Blues, Ragtime, Tin-Pan Alley and Jazz Related Songs
One of the main sources of bluegrass and old-time songs are blues, jug band, rags, Tin-pan Alley, and jazz songs. Most of these songs date from the 1880's and on (Tin Pan Alley- 1885; Ragtime- 1895; Blues- late 1800 Jazz- circa 1900). Many blues, jug band and rags were included in the Fiddle Section because there were fiddle solos or the fiddle played an intregal part of the song. I've decided to include the same information in this section rather than refer or link to the fiddle section.
The banjo which is the fundamental bluegrass instrument is of African-American origin and has traditionally been identified with African-Americans. The name banjo is commonly thought to be derived from the Kimbundu term mbanza. Some etymologists derive it from a dialectal pronunciation of "bandore", though recent research suggests that it may come from a Senegambian term for the bamboo stick used for the instrument's neck.
African-Americans in the South and throughout Appalachia fashioned the earliest banjos after instruments they had been familiar with in Africa, with some of the earliest instruments being referred to now as "gourd banjos". The most likely contender for the primary ancestor of the banjo is the akonting, a spike folk lute played by the Jola tribe of Senegambia. The modern banjo was popularized by the American minstrel performer Joel Sweeney in the 1830s. Banjos were introduced in Britain in the 1840s by Sweeney's group, the American Virginia Minstrels, and became very popular in music halls.
The main source of bluegrass songs are old-time country songs. Over 10,000 country songs were recorded from 1923 until the end of the 1930s. These songs were copyrighted but essentially they were folk songs or songs based on earlier songs that were slightly changed. Even though these songs weren't original in most cases they were claimed but the artists as their own and they received royalties. The race to gather songs was sponsored by Ralph Peer and other A & R men for the record companies who in their greed managed to inadvertently preserve many of America's best songs.
Many of the important artists including Jimmie Rodgers and to a lesser extent The Carter Family based their repertoire on blues related songs. Rodgers certainly took jug band and blues songs like "In the Jailhouse Now" and "Gamblers Blues" (better know as "St. James Infirmary") and made them his own by adding a blue yodel. He copyrighted the songs and took existing blues songs rearranging the lyrics so they would be slightly different. Rodgers ten "Blue Yodels" are a testiment to his legacy. The Carters worked with African-American guitarist Leslie Riddle and found versions of African-American gospel songs through Pauline Gray and others. A.P. Carter collected many songs from the African-American community and probably 25% of their songs are African-American based. The Carters also wrote and arranged standard 12 bar blues songs.
Even the Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe was strongly influenced by the blues. Arnold Shultz, a local African-American rail worker who played both fiddle and guitar, was one of Monroe's early mentors. Bill would later say that Arnold "played the blues like no other man could."
This is a collection of lyrics that have been associated with old-time, country and bluegrass music. First there are the minstrel songs and related songs dating from the 1830s; most of these song will not be found here but in a separate section Minstrel Songs. Then there are the ragtime (late 1800s) and Tin-Pan Alley songs (late 1880s Harry Von Tilzer; Irving Berlin) popular until the 1920s. Lastly there are blues and jazz songs dating from the early 1900s on. This is a huge volume of American songs many of which were adapted by the old-time country (1923) artists and later by bluegrass performers (1946).
Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City-centered music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The start of Tin Pan Alley is usually dated to about 1885, when a number of music publishers set up shop in the same district of Manhattan. The end of Tin Pan Alley is less clear cut. Some date it to the start of the Great Depression in the 1930s when the phonograph and radio supplanted sheet music as the driving force of American popular music, while others consider Tin Pan Alley to have continued into the 1950s when earlier styles of American popular music were upstaged by the rise of rock & roll.
Tin Pan Alley was originally a specific place in New York City, West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue. There is a plaque on the sidewalk on 28th St between Broadway and Fifth with a dedication. This block is now considered part of Manhattan's Flatiron District. The origins of the name "Tin Pan Alley" are unclear. The most popular account holds that it was originally a derogatory reference to the sound made by many pianos all playing different tunes in this small urban area, producing a cacophony comparable to banging on tin pans. With time this nickname was popularly embraced and many years later it came to describe the U.S. music industry in general.
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From: Swift (1897-1993) recollection to Sheila Davis, _Craft Of Lyric Writing_ Davis 1985.
Songwriter Kay Swift, born in 1897, remembered hearing this in New York in 1916:
Railroad Blues
"I got the railroad blues, I got the railroad blues, but I ain't got the railroad fare
I got the railroad blues, but I ain't got the railroad fare
If my shoes hold out I surely will get there
I was standing on the corner, I was standing on the corner, with my shoes and stockings in my hand
I was standing on the corner with my shoes and stockings in my hand
Looking for a woman who ain't got no man
If the river was booze, if the river was booze, and the sea was claret wine
If the river was booze and the sea was claret wine
I'd get drunk and stay drunk all the time
If I should die, if I should die, if I should die in Tennessee
If I should go and die in Tennessee
Ship my bones, ship 'em C.O.D.
If I should die, if I should die, if I should die in Arkansas
If I should go and die in Arkansas
Ship my bones, ship 'em to my mother-in-law
If she don't want 'em, if she don't want 'em, just throw 'em in the sea
If she don't want 'em just throw 'em in the sea
So she fishes and crabs'll have a mighty good time on me"