Burnett and Rutherford

Burnett and Rutherford
General information
Genre (s)	Old-time music
founding	1914
resolution	1950
Founding members
Vocals , guitar , banjo	Dick Burnett (1883-1977)
Singing, fiddle	Leonard Rutherford (1898-1951)

Burnett and Rutherford were an American old-time duo from Kentucky . They were among the first Kentucky rural musicians to be recorded on vinyl.

history

Dick Burnett was born in Elk Spring Valley near Monticello , Kentucky, in 1883 . He started to play dulcimer at the age of seven and later learned the banjo , fiddle , guitar , harmonica , accordion and other instruments - Burnett was able to play a total of 13 different instruments. He and his eight siblings had lost their parents when Burnett was 12 years old. At the age of 24 - he already had a wife and a child and worked in various trades - a robber shot him in the face on the way home. Although Burnett's friends took him to the nearest hospital as soon as possible, he lost his eyesight. Since he had no chances as a blind man to earn money with an ordinary job, Burnett decided to work as a musician. He traveled on foot or by train through the surrounding communities and played among other things at events, on street corners and in public places, which he soon gained a certain popularity.

He also collected traditional ballads, which he often learned from other musicians on his travels. He wrote music and lyrics in books and included them in his repertoire. In 1913 he added his most famous songs ( The Lost Ship , The C&O Railroad , The Reckless Hobo , The Song of the Orphan and the Farewell Song ) to his collection. The last two tracks were autobiographical works and the Farewell Song , better known today as Man of Constant Sorrow , was later recorded by Emry Arthur , the Stanley Brothers , Bob Dylan and others, among others .

In 1914 Burnett met 14-year-old Leonard Rutherford, who joined the blind musician. Burnett taught Rutherford to play the fiddle and the duo quickly built a following outside of Kentucky as well. "There isn't a town this side of Nashville, from Cincinnati to Chattanooga, that's any size, what we been in," Dick Burnett later recalled. They played a traditional technique from Kentucky that had been used by musicians there in the previous century and was widespread in Kentucky until the 1970s. This “unison style” was characterized by the fact that every note was played exactly. Fiddle and banjo or fiddle and guitar both played the melody and therefore exactly the same notes. In contrast, old-time musicians from Georgia used the banjo more as a rhythm instrument (such as Fate Norris ) or the guitar as a bass accompaniment (such as Riley Puckett ).

When they were performing at the Blue Bonnet Coal Camp, a mining settlement, in 1926, they saw a record seller who then contacted Frank Walker of Columbia Records . Walker was director of Old Familiar Tunes , Columbia's old-time music division, and in early November Burnett and Rutherford received an invitation from Columbia. Walker immediately noticed that the duo were excellent musicians, and on November 6, 1926, in Atlanta , Georgia, their first session took place, during which six pieces were recorded. Most of these songs, such as Pearl Bryan or Lost John , were of traditional origin. Released in early 1927, all records were a hit. By 1930 Lost John / I'll Be with You When the Roses Bloom Again sold around 37,600 copies, and Little Stream of Whiskey sold almost as many at 33,000. Burnett had previously sold his little song books on his travels, but now he offered the records to his audience.

Two more recording sessions were recorded for Columbia, after a dispute over the so-called royalties Burnett and Rutherford switched to the smaller label Gennett Records from Richmond , Indiana . A total of over 50 pieces were put together between 1926 and 1930, mostly in the traditional fiddle-banjo constellation. From time to time they also worked with other musicians in the studio. Burnett also played some pieces with Oscar Ruttledge and Rutherford used John Foster as guitarist.

But by 1930 the economic situation in the United States had changed dramatically. The global economic crisis did not stop at the music industry and the duo's records were now selling poorly, so that their recording career was over. However, they continued to travel through the southern United States, playing on barn dances, and making a few radio appearances on the WLW in Cincinnati and the Renfro Valley Barn Dance in the 1930s and 1940s . However, Leonard Rutherford became ill with alcohol and died in 1951 of the consequences of his addiction. Dick Burnett, however, lived in Monticello until his death and made chairs. He was interviewed several times by historians and folklorists in the 1960s and 1970s. He died in January 1977.

Discography

Discography is not exhaustive.

year	title	#	Remarks
Published titles
Columbia Records
1927	Weeping Willow Tree / Pearl Bryan	15113-D
1927	Lost John / I'll Be with You When the Roses Bloom Again	15122-D
1927	Little Stream of Whiskey / Short Life of Trouble	15133-D
1927	Are You Happy or Lonesome / My Sweetheart in Tennessee	15187-D
1927	Ladies on a Steamboat / Billy in the Low Ground	15209-D
1928	Curly Headed Woman / Ramblin 'Reckless Hobo	15240-D
1928	Willie Moore / All Night Long Blues	15314-D
	Sleeping Lulu / Blackberry Blossoms	15567-D	Dick Burnett with Oscar Ruttledge
Brunswick Records
	Six Months Ain't Long / The Cabin with Roses on the Door	490	Leonard Rutherford with John Foster
	My Boyhood Happy Days / The Faithful Lovers	581	Leonard Rutherford with John Foster

literature

• Charles K. Wolfe: Kentucky Country: Folk and Country Music of Kentucky (1996), pp. 19-24; University of Kentucky Press, ISBN 0813108799
• Benita J. Howell, Susan Stonich: Folklife Along the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River (2003), pp. 151-153; University of Tennessee Press, ISBN 157233231X

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fallen Bluegrass Music legend remembered
2. ^ Wolfe: Kentucky Country , p. 22

Web links

• Burnett and Rutherford on Hillbilly-Music.com