Confronting the Modern Era
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Read more about Memphis jug bands.
Early jug bands were usually African American musicians. They played a mixture of Memphis Blues and ragtime. Memphis area jug bands played more country blues than bands in other parts of the country. The Memphis Jug Band. and Cannon’s Jug Stompers were two of the more popular ones in the 1920s.
The Memphis Jug Band. recorded more than 100 songs between 1927 and 1934. The main performer was Will Shade (also called Son Brimmer), who heard records of a Louisville jug band, and decided to organize his own jug band in Memphis.
The band was wildly popular, even playing at local country clubs and the upscale Peabody Hotel. Edward “Boss” Crump regularly hired them to play for private parties and political events.
Gus Cannon, who performed in comic acts in addition to playing music, formed his own jug band after the Memphis Jug Band became so successful. Cannon’s Jug Stompers recorded for Ralph Peer and Victor Records (the same man who ran the Bristol sessions). The recordings sold well, the band performed regularly on Beale Street.
The Memphis bands and other jug bands were hurt when the Depression and the advent of radio caused the public to buy fewer records. Eventually the public’s taste for jug bands faded. But, according to some music historians, the Memphis Jug Band’s best records represent the Roaring Twenties in Memphis. Listen to "Going Back to Memphis" by the Memphis Jug Band.
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Picture Credits:
- Photograph of the Memphis Jug Band. This photo was taken in 1928. It shows Willie Bates and four other African American men posing with their instruments. Tennessee State Museum Collection.
Confronting the Modern Era >> Life in Tennessee >> How They Lived >> Music
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