Eck Robertson
Alexander Campbell "Eck" Robertson (born November 20, 1887 in Delaney , Arkansas , † February 15, 1975 in Borger , Texas ) was an American old-time musician . Robertson is - along with Henry Gilliland - the first country musician who ever made recordings.
Life
Childhood and youth
Eck Robertson, named after a well-known Christian pastor, was born in Delaney, Arkansas, in 1887. Around 1891 the family moved to Texas , where Robertson grew up on a farm near Amarillo. Robertson learned to play the fiddle at the age of five and later also mastered the guitar and banjo . From 1904, Robertson moved around with a medicine show . Here he combined the traditional fiddle melodies of his homeland with vaudevilles and developed the "Texas Style" of fiddling, which would later become relevant for western swing . In 1906 he married and settled in Texas.
Career
Robertson was already widely known as an entertainer by 1910. His talent as an entertainer and fiddler helped him gain immense popularity even before he made his recordings. Robertson told jokes, stories, entertained people with music and won fiddle competitions like no other. It was precisely these competitions, called "Fiddler's Contests", that made him so famous.
Robertson and his friend Henry C. Gilliland traveled to Virginia in June 1922 to play in a Civil War veteran reunion . But during the event it occurred to the two musicians, for whatever reason, to travel to New York City to make recordings. Gilliland knew a lawyer friend who lived in New York and who accepted the two musicians. First Robertson and Gilliland toured the city, still in Confederate dress ; a day later they played in their southern uniforms for the directors of Victor Records and managed to pique their interest. Before Robertson and Gilliland, labels had ignored Old-Time, Mountain Music and Hillbilly. Robertson recorded a few pieces with Gilliland, but it was Robertson's solo piece Sallie Gooden , which was published on the A-side in March 1923. This record is considered to be the commercial beginning of the genre that was later called country music.
On March 29, 1923, almost a year later, Robertson appeared in Texas on the radio station WBAP and played the pieces Sallie Gooden and Arkansas Traveler . It was one of his first radio appearances and also one of the first by rural musicians.
Robertson did not make any other records during the 1920s. Instead, he played on the radio, at fiddle competitions and was a regular guest at the "Annual Old Confederate Soldiers' Reunions", the event he and Gilliland had left in 1922 for New York. By the end of the decade, Robertson had engagements at the Grand Ole Opry and Ralph Peer finally convinced him to go back to the studio in 1929. In August of the same year Robertson played some pieces together with his wife Nettie (guitar), daughter Daphne (guitar) and son Dueron (banjo). The following month he made his last recordings with Fiedler JB Cranfill.
Robertson continued to perform frequently, playing on Barn Dances , in theaters and on the radio. In the 1960s, John Cohen visited the already aged man in Amarillo , Texas, where Robertson now lived, and recorded the last pieces of his life. The folk revival allowed Robertson to gain some prominence and a few concerts for the last time. He died in 1975 at the age of 87.
Discography
Singles
| date | Title with date of recording | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|
| RCA Victor | |||
| 1923 | Sallie Gooden (July 1, 1922) / Arkansaw Traveler (June 30, 1922) | B-side with Henry Gilliland | |
| 1923 | Turkey in the Straw (June 30, 1922) / Ragtime Annie (July 1, 1922) | ||
| 1924 | / Done Gone (June 1922) | ||
| 1929 | There's A Brown Skin Girl Down The Road Somewhere / Texas Wagoner (August 12, 1929) | ||
| 1929 | Amarillo Waltz / Brilliancy Medley (October 11, 1929) | ||
| 1930 | Brown Kelly Waltz, Pt. 1 / Brown Kelly Waltz, Pt. 2 (December 8, 1929) | ||
| Unpublished titles | |||
| 1922 |
|
RCA Victor (not published) | |
| 1929 |
|
RCA Victor (not published) | |
Albums
- 1998: Old Time Texas Fiddler 1922-1929
literature
- Bill C. Malone: Country Music USA (2002), p. 36ff; University of Texas Press, ISBN 0292752628
Web links
- Entry in the All Music Guide
- Eck Robertson on Hillbilly-Music.com (English)
- biography
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Robertson, Eck |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Robertson, Alexander Campbell (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American old-time musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 20, 1887 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Delaney , Arkansas |
| DATE OF DEATH | 15th February 1975 |
| Place of death | Borger , Texas |