Early country blues duo who scored a flurry of important sides between 1927 and 1933.
As a small child, Jimmie Tarleton (John James Rimbert Tarleton, May 8, 1892, Chesterfield County, SC, d. 1979) learned to play banjo and harmonica, but at the age of eight he changed to guitar. He soon took to playing, using a knife blade or bottleneck to fret the strings and became very efficient in the playing of negro blues and Hawaiian music, as well as the old-time songs he learned from his mother. He left home in 1912 and travelled extensively from Texas and California to New York, working in cotton mills and oilfields and on occasions playing as a street musician in Chicago and New York, or touring with medicine shows. In 1923, he became friendly with Frank Ferera, who did much to popularize the Hawaiian guitar in America, and from him learned the use of a steel bar, in lieu of the knife blade. He finally changed to an automobile wrist-pin in the late 20s and used it until his death.
In 1926, he formed a partnership with Tom Darby (b. 1884, d. 1971), a guitarist and singer from Columbus, GA. Early in 1927, they auditioned for Columbia Records and in November that year, at their second session, they recorded 'Columbus Stockade Blues' and 'Birmingham Jail'. When offered the choice of a flat fee or royalties for the recordings, they accepted a fee of $75, which proved an ill-chosen decision, since both songs went on to become country standards. Tarleton arranged 'Birmingham Jail' when he was actually in jail, as a result of an involvement in illicit moonshine. Art Satherley was quoted as saying that their version of the song was the greatest hillbilly record that he ever recorded because both, as former convicts, could feel their material so deeply. Between 1927 and 1933, Tarleton recorded about 80 songs for Columbia, Victor or ARC; some were solos and others with Darby. On their duet recordings, Darby (a fine player who picked guitar in a style often described as 'black-derived') mainly sang the lead vocal with Tarleton playing the steel guitar and adding harmony work, which at times included a yodel.
During the early 30s, Tarleton toured in the south, and in 1931, when not recording with Darby, he once worked in a cotton mill in Rockingham, South Carolina, with the Dixon Brothers. The Dixons, Dorsey and Howard, learned much from Tarleton's steel and ordinary guitar-playing ability and his influence was evident when they in turn became recording artists. Ironically, Tarleton and Darby were never friends and in 1933, they parted and Darby returned to farming. Tarleton continued to play and worked with various bands and medicine shows until the mid-40s, when he semi-retired. Around 1963, he was persuaded to return to more active participation and played at several festivals and even recorded an album. John Morthland commented that 'If any one musician could be said to have laid the groundwork for future generations of steel players from western swing right up to today's pedal steel, it would probably be Tarleton'.
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By Sandra Brennan
Singer Tom Darby and slide guitarist Jimmie Tarlton were not only legendary bluesmen, but also pioneers of country music. Although they were only together for a brief time during the late '20s and early '30s, they popularized the steel slide guitar in the genre and exerted a heavy influence on the Allen Brothers and the Delmore Brothers.
Tarlton was born in Chesterfield County, SC, the son of sharecroppers. His parents taught him traditional songs and the fretless banjo, and by age 12, he was learning to play the slide guitar from the black musicians he encountered in his family's numerous travels. As a young man he became a traveling street musician living off tips. His travels led him across the country, and everywhere he went, he added local songs to his expanding repertoire. On the West Coast in the early '20s, he met Frank Ferera, who taught him how to use the steel slide to play the more free-flowing Hawaiian guitar.
When Tarlton settled down in Columbus, GA, he met a guitarist and extraordinary blues singer named Tom Darby, a Columbus native who learned his vocal stylings from local black singers. Darby was related to Riley Puckett, star of the Skillet Lickers. A local talent scout convinced the two to team up and landed them an audition with Columbia Records. Their first recorded single made fun of Florida land speculators and was titled "Down in Florida on a Hog." Their next two songs, "Birmingham Jail" -- a song Tarlton claimed sprang from his experience there after being incarcerated for moonshining -- and "Columbus Stockade Blues," were enormously successful and have since become country standards. Audiences were impressed as well -- the record sold close to 200,000 copies. Despite the profits reaped from their records, Darby & Tarlton received only a flat 75 dollar fee.
The duo scored their second major hit in 1928 with "Birmingham Jail, #2" and "Lonesome Railroad"; among their other hits were the straight-ahead blues tunes "Traveling Yodel Blues" and "Heavy Hearted Blues." The two experienced contract difficulties with Columbia in late 1929 and finally recorded their last session the following year. They went their separate ways, occasionally reuniting without much success. By 1935, both men gave up and left the music business. They remained largely forgotten until the folk revival of the 1960s, which allowed Tarlton to record an album, appear at folk clubs, and sit for interviews with a number of folklorists. Darby also did a few performances and even reunited briefly with Tarlton, but at their age, neither particularly enjoyed performing.