The Original Blues: The Emergence of the Blues in African American Vaudeville

433 Pages·2017·3.37 MB·English

by  Lynn Abbott

THE ORIGINAL BLUES

THE ORIGINAL BLUES
The Emergence of the Blues in
African American Vaudeville
Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff
University Press of Mississippi / Jackson
American Made Music Series www.upress.state.ms.us
Advisory Board
The University Press of Mississippi is a member
of the Association of American University Presses.
David Evans, General Editor Copyright © 2017 by University Press of Mississippi
Barry Jean Ancelet All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Edward A. Berlin
Joyce J. Bolden First printing 2017
Rob Bowman ∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Susan C. Cook
Curtis Ellison
Names: Abbott, Lynn, 1946– | Seroff, Doug.
William Ferris Title: The original blues : the emergence of the blues in African
John Edward Hasse American vaudeville / Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff.
Description: Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, [2017] |
Kip Lornell
Series: American made music series | Includes bibliographical
Bill Malone references and index. | Description based on print version record
Eddie S. Meadows and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016021457 (print) | LCCN 2016020375 (ebook)
Manuel H. Peña
| ISBN 9781496810038 (epub single) | ISBN 9781496810045
Wayne D. Shirley
(epub institutional) | ISBN 9781496810052 ( pdf single) |
Robert Walser ISBN 9781496810069 (pdf institutional) | ISBN 9781496810021
(cloth : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Blues (Music)—To 1931—History and criticism. |
Vaudeville—United States—History and criticism.
Classification: LCC ML3521 (print) | LCC ML3521 .A23 2017
(ebook) | DDC
781.64309/041—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016021457
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
CONTENTS
vii Acknowledgments 7 CHAPTER ONE
Saloon-Theaters and Park Pavilions:
3 Introduction The Birth of Southern Vaudeville, 1899–1909
◆  ◆  ◆ 57 FIRST INTERLUDE
The Death of J. Ed Green and the Birth
311 Notes of State Street Vaudeville
383 Bibliography 67 CHAPTER TWO
The Life, Death, and Untold Legacy of
389 General Index Bluesman Butler “String Beans” May
409 Song Index 125 CHAPTER THREE
Male Blues Singers in Southern Vaudeville
417 Theater Index
161 CHAPTER FOUR
The Rise of the Blues Queen: Female Blues
Pioneers in Southern Vaudeville
231 SECOND INTERLUDE
Theater Circuits, Theater Wars, and the
Formation of the T.O.B.A.
249 CHAPTER FIVE
“Yours for Business”: The Commercialization
of the Blues, 1920–26

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Original Blues is a detailed account of the Amistad Research Center, Tulane University, New
appearance and popularization of the blues on the Orleans.
black professional stage. It commences with a sur- Bradley Memorial Library, Columbus, Georgia.
vey of the black vaudeville platforms that took hold Bull Street Library, Savannah, Georgia.
in the South at the end of the nineteenth century, Center for Popular Music, Middle Tennessee State
and goes on to trace the evolution of the blues in University, Murfreesboro.
black vaudeville, 1910–30, concluding with a con- Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans.
sideration of how vaudeville blues helped shape the Institute for Jazz Studies, Rutgers University, New-
country blues guitar phenomenon. ark, New Jersey.
While The Original Blues is a self-contained Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky.
work, it makes a logical companion to our first two Goodlettsville Public Library, Goodlettsville, Ten-
books, Out of Sight and Ragged but Right. It was not nessee.
our original intention, but we find ourselves com- Florida State Library and Archive, Tallahassee.
pleting what could be considered a trilogy, covering Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University, New Orleans.
the development of black popular music from the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane Univer-
period immediately preceding the appearance of sity, New Orleans.
ragtime to the full fruition and commercialization Jacksonville Public Library, Florida.
of the blues. Of course, we have only begun to tell John Hope and Aurelia Elizabeth Franklin Library,
the whole story; much ground is left to cover. Fisk University, Nashville.
The research that connects Out of Sight, Ragged Lila D. Bunch Library, Belmont University, Nash-
but Right, and The Original Blues has consumed ville.
more than a quarter of a century. It has enabled a Louisiana Division, New Orleans Public Library.
chronological perspective on the early blues—a Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans.
counterpoint to retrospective analyses that use McWherter Library, University of Memphis.
recordings from the 1920s as a touchstone. Memphis Public Library.
Middle Georgia Regional Library, Macon.
◆  ◆  ◆ Nashville Room of the Nashville Public Library.
Nassau County Public Library, Fernandina Beach
Research for The Original Blues involved pilgrim- Branch, Florida.
ages to many different libraries and archives. We Schomberg Research Center, New York City.
would like to acknowledge assistance received at: Smathers Library, University of Florida, Gainesville.
vii
viii Acknowledgments
Tampa Bay History Center, Florida. We owe a particular debt of gratitude to David
Tennessee State Library and Archive, Nashville. Evans for his advice and assistance, as well as for his
Thomas G. Carpenter Library, University of North informative reading of the manuscript. Wayne D.
Florida, Jacksonville. Shirley also contributed a valuable critical reading.
University of South Florida Library, Tampa. Special thanks are due as well to Chris Ware for the
Williams Research Center, New Orleans. cover design.
Preliminary formulations of the research that
We also wish to thank the many individuals who culminated in The Original Blues have appeared in
took time assisting us, including: various journals and anthologies, including “Bessie
Hayden Battle, Nicholas Benoit, Pen Bogert, Joey Smith: The Early Years,” Blues & Rhythm: The Gos-
Brackner, Charles J. Elmore, Alaina Hebert, Vic pel Truth, no. 70 (June 1992); “‘They Cert’ly Sound
Hobson, Jeanette Hunter, Muriel McDowell Jack- Good to Me’: Sheet Music, Southern Vaudeville, and
son, Michael Jones, Annie Kemp, Johnny Mad- the Commercial Ascendancy of the Blues,” Ameri-
dox, Arely del Martinez, Tom McDermott, Roger can Music 14, no. 4 (Winter 1996), reprinted in David
Misiewicz, Michael Montgomery, Bruce Nemerov, Evans, ed., Ramblin’ on My Mind: New Perspectives
Bruce Boyd Raeburn, Richard Raichelson, Keli on the Blues (Urbana: University of Illinois Press,
Rylance, David Sager, Wayne D. Shirley, Richard 2008); and “The Life and Death of Pioneer Blues-
Spottswood, Adam Swanson, Gaile Thomas, Kevin man Butler ‘String Beans’ May,” Tributaries: Journal
Williams, and Patti Windom. of the Alabama Folklife Association, no. 5 (2002).
THE ORIGINAL BLUES