The Cumberland Ridge Runners

This group was highly successful for quite some time using a stage show and group of radio broadcasts that combined top-flight musicianship with hillbilly dressing and hamming, even though the players themselves certainly all had authentically rural backgrounds. Guitarist Karl Davis and mandolinist Hartford Taylor had been a Western world Virginia duo work that most frequently pretended to become brothers, since how most such works in the old-time field had been executing siblings. They produced a number of recordings being a duo beneath the name of Karl and Harty, and in addition performed beneath the name from the Renfro Valley Males. An impressario called John Lair, who also blew a little bit of jug and harmonica, created the first & most popular edition from the Cumberland Ridge Joggers, by merging Davis and Taylor with banjo and guitarist Hugh Mix and a fiddler called Homer Miller who was simply known for off-the-wall antics. Mix had been a well-established nation crooner and collaborator on the initial recordings of tunes such as for example “Crimson River Valley” and “Wabash Cannonball.” Lair produced a hillbilly picture for the clothing, dressing all of them in checked t-shirts, straw or cowboy hats, cowboy shoes, overalls, etc. A popular photograph of these shows them before what appears like a rustic vacation cabin, but was in fact a imitation of Fort Dearborn designed for the 1933 Chicago World’s Good. The music group was the primary hillbilly act as of this event, and in addition was the 1st such group to execute regularly around the Country wide Barn Dance offered by Chicago’s radio train station WLS. The group became something of an exercise ground for becoming more popular nation performers. A red-haired vocalist and bassist called Clyde Foley was employed to be a part of comical sketches with Miller aswell as play music; he quickly transformed his name to Crimson Foley and continued to become huge country celebrity. Another featured area of the group for a while was vocalist and banjo participant Linda Parker, also called “The Sunbonnet Female.” She really was compelled to ham-up the hillbilly component and was often dressed onstage within a frilly gingham outfit. The music group was among several old-time and traditional jazz acts through the Depression era highlighted on the 1992 video entitled Factors Ain’t Like They Utilized to End up being. This selection provides good indication from the manic character of the group. These are shown executing the tune “Goofus” within a hospital, as well as the people all switch musical instruments during the tune, while Foley will an uncanny imitation of comedian Stan Laurel. The initial version of the group fizzled out sometime following the middle-’30s. Supervisor Lair may possess rubbed old-time music purists the wrong manner with his extreme hillbilly schtick, but a lot more than comprised for it down the road with his dedication to old-time music. Being a promoter he founded the popular Renfro Valley Barndance, while carrying on to execute in the rarified field of nation harmonica playing. Fiddler Allerton Alton Hawkes produced a new music group entitled the Cumberland Ridge Athletes, and they held active on broadcasts for WWVA aswell as burning visiting country performers.