Label: Old Hat Records.
Release Date: November 20, 2012.
Recording Time: 71 minutes.
Release Info: Old Hat CD-1009.
Recording Date: November, 1926.
Styles: Old-Timey, Acoustic Blues, Country Blues, String Bands, Early American Blues, Folk-Blues, Traditional Folk.
The first golden age of recorded music in America came in the 1920s when the newly emerged record labels began putting out 78s, signing and releasing all comers, from back-porch fiddle players to street-corner jug bands, in an attempt to find out what the consumers of America really wanted from this startling new media. The labels usually worked regionally, and since most of the population of the country was still rural, it really isn't that big a surprise that there are countless old songs about chickens, roosters, and other barnyard fowl. Old Hat Records, an old-time music specialist label, has assembled some of these "chicken songs," recorded between 1926 and 1940, and it's a fun collection, featuring fiddler G.B. Grayson's classic take on the title tune, "Cluck Old Hen"; the hilarious "Chicken Sermon" from Honeyboy & Sassafras; and the surreal "Under the Chicken Tree" by Earl McDonald's Original Louisville Jug Band, among others. ~ Steve Leggett
Credits: Tom Andrews - guitar; Eddie Anthony - fiddle, primary artist, vocals; Gene Autry - guitar, primary artist, vocals, yodeling; The Beale Street Sheiks - primary artist; Casey Bill - primary artist; Binkley Brothers Dixie Clodhoppers - primary artist; Amos Binkley - banjo; Gale Binkley - fiddle; Lucien Brown - sax (alto); Teddy Bunn - Duet, guitar, primary artist, vocals; Benny Calvin - mandolin; Bill Carlisle - guitar; Cliff Carlisle - guitar (steel), primary artist, vocals; Carolina Ramblers String Band - primary artist; Jeff Carroll - engineer; Henry Clifford - Jug; Marshall Cole - tenor (vocal); Buster Coward - guitar; William G. Culver - bass (vocal); Bill Dickey - string bass; Tom Dickey - fiddle; The Dixieland Jug Blowers - primary artist; Johnny Dodds - clarinet; Eddie Duncan - guitar (steel); Sherwin Dunner - source recordings; George Edgin - fiddle; George Edgin's Corn Dodgers - primary artist; Eddie Fielding - tenor banjo; George Fields - spoken word, vocals; The Georgia Browns - primary artist; Will Gilmer - fiddle; Grayson & Whitter - primary artist; G.B. Grayson - fiddle, spoken word, vocals; Maylon Harney "Pet" - guitar, Spoken Word; Richard Harney "Can" - guitar, spoken word; Clifford Hayes - fiddle; Curtis Hayes - banjo; Honeyboy & Sassafras - primary artist, spoken word; Reginald Hotchkiss - photography; Peg Leg Howell - guitar, primary artist, vocals; Jack Jackson - guitar, vocals; Dallas Jones - guitar; Don Kent - source recordings; Christopher C. King - engineer, source recordings; J.O. LaMadeleine - fiddle, foot percussion, primary artist, vocal effect; Marcel LaMadeleine - guitar; The Leake County Revelers - primary artist; Steve Ledford - fiddle, vocals; Taft Ledford - primary artist; Lockwood Lewis - sax (alto); David Lynch - art direction, graphic design; Frank Mare - source recordings; Frank Marvin - vocal effect; Emery McClung - fiddle; John McClung - guitar, vocals, Whistle; John & Emery McClung - primary artist; Earl McDonald - jug, vocals; Earl McDonald's Original Louisville Jug Band - primary artist; Fred McMullen - guitar, vocals; R.O. Mosley - banjo, mandolin; Buddy Moss - harmonica; Mustard & Gravy - primary artist; Richard Nevins - source recordings; Daniel Nicholson - banjo; "Pet" and "Can" - guitar, primary artist, spoken word; Clarence Profit - piano; Riley Puckett - guitar, primary artist, vocals; Harry Reser - banjo; Walter Rhodes - accordion, primary artist, vocal effect, vocals; Frank Rice - duet, vocals; Richard Samuel Roberts - photography; Audie Rodgers - guitar; Arthur Rothstein - photography; Dan Sane - guitar; Gretchen Sedaris - memorabilia; Six Jumping Jacks - primary artist; Ben Skinner - tenor (vocal); Cal Smith - banjo; Charles Smith - fiddle; Freddie Smith - banjo; Tom Stacks - drums, vocals; Ernest Stokes - duet, vocals; Frank Stokes - guitar, vocals; Sweet Papa Stovepipe - guitar, primary artist, vocals; John Tefteller - source recordings; George Timberlake - piano; Bill Traylor - cover art; The Tune Wranglers - primary artist; Utica Institute Jubilee Singers - primary artist; Curley Weaver - guitar, vocals; Johnny Welch - spoken word, vocals; Will Weldon - guitar (steel), vocals; Henry Whitter - guitar, spoken word; Spencer Williams - duet, primary artist, vocals; George Withington - baritone (vocal); Jim Wolverton - banjo; Earl Wright - guitar, vocals; Marshall Wyatt - art direction, liner notes, producer, source recordings.
Tracks: 1) Chicken Reel - J.O. LaMadeleine; 2) Rooster Blues - Casey Bill; 3) Riley's Hen-House Door - Riley Puckett; 4) Chicken - John & Emery McClung; 5) Corn Dodger No. 1 Special - George Edgin's Corn Dodgers; 6) The Crowing Rooster - "Pet" and "Can" / Walter Rhodes; 7) Turkey Buzzard Blues - Eddie Anthony / Peg Leg Howell; 8) Under the Chicken Tree - Earl McDonald's Original Louisville Jug Band; 9) It Takes the Old Hen to Deliver the Goods - Cliff Carlisle; 10) Cluck Old Hen - Grayson & Whitter; 11) All Birds Look Like Chicken to Me - Sweet Papa Stovepipe; 12) Hen Party Blues - The Dixieland Jug Blowers; 13) Crow Black Chicken - The Leake County Revelers; 14) Stay Away from My Chicken House - Gene Autry; 15) Who Stole de Lock? - The Georgia Browns; 16) The Chicken and the Worm - Teddy Bunn / Spencer Williams; 17) There's a Trick in Pickin' a Chick-Chick-Chicken - Six Jumping Jacks; 18) Barnyard Frolic - Carolina Ramblers String Band / Taft Ledford; 19) Chicken - Utica Institute Jubilee Singers; 20) Chicken You Can Roost Behind the Moon - The Beale Street Sheiks; 21) Rooster on the Limb - Mustard & Gravy; 22) The Chicken Sermon - Honeyboy & Sassafras; 23) Chicken Reel Stomp - The Tune Wranglers; 24) I'll Rise When the Rooster Crows - Binkley Brothers Dixie Clodhoppers.