Georgia Yellow Hammers
| Georgia Yellow Hammers | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Old-time |
| founding | 1927 |
| resolution | 1929 |
| Founding members | |
| Bud Landress | |
| Bill Chitwood | |
Vocals, guitar |
Phil Reeve |
Vocals, guitar |
Ernest Moody |
| Studio musician | |
* Clyde Evans
|
|
The Georgia Yellow Hammers were an American string band from Gordon County , Georgia .
Career
From 1926 onwards, the harsh sound of Gid Tanner and his Skillet Lickers seemed profitable for any record company and many string bands appeared on the music scene, but disappeared just as quickly. The Yellow Hammers, however, were an established group in the 1920s whose singles were selling well.
The Georgia Yellow Hammers began in 1924 when friends and musicians Bud Landress (banjo) and Bill Chitwood (fiddle) boarded a train to New York City in Resaca , Georgia in November , where they did their first recorded twelve pieces. The 42-year-old Landress, like Chtitwood, came from Gordon County and mastered a variety of stringed instruments. Chitwood, then 33 years old, was already known as a talented singer and bass singer in Gordon County . Occasionally he played with Landress and the banjo and harmonica player Fate Norris .
The other two musicians who were to become members of the Georgia Yellow Hammers were Charles Ernest Moody (* 1891) and Phil Reeve (1896). Moody had studied music and was already very successful as a songwriter from 1916 ( Drifting Too Far From The Shore , Kneel At The Cross ). From 1925 Phil Reeve organized radio programs for the station WSB in Atlanta .
The Georgia Yellow Hammers first session took place in 1927. At a second session in Charlotte , North Carolina , that same year, the band was supported by Afro-American musicians Andrew and Jim Baxter . This session also produced G Rag and her biggest hit The Picture on the Wall . In contrast to the Skillet Lickers, the Yellow Hammers' repertoire consisted of a broad spectrum such as gospel , blues , pop , sacred harp songs and of course old-time music . They also sang in a quartet and not with a soloist like most old-time bands of their time.
In 1928 the band had their biggest hit with Picture on the Wall / My Carolina Girl . The record sold over 60,000 times in the year it was released. Until 1929, the Georgia Yellow Hammers held other sessions for Okeh Records , Victor Records, and Brunswick Records . The group was hit hard by the Great Depression of 1929 and soon afterwards they broke up. Except for Bud Landress, all members turned to regular work. Phil Reeve died in 1949, Bill Chitwood in 1961, Bud Landress in 1966 and Ernest Moody in 1977.
Discography
Discography is not exhaustive.
| year | title | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Victor Records | |||
| 1927 | Johnson's Old Gray Mule /? | ||
| 1928 | The Picture on the Wall / My Carolina Girl | ||
| Warhorse Game / The Deacon's Calf | |||
| 1929 | Sale of the Simon Slick / Sale of the Simon Slick # 2 | ||
| 1929 | Kiss Me Quick / Come Over and See Me Sometime | ||
| 1929 | Big Ball in Memphis / Black Annie | ||
| Bluebird Records | |||
| 193? | Peaches Down In Georgia / White Lighting | ||
literature
- Charles K. Wolfe: Classic Country: The Legends and the Lost (2001); Routledge Group, ISBN 0415928265