Stripling Brothers
| Stripling Brothers | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Old-time music |
| founding | 1918 |
| resolution | 1936 |
| Founding members | |
| Charlie Stripling (1896-1966) | |
| Ira Stripling (1898-?) | |
The Stripling Brothers were an American old-time duo from Alabama . Their repertoire consisted almost exclusively of instrumental pieces and included songs of a traditional nature as well as their own material.
history
The brothers Charlie Melvin (born August 8, 1896 ) and Ira Lee Stripling were born in Pickens County , Alabama , near Kennedy . Music didn't play a big role in her early years. It was not until he was 18 that Charlie Stripling discovered his musical talent, when he just played for fun on his nephew's toy violin, which he bought as a Christmas present. Shortly after he bought his neighbor Pleasant C. Carroll whose fiddle , and both brothers were practicing for over a year before it was first publicly appeared. In Kennedy they took part in a fiddle contest for the first time and won first prize. In the following time they won other competitions and Charlie was able to prevail against all other Fiddlers as a soloist during the Dixie Fiddlers' Convention in Birmingham in 1926 in front of 8,000 spectators.
On November 15, 1928, Charlie and Ira Stripling traveled again to Birmingham, where the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company had set up a makeshift recording studio in the Bankhead Hotel to record old-time musicians on vinyl. Since the Striplings only had instrumentals in their repertoire, Carey Walker, the session leader, was skeptical at first, but when he heard the two brothers playing, he immediately took them on. However, no contract was signed. After that, the Striplings returned home and since Brunswick did not answer, it was assumed that none of the plays had been released. However, after Charlie heard one of her songs play in a record store in Fayette, Alabama, he contacted Jack Kapp at Brunswick, who invited the brothers to Chicago .
On August 19, 1929, the Striplings in Chicago recorded 10 pieces for the Vocalion Records label , which was part of the Brunswick-Blake-Collender Company. Most of them were Charlie's own compositions, as the producers required the brothers to play songs that had not previously been recorded by other old-time musicians. Among the recordings was Charlie Stripling's Kennedy Rag , named after the Stripling's hometown and later part of the repertoire of many younger musicians during the folk revival. The Stripling Brothers records sold well - "[they] were selling like hotcakes," Charlie Stripling later said.
In the next few years, however , no further recordings were made , probably due to the global economic crisis . Charlie Stripling had lost his farm and shop in the Depression and now had to work in cotton fields to support his family. It was comparatively mild for Ira; he was able to keep his farm but now had less time for his musician career. Charlie played to supplement his salary, reinforced with his sons Robert and Lee together at fiddle contests. Dave Kapp brought the Stripling Brothers to New York City in 1934 , where they recorded 14 tracks for the newly formed Decca Records label on September 10, most of which were waltzes and breakdowns . At the. March 12, 1936, the Stripling Brothers held their last session in New Orleans for Decca. Ira then retired from the music business.
Charlie continued to play with local bands and his children at square dances , fiddle contests and other events with great success until 1958 . After his first wife Tellie, whom he married in 1919 and had six children with her, died in 1934, he later married Myrtle Wheeler, with whom he had three more children. In 1952, Ray Browne made some recordings of Charlie Stripling for the University of Alabama . After he was diagnosed with arthritis in 1958, he gave up the music and died on January 19, 1966. Joyce Cauthen described him as one of the most important American old-time fiddlers and Striplings Lost Child tops the list of the "100 Essential Hillbilly Commercial Recordings on the 78s “Of the Old-Time Herald magazine . Stripling's sons Robert and Lee still act as the Stripling Brothers.
Discography
| year | title | # | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Published titles | |||
| Vocalion Records | |||
| 1928 | Big Footed Nigger in the Sandy Lot / The Lost Child | 5321 | |
| Weeping Willow / Railroad Bum | 5365 | ||
| Red River Waltz / Moonlight Waltz | 5366 | ||
| New Born Blues / Kennedy Rag | 5382 | ||
| Dance All Night with a Bottle In My Hand / Horse Shoe Band | 5395 | ||
| Big Eyed Rabbit / Wolfes Howling | 5412 | ||
| Get Off Your Money / Lost John | 5441 | ||
| Coal Mine Blues / Rangers Hornpipe | 5453 | ||
| Midnight Waltz / June Rose Waltz | 5468 | ||
| Decca Records | |||
| 1934 | Possum Hollow Breakdown / Wednesday Night Waltz | 5018 | |
| 1934 | Silverlake Waltz / Birmingham Jail | 5019 | |
| 1934 | Over the Waves Waltz / Down on the LN Railroad | 5041 | |
| 1934 | Salty Dog / Whiskers | 5049 | |
| Sweet Silas / Chinese Breakdown | 5069 | ||
| My Isle of Golden Dreams / Spanish Flang Dang | 5207 | ||
| Late in the Evening / California Blues | 5246 | ||
| 1936 | Pallet on Floor / You're Always In My Dreams | 5267 | |
| Mayflower / Big Bully | 5291 | ||
| Forty Drops / When Shadows Fade Away | 5313 | ||
| Soft Voices / Boatman's Delight | 5417 | ||
| Big Four / Coal Valley | 5547 | ||
Individual evidence
- ↑ Joyce Cauthen: With Fiddle & Well-Rosined Bow , University of Alabama Press ( Memento of the original of August 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Entry in the Encyclopedia of Alabama
Web links
- The Stripling Brothers on Hillbilly-Music.com (English)