Hayes was born in Green County, Kentucky. He moved with his parents to Jeffersonville, Indiana, before 1910 and then relocated to Louisville. He played the fiddle, piano and saxophone and joined the Original Louisville Jug Band in 1913. In 1919, he left to form his own group, the Dixieland Jug Blowers. He made his first recordings in 1924, accompanying the singer Sara Martin as part of the Old Southern Jug Band, with jug virtuoso Earl McDonald. The following year, he recorded for Okeh Records as the leader of Clifford's Louisville Jug Band, and over the next few years recorded in Chicago with the clarinetist Johnny Dodds in the Dixieland Jug Blowers. He also led Hayes's Louisville Stompers, who recorded between 1927 and 1929, with the pianist Earl Hines on some tracks. His last recordings were in 1931, when he recorded for Victor Records with Jimmie Rodgers, among others. Most or all of his recordings are prized by collectors all over the world.
Hayes died in Chicago in 1941.
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By Scott Yanow
A shadowy figure in jazz and blues history, Clifford Hayes was a violinist, but was more significant as a leader of recording sessions. He recorded with Sara Martin (1924), and often teamed up with banjoist Cal Smith in early jug bands including the Old Southern Jug Band, Clifford's Louisville Jug Band, the well-known Dixieland Jug Blowers (1926-1927), and Hayes' Louisville Stompers (1927-1929). One of the Dixieland Jug Blowers' sessions featured the great clarinetist Johnny Dodds, while pianist Earl Hines was a surprise star with the otherwise primitive Louisville Stompers (a jug-less group with a front line of Hayes' violin and Hense Grundy's trombone). Clifford Hayes' last recordings were in 1931, and all of his sessions (plus those of some other jug bands) are available on four RST CDs.