Music from the Land of the Sky: The 1925 Asheville Sessions

In 1925, Okeh Records producer Ralph Peer set out to record the instrumental and vocal masters of American folk music traditions in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Apparently, Peer had no particular fondness for Appalachian or other music in those regions, he mostly wanted a way to distinguish the Okeh catalogue from its more well-known rivals, Victor and Columbia.

This compact disc album documents Peer’s efforts in Asheville (NC) in 1925, whereby he recorded a number of considerable local artists atop the George Vanderbilt Hotel. Those original Asheville recordings have become legendary, and until now few individuals (save some fortunate record collectors) have had the opportunity to hear these remarkable performances.

It is rare that I am left struggling for words, but encountering this product has been one of those times. My understanding is that this labor of love took approximately two years to complete. And it shows. From the outset, one can see an exceptional level of meticulousness throughout.

For instance, even the design on the cover expresses the nature of the project perfectly. And instead of arranging all the recordings chronologically, producer Bryan Wright has followed the same concept which was the basis of the Rivermont Complete Piano Works of Scott Joplin album—that is, to arrange them in a way that highlights differences between the tracks. As in the Scott Joplin album, this has been done very tastefully and successfully.

Space prohibits discussing all these remarkable recordings in full, which is what, in a perfect world, is deserved. However, allow me to deliberate on a few which are the most meaningful to this author.

“I’m Going Back to North Carolina”is duo between singer Kelley Harrell and guitarist/harmonica player Henry Whitter. It starts off with guitar and harmonica, and ends that way as well. In between are folk lyrics (transcribed and available within the liner notes). In my opinion, this track, only two and a half minutes in length exemplifies the vernacular traditions of rural Southern music during this era and a more perfect opening track is difficult to imagine.

The “St. Louis Tickle,” according to the book Rags and Ragtime (Jasen & Tichenor, Dover Publications, 1978, p. 47), was most likely composed by Theron Bennett (under the pseudonym, Barney & Seymour) and first published in 1904. But I strongly suspect that it was based on a folk theme which may have been omnipresent in the US for years beforehand. Not much is known about the soloist, harmonica player Jim Couch (according to the liner notes of this album), but he is a true virtuoso. The melody is always strident and forceful in this rendition, with harmonies and single notes played on the “off-beats” or where the melody stops or is held. His sense of rhythm is rock solid, and I don’t hear him unintentionally speeding up. Couch keeps the listener’s attention all the way through for almost three minutes, which, considering it is “only” a harmonica, is quite an accomplishment.

“Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet Wiliam Now)”is herein sung by the inimitable Emmett Miller and accompanied by the equally eccentric pianist, Walter Rothrock. This is pure vaudeville, but it is combined with a strangeness of vocal quality I’d not heard anywhere else—which is a complement. Miller even adds some yodeling at the end with a “ragtime twist” to it. (It should be noted, parenthetically, that all four of the sides which Miller recorded in Asheville are included.)

“Rose of the Nile”is played by the Foor-Robinson Carolina Club Orchestra. This band includes Hal Kemp and has a few members in common with Kemp’s band of the era. “Rose” is a highly polished rendition with virtuosic performers and excellent solos by a trumpet and later a saxophone player. Johnson & Shirley (American Dance Bands on Record and Film 1915-1942, Rustbooks Publishing, 2010) state that they only ever recorded two sides. This is tragic. It would have been nice to hear an entire compact disc of this outstanding band, although we are fortunate to be able to hear both on this compact disc.

The collection ends as it began, with Harrell and Whitter. But the last track is the famous folk ballad, “Peg and Awl.” It is interesting to compare this rendition to the more “polished” version by Pete Seeger recorded some decades later. The two renditions complement one another, and it is fascinating to hear how it would have been originally performed. It is a heart-felt ending to the album.

This collection includes a massive 127-page booklet (containing phenomenal research by Ted Olson and Tony Russell), complete with discographies, performer biographies, transcribed lyrics (where applicable), beautifully reproduced photographs in color and black and white, and an explanation about the production and transcription of these rare 78-rpm records by the producer Bryan Wright, who also “cleaned up” the surface noise from these recordings. As many people have little experience with vintage recordings, I appreciated him explaining that, at this point in history, it is not possible to remove all the surface noise from these rare vintage recordings without destroying the integrity of the sounds of the original instruments. Mr. Wright’s work, in this respect, is exemplary.

While this album stands on the shoulders of earlier companies which re-issued music from the 1920s (such as Yazoo, Biograph, and Folkways Records), Mr. Wright has established Rivermont as the premier company willing and able to bring out unusual vintage music from 100 years ago, with excellence and integrity. It is also safe to say that while some albums merely document recorded history, this one makes history as well. And here are five words to describe what I hear when I listen: Absolutely Extraordinary In Every Respect.

Music from the Land of the Sky:
The 1925 Asheville Sessions
Various Artists
Rivermont Records BSW-1173
rivermontrecords.com

Matthew de Lacey Davidson

Matthew de Lacey Davidson is a pianist and composer currently resident in Nova Scotia, Canada. His first CD,Space Shuffle and Other Futuristic Rags(Stomp Off Records), contained the first commercial recordings of the rags of Robin Frost. Hisnew Rivermont 2-CDset,The Graceful Ghost:Contemporary Piano Rags 1960-2021,is available atrivermontrecords.com.A 3-CD set of Matthew’s compositions,Stolen Music: Acoustic and Electronic Works,isavailable through The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music University of Illinois (Champaign/Urbana),sousa@illinois.edu.