Three Nights Drunk- Mainer (NC) 1959 Lomax REC
[Mainer recorded and arranged traditional music and also did covers of old-time country songs by the Skillet Lickers and other old-time bands. It's impossible to tell if this duet is traditional or a cover of Earl Johnson/Skillet Lickers version. Wade Mainer, (J. E.'s brother) recorded "Three Nights in a Barroom" on Blue Ridge 109.]
Wiki: J. E. Mainer (July 20, 1898 – June 12, 1971) was an American old time fiddler who followed in the wake of Gid Tanner and his Skillet Lickers.
Biography
Joseph Emmett Mainer grew up on a farm in the mountains near Weaverville, North Carolina and learned to play the banjo and fiddle from an early age. Since Wade, his brother, also was interested in learning to play the banjo, he left that to Wade and concentrated on the fiddle. Soon, Mainer began performing at local country barn dances. He found work at a textile mill in Knoxville, Tennessee but moved to Concord, North Carolina in 1922 for another work in a mill.
Mainer's fame as a fiddler rose and sponsored by the Crazy Water Crystals in 1933, he and his newly formed band consisting of J. E. on fiddle, Wade Mainer on banjo, and Zeke Morris on guitar, made their radio debut on WBT in Charlotte, North Carolina calling themselves "J. E. Mainer and his Crazy Mountaineers." The band appeared on several radio stations in the following years until 1935, when they received a recording contract on. In August the same year, the Mountaineers, with the addition of "Daddy" John Love, recorded for Bluebird Records. Wade Mainer and Zeke Morris temporarily left the band in the early 1936 to form a duo. In the meantime Ollie Bunn, Howard Bumgardner and Clarence Todd replaced Wade, Zeke and "Daddy" John Love on the next recording session. In the summer of 1936, Wade and Zeke returned to record with "the mountaineers". The next year, in 1937, Wade Mainer formed the "Sons of the Mountaineers". Shortly, a new change of personnel occurred when Leonard "Lester" Stokes and George Morris became members of "the mountaineers" calling themselves "Handsome and Sambo". They added Snuffy Jenkins on banjo on the following recording session. In late 1938, Stokes and Morris were once more replaced by Clyde Moody and Jay Hugh Hall. The band continued to perform on radio stations in both North and South Carolina.
The Mountaineers disbanded at the outbreak of World War II, but Mainer continued to record in the late 1940s, together with his sons, Glenn and Curly, for King Records. In the 1970s, after his death, literally hundreds of post-war recordings were released on Rural Rhythm Records.
Mainer was be inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame on October 11, 2012.
"Three Nights Drunk"- Sung by J. E. Mainer and Carolyn Mainer Holmes, 1959 or 1960. Prestige-International Album No. INT-DS. 25,003(A1). Collected by Alan Lomax.
He: Well, the first night that I come home so drunk I couldn't see,
Found a horse in the stable, where my horse ought to be,
"Come here, my little wifey; explain this thing to me,
How come a horse in the stable, where my horse ought to be?"
She: "You blind fool, you crazy fool, can't you never see?
It's only a milkcow your granny sent to me."
He: "I've travelled this world over, ten thousand miles or more,
But a saddle upon a milkcow's back, I never did see before."
He: Well, the secong night that I come home so drunk I couldn't see,
Found a coat a-hanging on the rack, where my coat ought to be,
"Come here, my little wifey; explain this thing to me,
How come a coat a-hanging on the rack, where my coat ought to be?"
She: "You blind fool, you crazy fool, can't you never see?
It's only a bed-quilt your granny sent to me."
He: "I've travelled this world over, ten thousand miles or more,
But a pockets upon a bed-quilt, I never did see before."
He: Well, the third night that I come home so drunk I couldn't see,
Found a head a laying on the pillow, where my head ought to be,
"Come here, my little wifey; explain this thing to me,
How come a head on the pillow, where my head ought to be?"
She: "You blind fool, you crazy fool, can't you never see?
It's only a cabbage-head your granny sent to me."
He: "I've travelled this world over, ten thousand miles or more,
But a mustache upon a cabbage-head, I never did see before."