34:06

it makes you happy, it makes you want to dance.

0:34:060:34:08

It's good-time music.

0:34:080:34:09

My name is Charlie Musselwhite.

0:34:140:34:15

I came to Memphis in 1947.

0:34:150:34:18

I grew up here,

0:34:180:34:20

I fell in love with the sound of the Memphis Jug Band,

0:34:200:34:23

and Will Shade was the driving force.

0:34:230:34:26

# I know they're gonna write to me

0:34:260:34:28

# When they get across the sea

0:34:280:34:30

# Every chance when that Washington lands in France

0:34:300:34:33

# I say, whoa now, sugar baby... #

0:34:330:34:36

The Memphis Jug Band, they started playing in Handy Park

0:34:360:34:40

and on the corners on the streets downtown Memphis,

0:34:400:34:43

up and down Beale Street.

0:34:430:34:45

And they sounded good, people liked them.

0:34:450:34:47

They started getting a following.

0:34:470:34:49

# You went way across the sea

0:34:490:34:51

# To keep from doing that Lindy Bird with me

0:34:510:34:54

# Oh, babe, now I done told you... #

0:34:540:34:56

At that time, Beale Street was this thriving, colourful, alive,

0:34:560:35:01

just pulsing-with-energy neighbourhood.

0:35:010:35:05

It was a poor neighbourhood, but, man, there was so much going on.

0:35:050:35:07

Out by the alley where Will Shade played at night,

0:35:070:35:11

there'd be these jam sessions,

0:35:110:35:12

guys playing guitars and harmonicas and passing the bottle,

0:35:120:35:16

It was just...

0:35:160:35:17

It was just rich with the music.

0:35:170:35:20

It was saturated.

0:35:200:35:21

But it was rough and wild, no doubt about it.

0:35:210:35:24

Will Shade made it way more colourful than

0:35:240:35:27

anybody ever described it.

0:35:270:35:29

There's so much excitement happening down on Beale Street, it'd take me

0:35:290:35:32

to the end of the day to tell you about all that excitement.

0:35:320:35:34

It used to be the red-light district or something like that.

0:35:350:35:39

You could walk down the street in days of the 1900s,

0:35:390:35:42

you could find a man, throat cut from ear to ear.

0:35:420:35:45

Also you could find people getting knocked on the head with bricks

0:35:470:35:50

and hatchets and hammers and pocket knives and razors,

0:35:500:35:53

and sometimes you'd find them throwed out of windows and so forth.

0:35:530:35:56

Oh, they used to have a wonderful time here in Memphis, Tennessee.

0:35:590:36:02

Nothing but underworld people dealing and snatching.

0:36:020:36:05

Pickpockets, dope fiends, cocaine fiends and everything.

0:36:050:36:10

In February, 1927, my father had been to Memphis, Tennessee,

0:36:100:36:14

which is not exactly the place you'd think as the nicest place to go to

0:36:140:36:18

listen to music, but it was here that he made the first recordings

0:36:180:36:22

of the Memphis Jug Band.

0:36:220:36:23

They had a raw taste to them.

0:36:230:36:25

They were very unusual and these recordings made history.

0:36:250:36:31

When Ralph Peer and his recording crew arrived,

0:36:310:36:33

they set up their studio in a warehouse just off Beale Street.

0:36:330:36:36

One of the first acts to audition

0:36:380:36:40

was Will Shade and the Memphis Jug Band.

0:36:400:36:42

I was going down Beale Street playing the Memphis Jug Band Blues.

0:36:420:36:47

Charlie Wilson at the Beale Street Palace, he came over to Mr Peer,

0:36:470:36:51

RS Peer and a Victor recorder,

0:36:510:36:53

and, er, we made the record at McCall Building on McCall Street.

0:36:530:36:58

On the fourth floor of the McCall Building,

0:36:580:37:00

my father and Will Shade started on a series of recordings.

0:37:000:37:04

The first one was called Newport News Blues and this became a very

0:37:040:37:08

important part of the RCA Victor Race Series now.

0:37:080:37:11

We were talking about R&B at this point in time,

0:37:110:37:14

which was a progression along the type of black music

0:37:140:37:16

which was being recorded at the time.

0:37:160:37:19

Negroes would sing a song in Memphis

0:37:190:37:23

and you'd never hear the same song anyplace else,

0:37:230:37:26

because every song was strange and new to these white man's ears.

0:37:260:37:30

# I'm goin' to Newport News, mama

0:37:330:37:36

# Gonna catch a battleship across the doggone sea

0:37:360:37:39

# What you goin' over there for, boy?

0:37:390:37:42

# I'm goin' to Newport News, mama

0:37:420:37:44

# Gonna catch a battleship across the doggone sea

0:37:440:37:47

# What you gonna do?

0:37:470:37:48

# For, Lord, the woman that I'm lovin', great God, partner

0:37:510:37:54

# Do not care for me

0:37:540:37:56

# What kind of woman is that?

0:37:560:37:59

# And she's got a man on her man

0:37:590:38:01

# Done got a kid man on her she can't kid

0:38:010:38:04

# She's got a man on her man

0:38:080:38:10

# Done got a kid man on her she can't kid

0:38:100:38:13

# Have mercy, have mercy

0:38:130:38:16

# Kid man has got so buggish, great God, partner,

0:38:160:38:19

# Just can't keep it hid

0:38:190:38:21

# What are you gonna do with him?

0:38:210:38:23

# Ah, don't you wish your easy roller, partner

0:38:240:38:27

# Was little and cute like mine?

0:38:270:38:28

# I sure do, boy

0:38:300:38:31

# Ah, don't you wish your easy roller, partner

0:38:330:38:36

# Was little and cute like mine?

0:38:360:38:38

# For every time she walks

0:38:410:38:43

# Lord, she sure brings that jack to town

0:38:430:38:47

# I sure wanna see her. #

0:38:470:38:48

Will Shade learned Newport News from an old Memphis musician

0:38:500:38:53

named Tiwi Blackman, but his musical roots went much deeper.

0:38:530:38:58

I remember Will Shade telling me that he learned harmonica

0:39:000:39:03

from his mom and his mom grew up in slavery.

0:39:030:39:07

I started from a kid up.

0:39:070:39:08

I first remember when my mother singing On The Road Again.

0:39:080:39:12

"Natural born eastman on the road again."

0:39:120:39:15

-# I would not black woman Tell you the reason why

-Why?

0:39:150:39:18

-# Black woman's evil Do things on the sly

-No!

0:39:180:39:21

# You look for your supper to be good and hot

0:39:210:39:24

# She never put a neckbone in the pot

0:39:240:39:27

# She's on the road again

0:39:270:39:29

# Just as sure as you're born

0:39:290:39:30

# Lord, a natural born eastman on the road again

0:39:300:39:33

# She's on the road again

0:39:330:39:35

# Sure as you're born

0:39:350:39:36

# Lord, a natural born eastman on the road again

0:39:360:39:39

# I went to my window My window was propped

0:39:390:39:42

# I went to my door My door was locked

0:39:420:39:46

# I stepped right back I shook my head

0:39:460:39:49

# A big black nigger in my folding bed

0:39:490:39:52

# I shot through the window I broke the glass

0:39:520:39:55

# I never seen a little nigger run so fast

0:39:550:39:57

# She's on the road again

0:39:570:39:59

# Sure as you're born

0:39:590:40:01

# Lord, a natural born eastman on the road again... #

0:40:010:40:03

Well, the Memphis Jug Band,

0:40:030:40:05

it sounds like something today and these guys are talking about women,

0:40:050:40:10

carrying guns, protecting their honour,

0:40:100:40:13

chasing after some woman who's done them dirty.

0:40:130:40:16

This is not high society black folks, this is the down under.

0:40:160:40:20

You know, street, wild black folk that they're singing about.

0:40:200:40:26

It's the same as today, it's the same as rap music today.

0:40:260:40:30

# She's on the road again

0:40:300:40:31

-# Sure as you're born

-A natural-born eastman

0:40:310:40:34

# On the road again

0:40:340:40:35

# She's on the road again

0:40:350:40:36

-# Sure as you're born

-A natural-born eastman

0:40:360:40:39

# On the road again

0:40:390:40:40

# Your friend at your house just to rest his hat

0:40:400:40:43

# Next thing, he wanna know where your husband's at

0:40:430:40:45

# She says, "I don't know, he's on his way to the pen."

0:40:450:40:48

# Come on, Mama, let's get on the road again

0:40:480:40:50

-# She's on the road again

-Sure as you're born... #

0:40:500:40:53

This music from Memphis,

0:40:530:40:55

they were rapping about street life and gangster life and hustling,

0:40:550:40:59

and just a dark side of the world.

0:40:590:41:01

-# I would not black woman Let me tell you why

-Why?

0:41:010:41:04

-# Black woman's evil Do things on the sly

-No!

0:41:040:41:06

-# You look for your supper to be good and hot

-Hot!

0:41:060:41:09

# She'll never put the neck-bone in the pot

0:41:090:41:12

# She's on the road again... #

0:41:120:41:13

It just goes to show me that rapping is a natural, poetic thing.

0:41:130:41:17

It's always been here.

0:41:170:41:18

As long as there was English and black people,

0:41:180:41:20

you know what I'm saying, there was rap.

0:41:200:41:22

The Memphis Jug Band, they wanted everybody to like what they were

0:41:340:41:37

doing, so they wanted to have a real wide arsenal of tunes.

0:41:370:41:41

And I believe black and white people bought their records because

0:41:420:41:45

they played all kinds of stuff, like waltzes, blues, popular tunes,

0:41:450:41:50

but in the setting of a jug band.

0:41:500:41:53

They got so famous that Mayor Crump used them for his campaign.

0:41:530:41:57

Will Shade wrote a tune for Mayor Crump

0:41:570:42:01

It was a big hit for Mayor Crump and for the Memphis Jug Band

0:42:010:42:05

and got Crump elected.

0:42:050:42:07

Will Shade told me that he once played for the President.

0:42:070:42:09

I forget which one, it might have been one of the Roosevelts.

0:42:090:42:13

# That woman I'm lovin' She just my height and size

0:42:130:42:17

# She's a married woman Come to see me sometimes

0:42:170:42:20

# If you don't believe I love ya Look what a fool I've been

0:42:200:42:23

# If you don't believe I'm sinking Look what a hole I'm in

0:42:230:42:26

# I'm stealing, stealing

0:42:260:42:29

# Pretty mama, don't you tell on me

0:42:290:42:31

# I'm stealing back to my same old used-to-be

0:42:310:42:37

# I'm stealing, stealing

0:42:370:42:40

# Pretty mama, don't you tell on me

0:42:400:42:43

# I'm stealing back to my same old used-to-be

0:42:430:42:47

Will Shade's success established Memphis as a vibrant new

0:42:500:42:54

African-American recording centre.

0:42:540:42:56

And, as a talent scout for Victor Records, he helped launch the

0:42:560:43:00

careers of performers like Memphis Minnie, Furry Lewis and Gus Cannon.

0:43:000:43:07

My father made a very close personal friendship with Will Shade and,

0:43:090:43:12

in fact, employed him for a number of years to be his eyes and ears

0:43:120:43:16

in the Memphis part of the world.

0:43:160:43:18

Will Shade was real proud to be associated with Victor and Mr Peer

0:43:180:43:21

would always send him money whenever Will Shade said, I'm a little short this week, or this month,

0:43:210:43:28

I need some rent money.

0:43:280:43:30

So, I guess he made a lot of money for Victor and Mr Peer.

0:43:300:43:32

People wanted to work with Will Shade, he was so respected.

0:43:340:43:38

He was the Memphis Jug Band.

0:43:380:43:40

I mean, he could have replaced anybody in the band,

0:43:400:43:43

got other musicians - it would still be the Memphis Jug Band

0:43:430:43:46

with his sound, his music, his ideas.

0:43:460:43:49

It was his vision.

0:43:490:43:51

# Cocaine habit is mighty bad

0:44:050:44:09

# It's the worst old habit that I ever had

0:44:090:44:12

# Hey, hey, honey, take a whiff on me

0:44:120:44:16

# I love my whisky and I love my gin

0:44:180:44:22

# But the way I love my coke is a dog-gone sin

0:44:220:44:25

# Hey, hey, honey, take a whiff on me

0:44:250:44:30

# It takes a little coke to give me ease

0:44:320:44:35

# Strut my stuff long as you please

0:44:350:44:39

# Hey, hey, honey, take a whiff on me

0:44:390:44:42

# Let's all take a whiff on Hattie now

0:44:450:44:47

# Hey, hey Hey, hey

0:44:470:44:51

# Hey, hey-ey Hey-ey-ey. #

0:44:510:44:57

Cocaine Habit, cracked me up.

0:44:580:45:00

Here's the subject.

0:45:000:45:02

# Cocaine habit... # Right on top of that.

0:45:020:45:06

# Cocaine habit, now, ain't so bad

0:45:060:45:10

# It's the worst damn habit I ever did have

0:45:100:45:13

# Hey, hey, hey

0:45:130:45:15

# Baby, take a whiff on me. #

0:45:150:45:17

These are the kinds of sliding in and out.

0:45:170:45:20

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da de-da-da-da-da-di-da,

0:45:200:45:23

la-da-da-di-da-da-di-da.

0:45:230:45:25

# I went to Mr Beaman's in a lope

0:45:250:45:28

# Sign on the window saying "No more dope"

0:45:280:45:31

# Say, hey, hey

0:45:310:45:34

# Honey, take a whiff on me... #

0:45:340:45:36

It just tells you something about American culture,

0:45:360:45:39

American music and, you know,

0:45:390:45:41

when they look down on hip-hop music and look down..

0:45:410:45:44

..because of the words that we use, and stuff like that,

0:45:450:45:48

it didn't start with hip-hop, this started a long time ago.

0:45:480:45:52

This started with America.

0:45:520:45:54

As blues gave way to swing and R&B,

0:45:570:46:00

the Memphis Jug Band faded from view.

0:46:000:46:03

When I met Will Shade, I was 18.

0:46:050:46:08

I loved his music,

0:46:080:46:09

I'm hanging out at Will Shade's house every chance I can.

0:46:090:46:13

There was a two-storey apartment building,

0:46:130:46:16

it had one bathroom at the end of the hall for each floor

0:46:160:46:19

and he had the last two rooms upstairs and a potbelly stove.

0:46:190:46:24

I remember him cooking, in fact, the best hamburger

0:46:240:46:28

I ever had in my life, Will Shade cooked it.

0:46:280:46:31

I had the impression that Will Shade was important and famous

0:46:400:46:44

just by all the people that came by all the time to talk to him

0:46:440:46:47

and you could tell by the way they talked to him that

0:46:470:46:50

they revered him and looked up to him and respected him greatly.

0:46:500:46:54

# I ain't got no stockings I ain't got no shoes

0:46:540:46:57

# All I've got is the Memphis Jug Band blues... #

0:46:570:47:00

On one hand, I mean, it was really poor, I mean, like, squalor.

0:47:000:47:05

On the other hand, it was this energetic, totally alive,

0:47:050:47:09

wonderful place to be.

0:47:090:47:11

And Will would sit by the window in a chair so he could see everybody

0:47:110:47:16

coming up and down the alley.

0:47:160:47:18

And if there was a musician, maybe he'd come up and play something.

0:47:180:47:20

# And if you meet the devil

0:47:200:47:22

# He asks you how you do

0:47:220:47:24

# I'm on my way to heaven Don't you wanna go, too?

0:47:240:47:26

# Know there's a place

0:47:260:47:28

# I'd do just as well

0:47:280:47:29

# They call White Wash Dishes ten miles from hell... #

0:47:290:47:32

And Will Shade became one of my best teachers for harmonica and guitar,

0:47:320:47:37

and we would just sit around and he'd play whatever

0:47:370:47:40

he felt like playing. And I'd play along with him.

0:47:400:47:43

He just loved it that I was interested in learning his music.

0:47:430:47:46

It's hard to put into words.

0:47:460:47:47

In some ways, he's like a father, in some ways he's like a brother,

0:47:470:47:50

and in other ways, he's just a good friend.

0:47:500:47:52

In the 1950s, a young Memphis musician fused the rhythms

0:48:000:48:04

of Beale Street with a country twang of Bristol

0:48:040:48:08

to ignite a new Big Bang called rock and roll.

0:48:080:48:12

# Well, I've got a gal that I love so

0:48:120:48:15

# I'm ready, ready, ready

0:48:150:48:18

# I'm ready, ready, I'm ready

0:48:180:48:20

# I'm ready, ready, ready

0:48:200:48:22

# I'm ready, ready, ready to rock and roll... #

0:48:220:48:25

The first recordings of the Memphis Jug Band were, in their own way,

0:48:280:48:33

a Big Bang of R&B music.

0:48:330:48:35

Will Shade came up with a lot of different types of music

0:48:350:48:39

from a lot of different people.

0:48:390:48:41

And this music remained a permanent influence on American R&B.

0:48:410:48:46

Will Shade had a tremendous effect on American music.

0:48:480:48:51

But he would see other Memphis singers,

0:48:510:48:53

you know, getting recognition, and he thought there was still

0:48:530:48:56

a chance as long as he was alive and able to play

0:48:560:48:59

that he might get one more break.

0:48:590:49:01

I think he...that was a dream of his.

0:49:020:49:05

All the times I would visit Will Shade,

0:49:080:49:10

he would always play this song.

0:49:100:49:12

And if it was not his favourite, it was one of his favourites.

0:49:120:49:15

It was Well, I'll Get A Break Some Day.

0:49:150:49:18

# Mississippi River

0:49:310:49:33

# So deep and wide

0:49:340:49:36

# Woman that I'm loving

0:49:370:49:39

# She's on that other side

0:49:400:49:42

# But I'll get a break

0:49:440:49:46

# Yes, somewhere

0:49:470:49:49

# My lovely one... #

0:49:510:49:52

You know, when he died in 1966, he really didn't have anything.

0:50:010:50:07

And most people really didn't remember his music.

0:50:070:50:09

But, today, all these years later...

0:50:090:50:12

..right down on Beale Street in front of Handy Park,

0:50:140:50:17

there's a brass note with Will Shade's name right on.

0:50:170:50:22

# When I had money

0:50:280:50:29

# I had friends for miles around

0:50:310:50:34

# Now I'm broke, ragged and hungry

0:50:350:50:37

# None of my friends can be found

0:50:380:50:40

# But I'll get a break

0:50:410:50:43

# Yes, somewhere

0:50:440:50:46

# My lovely one. #

0:50:480:50:50

# Ever since my sin

0:51:110:51:14

# Ever since my sin

0:51:140:51:16

# Was taken away

0:51:160:51:18

# Was taken away

0:51:180:51:20

# My heart keeps singing

0:51:200:51:22

# Singing, singing all night... #

0:51:220:51:27

# Lord, I'll die with my hammer in my hands, I'll die

0:51:290:51:33

# Lord, I'll die with my hammer in my hands... #

0:51:330:51:36

# I'm goin' away to a world unknown

0:51:370:51:43

# I'm goin' away to a world unknown... #

0:51:480:51:54

My aunt Bessie would say that Charley Patton

0:51:550:51:57

was the ultimate showman.

0:51:570:51:59

I'll say it like she said it - he could pick the guitar...

0:51:590:52:03

with his mouth, with his hands, behind his back, crawling,

0:52:030:52:08

laying on the floor,

0:52:080:52:09

simulating different acts on stage.

0:52:090:52:13

He was like a one-man band.

0:52:130:52:15

It's really hard to know how far-reaching the influence

0:52:160:52:19

of Charley Patton is.

0:52:190:52:21

I mean, he influenced the first generation of Delta guys.

0:52:210:52:25

You know, guys like Muddy Waters, BB King, and John Lee Hooker.

0:52:250:52:30

But his big thumbprint is on Howlin' Wolf.

0:52:300:52:34

Wolf clearly states that he went over to Patton

0:52:360:52:39

and sat down and Patton showed him his tunes

0:52:390:52:42

and the way he played them.

0:52:420:52:44

You can't get that unless you're right next to him.

0:52:440:52:46

You had to be able to watch him play it every night.

0:52:460:52:48

For several every nights.

0:52:490:52:51

-Tell us something about it.

-When we first started playing

0:52:510:52:53

together, we started playing because we wanted to play rhythm and blues,

0:52:530:52:57

and Howlin' Wolf was one of our greatest idols.

0:52:570:52:59

So I think it's about time you shut up and we had Howlin' Wolf on stage.

0:52:590:53:02

I agree!

0:53:020:53:03

# You couldn't believe a word I say... #

0:53:080:53:10

# John Henry told his captain

0:53:200:53:23

# Man ain't nothin' but a man

0:53:240:53:27

# Before I be beaten by this old steam drill

0:53:270:53:30

# I'm gonna die with my hammer in my hand, Lord, Lord

0:53:300:53:34

# Die with my hammer in my hand... #

0:53:340:53:37

They recorded six songs

0:53:390:53:41

and they got paid 25 a song.

0:53:410:53:44

And that was all, no royalties or anything.

0:53:440:53:47

They just got paid 25 a song, and that was it.

0:53:470:53:50

Makes a lot of difference in getting paid 50 cents a coal car, you know.

0:53:500:53:53

Dad worked in the coal mines all of his life.

0:53:530:53:56

From what I heard, he started,

0:53:560:53:58

like, when he was 13 years old.

0:53:580:54:00

One time, Dad took me down in one, maybe two miles.

0:54:010:54:05

And I didn't want no more.

0:54:050:54:07

I said, "Get me back out of here."

0:54:070:54:09

It's an eerie feeling, man, all that dirt overhead.

0:54:090:54:13

# Old black dog when I'm gone, Lord, Lord

0:54:150:54:20

# Old black dog when I'm gone

0:54:200:54:23

# When I come back with a 10 bill

0:54:230:54:28

# And it's, "Honey, where you been so long...?" #

0:54:280:54:32

It was dangerous just to go in, let alone work in it.

0:54:320:54:35

You know, there was a lot of mining accidents back then.

0:54:350:54:37

My dad told me, every time you go down at that time,

0:54:370:54:41

you were just taking your life in your own hands.

0:54:410:54:43

# Then taken away

0:54:430:54:45

# Then taken away

0:54:450:54:47

# My heart keeps singing

0:54:470:54:50

# Singing, singing on all night

0:54:500:54:55

# Then Jesus washed

0:54:550:54:56

# Then Jesus washed

0:54:560:54:59

# In his blood

0:54:590:55:00

# In his blood

0:55:000:55:02

# My heart keeps singing

0:55:020:55:04

# Singing, singing all night

0:55:040:55:09

# I thank, thee, Father... #

0:55:090:55:11

In the 1920s, Triumph Church, church in general, period...

0:55:110:55:16

..was everything. Because everything was segregated,

0:55:170:55:21

and the blacks went to their churches,

0:55:210:55:24

whites went to their churches,

0:55:240:55:26

and the black people back in that day didn't have much.

0:55:260:55:29

The only thing that they had was - by the church -

0:55:290:55:33

was hope for the future.

0:55:330:55:36

Hoping that there would be a better day coming than what they were

0:55:360:55:40

experiencing at that very present time.

0:55:400:55:42

# I'm singing

0:55:420:55:44

-# I'm singing

-I'm singing

0:55:440:55:46

# I'm singing

0:55:460:55:48

# Singing

0:55:480:55:51

# Singing for the Lord

0:55:510:55:54

# I'm singing

0:55:540:55:56

-# I'm singing

-I'm gonna sing my song!

0:55:560:56:00

-# I'm singing

-I'm gonna sing my song!

0:56:000:56:02

# I'm gonna sing, I'm gonna sing, I'm gonna sing,

0:56:020:56:05

-# I'm singing

-Oh, yes, I'm singing

0:56:050:56:08

-# I'm singing

-Help me, please

0:56:080:56:10

# I'm singing... #

0:56:100:56:12

In that era, music was a break from reality.

0:56:120:56:15

Reality was you're a sharecropper,

0:56:150:56:17

you're working hard every day of your life.

0:56:170:56:19

And it gives you an opportunity to get a break from that

0:56:190:56:23

-hard day-to-day work.

-That's why it's so impactful, even to this day.

0:56:230:56:27

And we've always found a way to scream through the music.

0:56:280:56:32

# I'm told, baby

0:56:320:56:34

# That you ain't never loved me right. #

0:56:360:56:39

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