Mac and Bob

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Mac and Bob
General information
Genre (s) Old-time music
founding 1922
resolution 1950
Founding members
Lester McFarland
Robert Gardner

Mac and Bob were an old-time American duo . The two blind musicians were best known for their appearances in the WLS National Barn Dance .

Career

Lester "Mac" McFarland (* 1902 in Oliver Springs , Tennessee ) and Robert "Bob" Gardner (* 1897 in Gray , Kentucky ) met for the first time in 1915 when they were both studying music at the Kentucky School for the Blind. McFarland played the piano , guitar and mandolin and later worked as a music teacher. Gardner made his living as a piano tuner .

The Bright Sherman Valley, 1927
The East Bound Train, 1927

Around 1922, McFarland and Gardner began performing in schools, at exhibitions, and at the Keith Vaudeville Circuit . Here McFarland played the mandolin and sang tenor while Gardner accompanied him on guitar and took over lead vocals. In 1925 they had their first appearances in the program of the radio station WNOX in Knoxville , Tennessee. A local talent scout spotted the duo during one of their performances and invited them to New York for Brunswick Records in October 1926 . Her recorded material consisted of titles like When the Roses Bloom Again (her biggest hit), 'Tis Sweet to Be Remembered , Twenty-One Years , The East Bound Train or The Bright Sherman Valley , which was a version of the hit Red River Valley .

Their repertoire was one of the broader ones in old-time music. Their songs didn't sound as rural as those of other old-time musicians, but simply had a rustic style, the other folk musicians like Buell Kazee and the McCravy Brothers equaled. In 1931, Mac and Bob left WNOX to perform at WLS in Chicago . They quickly became popular guests on the station's live program, the National Barn Dance. At the same time, they continued to record for the American Record Corporation in the 1930s .

Their popularity began to wane in the 1940s, and they last appeared in the National Barn Dance in 1950. Mac had three children with his wife Ruby, Carol Gay, Mac, and Larry. Bob was married to Francis. Lester McFarland died in 1984.

Discography

year title Remarks
Brunswick Records
1927 The Bright Sherman Valley / The East Bound Train
Conqueror Records
Does True Love Live Today? / Two Little Girls Loved One Little Boy
She's More to Be Pitied Than Censured / 'Tis Sweet to Be Remembered
That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine / When I Was a Boy from the Mountains
When the Roses Bloom Again / What Does the Deep Sea Say?
Where the River Shannon Flows / My Wild Irish Rose
Three Leaves of Shamrock / Diamonds and Roses
When It's Lamp-Lightin 'Time in the Valley / I Told the Stars About You
Just a Kerosene Lamp / Paint a Rode on the Garden Wall
Keep a Light in Your Window Tonight / Please Let Me Broadcast to Heaven
Under the Old Umbrella / When the Candle Lights Are Gleaming
What a Friend We Have in Mother / There Must Be a Bright Tomorrow
Down the Lane of Memory / Under the Old Sierra Moon
Take Up Thy Cross / I Heard My Mother Call My Name in Prayers
He Left the One Who Loved Him for Another / I've Nothing to Live for Now
Vocalion Records
? / Clover Blossoms

literature

  • Bill C. Malone: Country Music, USA (2002); University of Texas Press, ISBN 0292752628
  • Tony Russell: Country Music Originals (2007); Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195325095

Web links