Tweedy Brothers
| Tweedy Brothers | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Old-time music |
| founding | 1921 |
| resolution | circa 1946 |
| Founding members | |
| Harry Tweedy | |
| Charles Tweedy | |
The Tweedy Brothers were an American old-time duo. They were the first two old-time musicians from West Virginia to make recordings and one of the few old-time bands to successfully use a piano.
history
Charles "Big Red" Tweedy and Harry "Little Red" Tweedy were the sons of a country doctor from Ohio County , West Virginia. They were surrounded by music from an early age and learned to play instruments from childhood through their family who lived about four miles north of Wheeling . Harry initially learned to play the fiddle from his sister, but soon turned to older musicians in the area, especially Bill Rausch. Charles, who was four years older than Harry, played the piano and was influenced by the recordings of minstrel and pop musicians. The eldest brother George also played the fiddle, but never with such talent as Harry, who appeared on Barn Dances at the age of seven .
As young people, the Tweedy Brothers had already established themselves as musicians in the region, and around 1921 or 1922 the brothers went on tour through the country with their father. They played on the river steamers that sailed the Ohio River in theaters, medicine shows , local events, and in 1922 on the newly formed WLW radio station in Cincinnati , Ohio . On June 14, 1924, Charles and Harry Tweedy made their first five recordings for Gennett Records in Richmond , Indiana . It was also the first recordings by old-time musicians from West Virginia, and many more were to follow. Rickett's Hornpipe, Wild Horse and Chicken Reel were Harry's fiddle pieces, while Charles supported him on the piano in Turkey in the Straw Medley and Repaz Band .
Between 1925 and 1930, the Tweedy Brothers played five more sessions for Gennett, who also released the recordings on the Champion Records , Silvertone Records and Supertone Records labels . The Sears & Roebuck mail order catalogs made her singles sell well in West Virginia. After their first recordings, the brothers developed their own show, with which they performed mainly in rural areas. They drove around in a truck and played in the back of the vehicle. The piano read "Donated by the Starr Piano Company , Richmond, Indiana" to advertise their label's parent company. The duo's repertoire, sometimes accompanied by Brother George, consisted of traditional hoedowns and breakdowns with the occasional popular piece. They also tried their hand at singing, but since neither of them were talented singers, "Cindy, the Singing Cowgirl" was hired as a singer in the mid-1930s.
Her last session for Gennett took place on May 21, 1930, during which the Home Brew Rag and Alabammy Jubilee were recorded. In 1932 they joined the ensemble of the WWVA Jamborees and between 1933 and 1934 were part of the Georgia Jamborees , a variety show from Atlanta , Georgia that was broadcast on WSB. Radio appearances increased during these years and her tours took her to Reno , Nevada , and California . For some time they have been heard regularly on WWVA in Wheeling and WCHS in Charleston .
Harry and singer Cindy married in the 1930s, and when their children started school it became increasingly difficult to maintain a professional career as a musician, so the Tweedys went out of the music business in the mid-1940s. Harry Tweedy settled in Columbus , Ohio, where he worked as a bus driver and continued to perform in his spare time. George Tweedy moved to Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , and Charles died in 1970.
literature
- Ivan M. Tribe: Mountaineer Jamboree: Country Music in West Virginia (1996), pp. 20-22; University of Kentucky Press, ISBN 0813108780 .