MEMPHIS JUG BAND — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order ★ Volume 2 : 1928-1929 DOCD-5022 (1991) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The Memphis Jug Band was quite popular from 1927-1930, particularly if one judges the group by its many recordings (which fill up three CDs in this series). The second volume has slightly better material than the other two CDs, but all are easily recommended. During 1928 and 1929, the Memphis Jug Band featured its leader Will Shade on guitar, harmonica, and vocals, and guitarist Charlie Burse (guitarist Will Weldon and banjo-mandolist Vol Stevens from the first group departed by 1929). The band also included the highly expressive kazoo playing of Ben Ramey and Jab Jones' enthusiastic jug playing (an improvement on his predecessor Charlie Polk). Additionally, there are two selections included in which the band accompanies singer Minnie Wallace and there are a few guest musicians and singers on various tracks. Among the many high points of the spirited program are "She Stays Out All Night Long," "Lindberg Hop," "Stealin' Stealin'," "Jug Band Waltz," "The Old Folks Started It," and "Memphis Yo Yo Blues." An important if often overlooked genre of vintage American music. Scott Yanow

Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes. When the Memphis Jug Band reassembled in September 1928 to cut eight titles for Victor, they began in larky mood. New member (on disc at least) Jab Jones sang what was nominally a tribute to Charles Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic the previous year, but his version of the Lindyhop is a crazy, almost surrealist one. Sugar Pudding, a version of “Take Your Fingers Off It”, marked the debut of Jones’s thunderous jug, replacing the less forthright Charlie Polk. The other new member was the extrovert Alabaman guitarist and singer Charlie Burse. He was one of the singers on both On The Road Again, whose chorus refers to Monk Eastman’s eponymous gang, active in New York in the late 1890s, and the hybrid A Black Woman Is Like A Black Snake, with its 12 bar verse and 8 bar chorus. The cryptic Whitewash Station opened proceedings on 15th September, followed by the Memphis Jug Band’s most famous number, the beautiful Stealin’ Stealin’, relaxed, nostalgic, and superbly played. The two waltzes that closed the session, though unusual on race records, were probably no novelty to the band, which would have been expected to play such pieces for dancing by both blacks and whites. It was a year before the band returned to the microphones, and violinist Milton Roby (correct spelling) was added in place of Vol Stevens, bringing his broad, bluesy tones, learned on the medicine shows, to four songs that sound very much of that milieu — some of them obviously cleaned up for recording — and also to two provocative, sexy vocals by Minnie Wallace: Dirty Butter has fine piano and The Old Folks Started It has complex harmonica from Will Shade. A two day session in October 1929 began with the band in slightly lackluster mood, though they perked up for Tired Of You Driving Me. This date saw the debut on record of Tewee Blackman, Will Shade‘s guitar teacher, older than Shade, and a very accomplished player. His arpeggio style is heard on more records than the standard discography allows, but he was seldom heard to better effect than on Memphis Yo Yo Blues and K. C. Moan. The first title featured the forthright, sensual singing of Hattie Hart, interwoven, like Minnie Wallace’s, with imaginative harmonica work. K. C. Moan is perhaps the Memphis Jug Band‘s finest recording, excellent two guitar work supporting long, drawn-out notes on the harmonica and an intricate kazoo solo from Ben Ramey, apart from Shade the only member of the band who’d played on their first records. The vocal completes a spellbinding performance. The session ended with a light-hearted song about marital violence (a singletree, or swingletree, is the crosspiece of a plough). With a nonchalant “bam-bam-be-deedle-am”, the Memphis Jug Band left the recording studio. By May, 1930, when the Memphis Jug Band next recorded, unemployment in the US stood at over four million. The band, doubtless recognising that folks wanted to be lifted out of their troubles, didn’t let the Depression affect their music, as can be heard on Document DOCD-5023. DOCD-5022
Tracklist :
1    Memphis Jug Band–    She Stays Out All Night Long 2:50
Composed By, Guitar, Vocals – Will Shade
Guitar – Will Weldon
Jug – Charlie Polk
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Mandolin Banjo [banjo-mandolin] – Vol Stevens
Speech [several of the band] – Unknown Artist
2    Memphis Jug Band–    Lindberg Hop (Overseas Stomp) 2:16
Composed By – J.B. Jones
Composed By, Guitar – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Jug, Vocals – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Mandolin Banjo [banjo-mandolin] – Vol Stevens
3    Memphis Jug Band–    Sugar Pudding 2:43
Composed By – J.B. Jones
Composed By, Harmonica – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Mandolin Banjo [banjo-mandolin] – Vol Stevens
Vocals [trio] – Unknown Artist
4    Memphis Jug Band–    A Black Woman Is Like A Black Snake 2:45
Composed By – J.B. Jones
Composed By, Guitar, Vocals – Will Shade
Guitar, Vocals – Charlie Burse
Harmonica – Unknown Artist
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
5    Memphis Jug Band–    On The Road Again 2:46
Composed By – J.B. Jones
Composed By, Guitar, Vocals – Will Shade
Guitar, Vocals – Charlie Burse
Harmonica – Unknown Artist
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
6    Memphis Jug Band–    Whitewash Station Blues 2:42
Composed By – J.B. Jones
Composed By, Harmonica – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Jug, Lead Vocals – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Mandolin Banjo [banjo-mandolin] – Vol Stevens
Vocals [group] – Unknown Artist
7    Memphis Jug Band–    Stealin', Stealin' 2:55
Composed By, Harmonica – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse, Vol Stevens
Jug, Lead Vocals – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Vocals [group] – Unknown Artist
8    Memphis Jug Band–    Jug Band Waltz 2:47
Composed By, Harmonica – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse, Vol Stevens
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
9    Memphis Jug Band–    Mississippi River Waltz 2:40
Composed By – Ben Ramey
Composed By, Harmonica – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse, Vol Stevens
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
10    Memphis Jug Band–    I Can't Stand It 2:19
Composed By, Guitar – Will Shade
Guitar, Vocals [probably] – Charlie Burse
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo, Vocals [probably] – Ben Ramey
Violin – Milton Robie
11    Memphis Jug Band–    What's The Matter? 2:49
Composed By, Guitar, Lead Vocals – Will Shade
Guitar, Vocals – Charlie Burse
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo, Vocals – Ben Ramey
Violin – Milton Robie
12    Minnie Wallace–    Dirty Butter 2:39
Composed By, Vocals – Minnie Wallace
Guitar [probably] – Will Shade
Piano [possibly] – Johnnie Hodges
Violin [probably] – Milton Robie
Vocals [refrain] – Unknown Artist
13    Minnie Wallace–    The Old Folks Started It 2:55
Composed By, Vocals – Minnie Wallace
Guitar [probably] – Charlie Burse
Harmonica [probably] – Will Shade
Jug [probably] – Jab Jones
Violin [probably] – Milton Robie
14    Memphis Jug Band–    Feed Your Friend With A Long-Handled Spoon 2:57
Composed By, Guitar, Vocals – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Violin – Milton Robie
15    Memphis Jug Band–    I Can Beat You Plenty (That Hand You Tried To Deal Me) 3:10
Composed By, Harmonica – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Violin – Milton Robie
Vocals [group] – Unknown Artist
16    Memphis Jug Band–    Taking Your Place 2:38
Composed By – Mattie Nelson
Composed By [possibly], Harmonica, Vocals – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
17    Memphis Jug Band–    Tired Of You Driving Me 2:48
Composed By – Mattie Nelson
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Harmonica – Will Shade
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo, Vocals – Ben Ramey
18    Memphis Jug Band–    Memphis Yo-Yo Blues 2:30
Composed By – Jenny Pope
Guitar – Charlie Burse, Tewee Blackman
Harmonica – Will Shade
Jug – Jab Jones
Vocals – Hattie Hart
19    Memphis Jug Band–    K.C. Moan 3:03
Composed By, Guitar, Lead Vocals [possibly] – Tewee Blackman
Guitar, Vocals [trio, possibly] – Charlie Burse
Harmonica – Will Shade
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo, Vocals [trio, possibly] – Ben Ramey
20    Memphis Jug Band–    I Whipped My Woman With A Single-Tree 3:03
Composed By, Lead Vocals – Will Shade
Guitar – Charlie Burse
Jug – Jab Jones
Kazoo – Ben Ramey
Piano – Charlie Nickerson
Vocals [trio] – Unknown Artist