The Jughead Chronicles, Part 3: Memphis Rules

The advent of the phonograph in the early decades of the Twentieth Century helped to spread jug band music from the South to the rest of the country, according to amateur musicologist Will Melton, who is BSRR's special guest for this short series on the jug bands. The Dixieland Jug Blowers from Louisville recorded "Love Blues" in a Chicago studio in 1926.


BSRR:
That's a great jug band tune, but the record features horns as well.


WILL MELTON:
"Love Blues" is one of the early jug band recordings, but by this time the bands had been around for more than two decades. They were experimenting and adding more traditional instruments, and this band was one of the most technically sophisticated. Most of us don't associate Cincinnati with musical innovation, but there were some great jug band musicians there in the 1920s, especially Kid Cole, whose real name was probably Bob Coleman. He was the leader of King David's Jug Band.


BSRR:
You don't normally think of Cincinnati and Louisville as Southern towns. Where else were the bands coming from?


MELTON:
The Birmingham Jug Band was the best known in Alabama. This band featured the harmonica, which became an important jug band instrument. The band's leading musician was Jaybird Coleman, often using his voice and harmonica in a call and response pattern.

I like to say "The jug bands taught the blues to dance". That was especially true with the Memphis bands. And Memphis was where the jug bands most influenced the blues. Memphis is the gateway to the Delta. As one writer put it: " The Mississippi Delta begins in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis." Today Memphis calls itself Blues City and Beale Street is the legendary hub. In the 1920s, the area around Beale Street was a center for prostitution and gambling and a very dangerous place after dark. This is where the jug bands held forth. Though they hung around the seediest part of Memphis, wealthy white businessman would hire the bands to play for barbecues and stag parties, even in the stuffy old Peabody Hotel. One of the great jug bands for dance rhythms , for example , was Jed Davenport and his Beale Street Jug Band.


BSRR:
Did the Memphis jug bands pick up on the sounds of the great Delta guitarists?


MELTON:
You bet. Many of those Delta guitarists came to Memphis, the biggest city in the Delta to play and record. One band that comes to mind with that distinctive Delta sound is Jack Kelly and the South Memphis Jug Band.


BSRR:
What was the first Memphis jug band?


MELTON:
Will Shade was the pioneer and he formed a band called The Memphis Jug Band. They recorded dozens of songs under that name for the companies recording in Memphis. It was a loose ensemble and he was quite a crafty band manager. He took advantage of every recording company he could and avoided contract problems by changing the name of the group. The Carolina Peanut Boys, The Dallas Jug Band, and The Memphis Sheiks are just a few of the names he used. And he didn't hesitate to switch between male and female singers, helping to launch the career of singer guitarist Memphis Minnie McCoy, among others. They had a terrific mix of vocals, kazoos, harmonicas, wash tub bass, strings, and, of course, jug. One of their classic songs dates from 1928, called the Overseas Stomp, which was written for dancers doing the Lindy Hop, a dance craze that celebrated Charles Lindberg's solo flight across the Atlantic.


BSRR:
You've said that the jug bands influenced lots of the bands that launched the music revolution of the 1960s. What are some examples?


MELTON:
There was a revival of the jug bands in the 1960s in America. The Lovin' Spoonful and the Grateful Dead started out as jug bands. In England, they were called "skiffle" bands and some of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were fans of the music. Folk guitarist Dave Van Ronk was one of the first 60s musicians to cover a song by the Memphis Jug Band called "Stealin', Stealin'".


BSRR:
What about the new jug band documentary?


MELTON:
It is by an indie film maker and it is called "Chasin' Gus' Ghost". It is making the rounds of music festivals in Cleveland and Louisville among other places. The film features John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful, Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead and Jim Kweskin, the leader of the most famous of the 1960s jug bands, which showcased a young Maria Muldaur as lead singer. Google the title to learn more - Chasin' Gus' Ghost. It refers to Gus Cannon, who lead another one of the famous Memphis jug bands, Cannon's Jug Stompers. When The Rooftop Singers covered Gus Cannon's song "Walk Right In" in 1963, the record shot to #1 in the charts and jug band music was back in the news.

BSRR:
Did that make Gus Cannon famous?

MELTON:
I wouldn't say that. Will Shade and Gus Cannon were still alive in 1963 and they tried to capitalize on the song by recording an album of the music they'd played years before. It was a modest success. But the Jim Kweskin Jug Band recorded dozens of songs over the next decade, many of them by Gus Cannon and Will Shade, joining in the folk music revival.

( Editor's Note: Many thanks to Will Melton for his insights on jug band music. More on this topic in future posts. )