Fiddlin 'Doc Roberts

Fiddlin 'Doc Roberts (born April 26, 1897 in Madison County , Kentucky , as Dock Philip Roberts , † August 4, 1978 ) was an American old-time musician . Roberts was one of the first Kentucky old-time musicians to be recorded on record, recording over 80 songs in nearly ten years.

Life

Childhood and youth

Doc Roberts was born near Kirksville, Kentucky in 1897. After the early death of their father, Roberts and his brothers took over the family farm and at the age of seven he learned to play the fiddle from his older brother Liebert . Both brothers were strongly influenced by the Afro-American fiddler Owen Walker, from whom Roberts claims to have learned most of the songs in his repertoire. He recorded other pieces from friends and neighbors.

Career

The year 1925 brought Robert's record debut. He was invited by his neighbor, Dennis W. Taylor , a farmer and talent scout for Gennett Records , to hold a session for Gennett in their studio in Richmond , Indiana , with Welby Toomey and Edgar Boaz . The first recordings were made on September 30th, but Gennett only released the four instrumentals that Roberts and Edgar Boaz recorded the following day. In mid-November of the same year, the trio traveled to Richmond again to re-record the rejected songs with Welby Toomey, which this time also appeared on record.

This first studio session was the beginning of a successful career as a musician for Roberts; During these years traditional old-time music experienced a boom and almost all records by any rural musician sold well, if not even hit sales. Only Robert's aversion to travel prevented a national career pursued by other Fiddlers like Fiddlin 'Arthur Smith and Clayton McMichen .

Roberts left Gennett and formed his own band, the Kentucky Thoroughbreds , with railroad worker Charles "Dick" Parman (vocals) and Charles "Ted" Chesnut. Her session for Paramount Records in 1927 produced songs from a wide range of repertoire including folk ( Only a Miner ), sentimental popular pieces ( In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree ), gospel and, of course, old-time.

In 1927 Roberts met the talented singer and guitarist Asa Martin , with whom he played in Fiddlers' contests , vaudeville shows and other events. In addition, the two were often heard on the radio, for example on WHAS in Louisville , and made numerous records for Gennett and the labels of the American Record Corporation . At the same time Roberts was hired through Bradley Kincaid for the National Barn Dance from Chicago , but returned to Kentucky after two weeks because he could not sleep due to the city noise.

For the third session with Martin, Roberts brought his son James, who played the mandolin . The duo Roberts & Martin became the Fiddlin 'Doc Roberts Trio with James , whose records became even more popular than Doc Roberts' solo singles. For these recordings, Roberts played the mandolin while his son and Martin sang. During this time the trio was under contract for Gennett and their sublabels Champion Records and Supertone Records . The sales figures usually amounted to 4,000 to 5,000 copies sold, sometimes up to 20,000, but this did not come close to the sales of other old-time stars such as Jimmie Rodgers , the Carter Family or the Skillet Lickers . Despite the economic crisis , his career continued relatively well for the next few years , even with radio appearances at distant stations such as Council Bluffs , Iowa . From the beginning of the 1930s, Roberts was mainly in demand on the radio and the stations could hardly save themselves from fan letters for him. Roberts could be heard on WLAP every day and also performed on a radio barn dance on Saturday evenings .

Withdrawal from the music business

In 1934 Robert decided to quit the record business as much as possible and devote himself to his farm. Still, he made guest appearances on WLW and WHAS and performed Barn Dances on Barn Dances in Madison County with his other son Donald. His son James began his solo career and shortly thereafter became known as James Carson , Asa Martin continued to work mainly on the radio.

In the early 1960s, Robert's old recordings were rediscovered by a young audience during the folk revival. By then he had completely given up music and was an elderly man. Fans and music journalists such as Norm Cohen and Charles K. Wolfe interviewed Roberts and articles about him and his career have appeared in the trade press. In addition to some re-releases on County and Rounder Roberts appeared at Berea College in 1974 with Asa Martin and son James at a reunion concert.

Doc Roberts died in 1978 at the age of 82.

Discography

Discography is not exhaustive.

year	title	#	Remarks
Challenge Records
	In the Shadow of the Pine /?	229
	All I've Got Is Done Gone / And the Cat Came Back the Very Next Day	501
Conqueror Records
	Ninety-Nine Years / Over the Waves	8078
	Wednesday Night Waltz / Did You Ever See the Devil Uncle Joe?	8136
	Put My Little Shoes Away / In the Shadow of the Pine	8208
	Little Mother of the Hills / Mother, Queen of My Heart	8234
Gennett Records
	Billy in the Low Grounds / And the Cat Came Back the Very Next Day	3235
Perfect Records
	Wednesday Night Waltz / Did You Ever See the Devil Uncle Joe?	12724

Web links

• Doc Roberts collection from Berea College
• Short biography
• Fiddlin 'Doc Roberts on Hillbilly-Music.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Doc Roberts Papers | Special Collections: Hutchins Library - Berea College. Accessed July 11, 2018 .