Bradley Kincaid
Bradley Kincaid (born July 13, 1895 in Point Leavell , Kentucky , † September 23, 1989 in Springfield , Ohio ) was an American old-time and folk musician. Kincaid is considered one of the most successful musicians on radio in the late 1920s.
Life
Childhood and youth
Bradley Kincaid was born in 1895 in Point Leavell, near the Cumberland Hills . Kincaid had nine siblings and Kincaid's father, William Kincaid, led the choir in Campbellite Church and also sang popular songs of the 1890s like After the Ball in his spare time . Kincaid's mother also sang, but preferred old English ballads that she taught her son Kincaid: " I learned a lot of ballads from her, like 'Fair Ellender', 'The Two Sisters', and any number of English ballads ... " Kincaid later recalled. In total, he estimated the songs his mother had learned to be around 80 pieces, which were sung a cappella until Kincaid's father exchanged a killed fox for a guitar with an older African American worker .
As a teenager, Kincaid began working as a farmer. It seemed like he was living the normal life of a rural resident. But when he realized how little money you could get for your hard work, he decided to move away.
Career
At the National Barn Dance
In 1914 he enrolled at Bellea College and came into contact with the pioneer John F. Smith, who taught Kincaid other folk ballads. At 21 he joined the army and served two years in World War I , where he fought in France . He then returned to college where he graduated. When Kincaid fell in love with his music teacher Irma Foreman, they both moved to Chicago in 1922 , where they married and Kincaid attended YMCA College in the evenings, where Irma found a job.
At that time, around 1926, Kincaid was performing in front of the National Barn Dances , an old-time / variety show that was broadcast live on WLS. As a member of the YMCA Quartet he had an appearance at WLS - the head of Don Malin put him on the line. A first studio show was produced in which Kincaid convinced the producers. He was accepted into the ensemble of the National Barn Dance and rose to one of the most popular artists of the Barn Dance within a very short time. As fan mail increased, agents also arranged concerts. Kincaid's first concert in Illinois was already overcrowded, although no one had seen Kincaid before. When Kincaid arrived at the theater, an old man said to him: " That radio singer from WLS is going to be here "
At the same time, Kincaid's songbooks also hit the bestseller lists. His first book, published in 1928, sold over 100,000 copies; until 1934 four more such books appeared. His repertoire was split into two categories: while he sang traditional folk songs like Barbaba Allen - his most famous piece - or The Hunters of Kentucky on the radio, he played many comic pieces on his performances to "heat up" the audience.
Bradley's career was at its peak during this time. Concerts were sold out, his radio shows and appearances in the National Barn Dance achieved high ratings, and in 1934 he even outpaced pop greats like Al Jolson and Gene Austin for radio popularity. In 1927 he had started to record his first records. On December 19, 1927, Kincaid recorded his first two tracks, The Fatal Wedding / Sweet Kitty Wells, in Chicago for Gennett Records . A second session followed in February 1928, when he recorded Methodist Pie , Froggie Went a-Courtin ' and his best-known song Barbara Allen for Gennett and Silvertone Records . The department store chain Sears & Roebuck set up a special page in their catalogs for the songs of the "Kentucky Mountain Boys" for Kincaid and although Kincaid held recording sessions on a regular basis until 1934 and sales were good, he had his greatest success on the radio .
Gennett's sub-label Champion Records also released Kincaid's records under the pseudonyms Dan Hughey, John Carpenter and Harley Stratton.
1930s
1930 left Kincaid and moved from radio station to radio station from that point on. During these years he was mainly active on the east coast; Stays have included WKDA ( Pittsburgh ), SGY ( Schenectady ), WEAF ( New York City ) and WBZ ( Boston ). In 1936 Kincaid took on the young banjo player Lois Marshall Jones , whom he nicknamed "Grandpa" because of his morning sickness.
Kincaid was still very popular - even in the east of the USA - even if he had already passed the zenith of his work.
Later years
After a successful stop at WLW in Cincinnati , Kincaid came to Nashville in 1942 , where he began to appear on WSM in Grand Ole Opry , the most famous and successful country show in the country. Until now, Kincaid had successfully fought against new musical trends within rural music, but in Nashville it was approaching country music . In 1945, for example, he recorded the country song The Legend of the Robin Red Breast or in 1950 Brush the Dust From that Old Bible .
In 1947, Kincaid's involvement with the Opry ended and in 1950 he finally retired. Instead, he ran a music store. In 1963 he played a number of albums for the Bluebonnet label, which included his extensive repertoire of around 162 songs. In the next few years, Kincaid largely retired, but still performed at Belea College on folk festivals. In the late 1980s he was nominated for the Country Music Hall of Fame .
Kincaid spent his final years in Springfield, Ohio, where he died in 1989 at the age of 94.
power
Bradley Kincaid was one of the most successful and popular old-time and folk musicians on radio in the late 1920s. He was not considered to be backwoods like many other contemporaries, but moved away from the "hillbilly image", especially through his studies. At the time, few other musicians - like Buell Kazee - were in the music business with such a background.
In addition, through his presence on the radio, Kincaid popularized many old English folk ballads that had long been forgotten and were not recorded by rural string bands .
Discography
Discography is not exhaustive. Kincaid's recordings for the American Record Corporation have been released on many different labels, often under pseudonyms. Gennett recordings have also been released on Silvertone, Champion Records and Superior Records .
| year | title | # | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gennett Records | |||
| 1928 | The Fatal Wedding / Sweet Kitty Wells | 6363 | |
| Methodist Pie / Sourwood Mountain | 6417 | ||
| Froggie Went a-Coutin '/ The Swapping Song | 6462 | ||
| Silvertone Records | |||
| Barbara Allen / Bury Me on the Prairie | 5187 | ||
| The Two Sisters / Fair Ellen | 5190 | ||
| Conqueror Records | |||
| 1930 | Barbara Allen / The Fatal Wedding | 7982 | |
| 1930 | The Blind Girl / A Picture from Life's Other Side | 7983 | |
| 1930 | After the Ball / Somewhere Somebody's Waiting | 7984 | |
| 1930 | Sourwood Mountain / Old Joe Clark | 8090 | |
| 1930 | Bury Me on the Lone Prarie / True and Trembling Brakeman | 8091 | |
| Brunswick Records | |||
| When The Works All Done This Fall / Give My Love to Nellie, Jack | 403 | ||
| Sourwood Mountain / Methodist Pie | 420 | ||
| Cindy / Pretty Little Pink | 464 | ||
| 1930 | Old Coon Dog / Old Joe Clark | 485 | as Tennessee Ramblers |
| Vocalion Records | |||
| Lightning Express / True and Trembling Brakeman | 2683 | ||
| Fatal Derby Day / Fatal Wedding | 2684 | ||
| Barbara Allen / The Blind Girl | 2685 | ||
| Innocent Prisoner / I Wish I Had Someone to Love Me | 2686 | ||
| For Sale a Baby / Somewhere Someone's Wating For You | 2705 | ||
| Picture of Life's Other Side / Red River Valley | 4647 | ||
| After the Ball / Bury Me Out on the Prairie | 5474 | ||
| Two Little Girls in Blue / Gooseberry Pie | 5475 | ||
| Picture of Life's Other Side / Red River Valley | 5476 | ||
| Bluebird Records | |||
| Long Long Ago / Some Little Bug Is Goin 'To Get You Someday | BB-5179 | ||
| Old Wooden Rocker / My Mother's Beautiful Hands | BB-5201 | ||
| Dog and Gun / House Carpenter | BB-5255 | ||
| Little Shirt That Mother Made for Me / Sweet Betsy from Pike | BB-5321 | ||
| Death of Jimmie Rodgers / Jimmie Rodgers' Life | BB-5377 | ||
| Little Joe / Mrs. Jimmie Rodgers Lament | BB-5423 | ||
| 1934 | Death of Jimmie Rodgers / Jimmie Rodgers' Life | BB-5486 | |
| 1934 | I'll Take You Home Again, Katheleen / Ship That Never Returned | BB-5569 | |
| Little Rosewood Casket / Letter Edged in Black | BB-5895 | ||
| 1935 | Just Plain Folks / In the Hills of Old Kentucky | BB-5971 | |
| 1940 | The Blind Girl / Life Is Like a Mountain Railroad | BB-8501 | |
| Majestic Records | |||
| 1947 | The Blue Tailed Fly / Basket of Robin's Red Breast [!] | 6010 | |
| 1947 | Those Precious Love Letters / Foot Prints in the Snow | 6011 | |
| 1947 | Red Light Ahead / The Miner's Song | 6018 | |
| 1947 | Humming Bird Special / The Fatal Derby Day | 6020 | |
| Capitol Records | |||
| Brush The Dust from that Old Bible / Legend of the Robin Red Breast | 1276 | ||
| Red Light Ahead / Now The Table's Turned On You | 1465 | ||
| Bullet Records | |||
| Ain't We Crazy / Now The Table's Turned on You | 615 | with the Kentucky Mountain Boys | |
| Royale Records | |||
| The Blue Tail Fly / Footprints in the Snow | 45217 | ||
| Unpublished titles | |||
| 1928 |
|
Gennett | |
Awards
- 1971: Induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
- 2002: Inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame
swell
- ^ Charles K. Wolfe: Classic Country. Routledge Group, 2001, ISBN 0-415-92827-3 , p. 1254.
- ^ Charles K. Wolfe: Classic Country. 2001, p. 126.
Web links
- Entry on Allmusic
- Bradley Kincaid on Hillbilly-Music.com (English)
- Bradley Kincaid Collection (Berea College)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kincaid, Bradley |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kentucky Mountain Boy |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American old-time and folk musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 13, 1895 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Point Leavell , Kentucky |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 23, 1989 |
| Place of death | Springfield , Ohio |