Fiddlin' John Carson
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| Fiddlin' John Carson | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | John Carson |
| Born | March 23, 1868 |
| Origin | Fannin County, Georgia, USA |
| Died | December 11, 1949 (aged 81) |
| Genre(s) | Country |
| Occupation(s) | Country artist |
| Instrument(s) | Fiddle |
| Years active | 1920s – 1930s |
| Notable instrument(s) | |
| Fiddle | |
Fiddlin' John Carson (born March 23, 1868 Fannin County, Georgia – died December 11, 1949 Atlanta, Georgia) was an American old time fiddler and an early country musician.
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[edit] Biography
Carson grew up on a farm in Georgia. His father worked as a section foreman for the W&A Railroad Company. In his teens, Carson learned to play the fiddle, using an old family fiddle brought from Ireland in the early 18th century. In the mean time, he found work as a racehorse jockey and later as a foreman in a cotton mill, a position he held for twenty years. He began performing at the "Annual Atlanta Fiddlers' Convention" in Georgia, and was proclaimed "Champion Fiddler of Georgia" seven times. He became associated with many politicians of Georgia, like Tom Watson, Herman Talmadge and Eugene Talmadge, relations that gave rise to new songs.
On September 9, 1922, Carson made his radio debut on WSB, Atlanta, started by the Atlanta Journal. The Journal reported that Carson's fame spread "to every corner of the United States were WSB was heard." His popularity inspired Polk C. Brockman, an Atlanta Okeh Records distributor who had been successful in developing and merchandising "race" records for the black market for OKeh, to persuade OKeh president Ralph Peer to bring his recording equipment to Atlanta to record Fiddlin' John Carson.
On June 13, 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."[1] Peer announced them "pluperfect awful" but agreed to press five hundred on a blank label for Brockman's personal use.[2] The recording was immediately sold out from the stage of the next Fiddler's convention on July 13, 1923, being the first released country music recording. Peer immediately rushed into a major pressing on the OKeh label and invited Carson to New York City to record twelve more sides. For the next eight years, Carson recorded almost 150 songs, mostly together with the "Virginia Reelers". One of the members of the "Virginia Reelers" was his youngest daughter Rosa Lee Carson, Who later found fame on her own as "Moonshine Kate". Fiddlin' John Carson ceased recording temporarily in 1931 but continued again in 1934, now for the RCA Victor label. In his later years, he worked as an elevator operator. He died in 1949.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Archie Green, Hillbilly Music: Source & Symbol (part 2), Southern Folklife Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Accessed 19 August 2007.
- ^ 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.
[edit] References
- Stars of Country Music, (University of Illinois Press, 1975)
