Jenks Carman
Jenks "Tex" Carman (born May 14, 1903 in Hardinsburg , Kentucky , as Jenkins Carman ; † February 2, 1968 ) was an American country musician and guitarist . Carman, also known as Dixie Cowboy , was best known for his stage presence and his play on the Hawaiian guitar .
Life
Childhood and youth
Carman was born in Kentucky in 1903 as the seventh of eight children of farmer Alford Carman and showed an early interest in music. At school and in the local church, he gained his first guitar experience and had his first professional engagement as the leader of the International Glee Club Quartette in Louisville , Kentucky. As a teenager, Carman left his hometown hoping to become famous as a musician.
Career
He then joined various vaudeville shows and developed his own novelty show as a singer and guitarist. Carman made his first recordings in 1929 for the Starr Piano Company in Richmond , Indiana , but they were never published. In the early 1930s, he first appeared with his sister as the Royal Castillians and, after his sister married and left the duo, performed with the Hawaiian giatricist Frank Plada , who taught him the principles of the Hawaiian guitar. Carman adopted this style and made it an important element of his pieces throughout his life.
He owed Carman's later popularity not to his special skills as a musician, his guitar style was simple and underdeveloped, his singing skills minimal and his nasal voice resembled the Fiddlin 'John Carsons . He also often showed his inability to keep the pace. To compensate for these disadvantages, Carman developed an impressive stage presence, which consisted of his unusual way of playing guitar, yodelling and elements of vaudeville. From time to time he also sang - according to his own account - in the Cherokee language . Although Carman repeatedly asserted that he was of Indian descent, this is still highly doubted today.
Carman began appearing on radio stations like KMOX in St. Louis and WHAS in Louisville. He had his most successful phase in the 1940s and 1950s in California . While building his popularity through radio and television, he received a recording contract with the West Coast label Four Star Records from Pasadena . Here he recorded titles such as Sunny Tennessee , The Wreck of the Old '97 , Kahila March and his most popular piece, Hillbilly Hula . He began regularly in the famous Town Hall Party from Compton to occur and was also a member of later Cliffie Stone's Hometown Jamboree . After his contract with Four Star expired, Cliffie Stone brought him to Capitol Records in 1951 , where Carman was produced by Ken Nelson .
At Capitol, his recordings consisted of similar pieces such as Dixie Cannonball , Locust Hill Rag or a new version of the Hillbilly Hula , but Carman's records were only moderately successful, so his contract expired in 1953. Due to his performances, he remained popular in the 1950s. After a few years without a record deal, he signed with the small label Sage & Sand Records , for which he recorded a few albums, which were, however, less successful. In the mid-1960s, he slowly retired.
Tex Carman died in 1968.
Discography
year | title | # | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|
Published titles | |||
4 Star Records | |||
1948 | End of the World / Hillbilly Hula | 1229 | |
1948 | Wreck of the Old '97 / I Don't Why But I Do | 1230 | |
1948 | Sunny Tennessee / New Waikiki Beach | 1278 | |
1949 | Hawaiian Hotel / There's a New Moon Over My Shoulder | 1302 | |
1949 | I Really Believe / Kahila March | 1379 | |
1950 | Chain Gang / The Artillery Song | 1515 | |
1951 | Old Number 9 / Little White Rose | X-6 | |
Decca Records | |||
1953 | Hillbilly Hula / New Waikiki Beach | 28771 | Republication |
Capitol Records | |||
1951 | I Could Love You Baby / Ten Thousand Miles (Away from Home) | 1571 | |
1951 | Hilo March / Just Another Good Dream Gone Wrong | 1822 | |
1952 | My Trusting Heart / Don't Feel Sorry for Me | 2067 | |
1953 | Hillbilly Hula / I'm a Poor Lonesome Fellow | 2345 | |
1953 | Locust Hill Rag / My Lonely Heart and I | 2534 | |
1953 | Blue Memories / The Caissons Go Rolling Along | 2621 | |
1954 | The Samoa Stomp / Sweet Luwanna | 2752 | |
1954 | Dixie Cannonball / Indian Polka | 2886 | |
Sage & Sand Records | |||
1956 | You'll Come Crawlin 'Back / They Had to Say Goodbye | 218 | |
1957 | Krish-a-Boom-Ba / Walking and Crying Over You | 246 | |
1957 | Wolf Creek / My Broken Heart Won't Let Me Sleep | 251 | published by Sage |
1958 | Honk Honk Honk / Wildwood Flower | 272 | published by Sage |
1958 |
EP
|
EP 274 | published by Sage |
1959 | Beverly Ann / I Feel Like I Feel | 289 | published by Sage |
1959 | Little May / This Lonely Road | 300 | published by Sage |
1961 | To Win, to Place, to Show / Ozark Rose | 337 | published by Sage |
1962 | Fire in the Tee Pee / Learning to Do Without You | 351 | published by Sage |
1962 | I'll Go On Loving You / Maggie's Twist | 352 | published by Sage |
1962 | Aungalala / Somewhere in this World | 355 | published by Sage |
1962 | Indian Love Song / Lobo of the Border | 364 | published by Sage |
1966 | Custer's Massacre / Little Black Jack Davie | 398 | published by Sage |
Rem Records | |||
1963 | Bamboo Love / Black Jack David | 329 |
Web links
- Jenks Carman on Hillbilly-Music.com (English)
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Carman, Jenks |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Carman, Tex (nickname); Carman, Jenkins; Dixie Cowboy (stage name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American country musician and guitarist |
DATE OF BIRTH | May 14, 1903 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Hardinsburg , Kentucky |
DATE OF DEATH | 2nd February 1968 |