Proto Billy: Who’s On First

James Akenson

In a classic comedy routine, Abbott and Costello bumble and stumble on the question Who’s On First? It’s baseball oriented, not cricket, and involves all sorts of miscommunication about meaning. It’s kind of like another, more serious, dilemma faced by a poor soul trapped in the bureaucracy of the legal system in Franz Kafka’s The Trial. Unlike the maze of meanings in the comedy of Who’s On First, The Trial is daunting, vexing, and frustrating. Ever gotten a parking ticket and tried to contest it? That’s the kind of frustration The Trial  brings in spades. 

So…what does this have to do with Country Music? How about the Big Bang of Country Music as Nolan Porterfield dubbed The Bristol Sessions of 1927. Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family did indeed record under the direction of Ralph Peer in August 1927. In addition, others such as the Stoneman Family also recorded in The Bristol Sessions. This was a very significant event in the crystallization of what would become known as Country Music. And… yes… The Birthplace of Country Music Museum and lots of scholars have documented Country Music recordings before the 1927 Bristol Sessions. Fiddlin’ John Carson recorded in 1923 in Atlanta and Eck Robertson in 1922 in New York. 

But…there are even earlier recordings and sheet music connected to New York City’s Tin Pan Alley. These recordings and sheet music can’t be considered Country Music but they made a lasting impact on Country Music.  That’s where projects such as Henry Sapoznik’s Protobilly: The Minstrel and Tin Pan Alley DNA of Country Music 1892-2017 come in. Protobilly also provided me with my need to reference Kafka, bureaucratic follies, and even reminds me of the Aussie song I’ve Been Everywhere classic written by Geoff Mack and recorded by Lucky Starr, the Sunny Cowgirls (and other great Aussie artists such as Slim Dusty) and lots of other versions adapted for the United States and Canada.   Henry Sapoznik tried to send me the Protobilly: The Minstrel and Tin Pan Alley DNA of Country Music 1892-2017 CD and booklet. That’s where the bureaucratic follies started. His first attempt resulted in the Protobilly package leaving New York State in late June. But…did Protobilly make it? Take a look. July 29, 2020 In Transit to Next Facility Your package is moving within the USPS network and is on track to be delivered to its final destination. It is currently in transit to the next facility. July 27, 2020, 2:01 pm Arrived at USPS Regional Facility MEMPHIS TN NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER July 22, 2020, 8:37 am Arrived at USPS Regional Facility JERSEY CITY NJ NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER July 18, 2020, 1:40 pm Departed USPS Regional Facility MEMPHIS TN NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER July 4, 2020, 1:31 pm Arrived at USPS Regional Facility MEMPHIS TN NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER July 2, 2020, 8:39 am Arrived at USPS Regional Facility JERSEY CITY NJ NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER June 29, 2020, 12:07 pm Arrived at USPS Regional Facility MEMPHIS TN NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER Yes, indeed, Protobilly like Lucky Starr and Hank Snow went EVERYWHERE always promising that It is currently in transit to the next facility. Thanks to DropBox sharing of the sound files and a PDF of the booklet I could listen, read, and put together this piece. Very frustrated, Henry Sapoznik eventually sent Protobilly a second time. It didn’t make it to me by the first of August, but who knows? By the time you read this Protobilly…let’s call it Protobilly 2…might have made it to me at Tennessee Tech University. 

So…what is Protobilly like? Well, the CD cover tells a lot. It’s about the linking of things that don’t seem to be linked. Lots of readers will recognize Big Bang of Country Music icon Mother Maybelle Carter.  Many folks will be puzzled by Louis Armstrong on the cover. After all, we’re dealing with Country Music history, right? Lots of readers will recognize the image of  Hank Williams, Sr. Fewer will recognize Uncle Dave Macon who became an early Country Music recording star and Grand Ole Opry fixture. Even fewer, myself included, know much, if anything,  about Charles A. Asbury. All of the links implied on the cover of Protobilly mean that the collaboration Henry Sapoznik, Dick Spottswood, Daivd Giovannoni, and Dom Flemons will give us important insights. But…why the PROTO in Protobilly?  Because PROTO deals with early forms of something you’re studying. That means there are unexpected connections in early recorded songs and the songs being recorded by Country Music Artists. Fascinating that these Tin Pan Alley songs somehow made its way into the South and became part of Country Music. That means that the South didn’t remain as isolated and unwilling to accept outside influences as some folks think. Let’s take a look at a couple of Protobilly examples.  Nolan Porterfield’s Jimmie Rodgers: The Life and Times of America’s Blue Yodeler relates directly to Protobilly. As a young boy Jimmie Rodgers, The Father of Country Music, won a talent contest sponsored by Meridian’s Elite Theater singing Steamboat Bill and I Wonder Why Bill Bailey Don’t Come Home. Doesn’t sound like hard Country Music now, does it? Well, it helped whet Jimmie Rodgers’ appetite to be an entertainer.  Protobilly includes two different performances of Steamboat Bill. The Delmore Brothers version on King Records came out in 1951. No danger of young Jimmie Rodgers hearing The Delmore Brothers version since Rodgers died in 1933. That means that early 20^th century Steamboat Bill versions such as the 1911 pop version by Arthur Collins provided the influence on Jimmie Rodgers and The Delmore Brothers.  Roy Acuff, The King of Country Music, recorded All Night Long  in 1936. Anna Chandler recorded it in 1913. Doesn’t sound a bit like Country Music now does it?  It shouldn’t as she was a vaudeville actress and mezzo-soprano.  All Night Long  is just a touch racy and runs counter to Acuff’s squeaky clean and pure image. Come to think of it Acuff also recorded another racy song Bang Away, my Lulu. Grand Ole Opry fixture Uncle Dave Macon recorded in New City in 1924 before the Opry even existed. I’se Gwine Back To Dixie recorded by the Brilliant Quartet became part of Uncle Dave’s repertoire in 1927. Uncle Dave included changes that made it less racially offensive and altered its religious tone to food references.   What about cultural icon Hank Williams? How about I’ve Got The Love-Sick Blues written in 1922 and recorded by one Emmett Miller in 1925 as Love Sick Blues. One way or another it made it into Country Music. Hank recorded Love Sick Blues for MGM. Protobilly includes Hank’s iconic performance on the Grand Ole Opry 18 June 1949.   Hank also dazzled Louisiana Hayride audiences with Love Sick Blues before he made it to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Even in 2018,Wal-Mart saw a young Mason Ramsey perform Love Sick Blues. It went viral! And the beat goes on. Henry Sapoznik and colleagues also showed that an obscure banjo player, Charles Asbury influenced Uncle Dave Macon’s 1927 recording of Hold That Wood-Pile Down.  Jazz icon Louis Armstrong even connects to Country Music. Nolan Porterfield discussed how Armstrong and his wife Lillian Hardin played on Jimmie Rodgers’ 1930 recording of Blue Yodel No. 9. Protobilly includes Armstrong and the Mills Brothers recorded Darling Nelly Gray in 1937.

Just like the classic Ginzu Knife Infomercials we could say But wait….there’s more! Lord Have Mercy!  The Louvin Brothers, Grandpa Jones, Merle Travis, Bill Monroe, Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers, The Carter Family, and Keith Whitley PLUS others…But wait, there’s more?!…all recorded Tin Pan Alley songs from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Eighty-one songs on three CDs plus the booklet will keep you on track. All the Protobilly materials reminds me of being a history major at the University of Minnesota.  Somehow my friend Paul Rieke and I stumbled upon…or did we in part create….a sentence that allowed us to give extra background material in an essay exam to make us look well-read.  The sentence we used said There is no such thing as the immaculate conception of social, political, and artistic ideas. Then we could use extra background material about things that happened prior to events before answering the focus of an essay exam question.  Extra padding you say to fool the professor. Get a better grade than we deserved. Yes….but the immaculate conception is true statement. Protobilly proves once again that most everything is interconnected in some way. Kind of like the Delta Rhythm Boys make clear in Dry Bones.

Protobilly… plus lots of other research in Country Music…. shows that there isn’t just a single moment for a Bible based Genesis Chapter 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and earth and Country Music.  Bishop Ussher may have figured out a Bible based exact moment God created the world as being the entrance of the night preceding the 23rd day of October… the year before Christ 4004″; that is, around 6 pm on 22 October 4004 BC.  It can’t be done for Country Music. Protobilly didn’t try to do it.  Some readers will say Protobilly didn’t show the roots of Country Music in the old English ballads and broadsides or in some other way. True. Protobilly does help us, though, see the tangled, amazing connections based in Tin Pan Alley that helps make Country Music the wonderful, complex soundtrack to accompany our daily lives.  Protobilly is a wonderful project that focuses on the marvelous relationships with New York City’s Tin Pan Alley and the Minstrel tradition that made early and continuing contributions to create this thing we call Country Music. And…Henry Sapoznik and colleagues show that the music of these old records continues to hold a powerful attraction for successive generations…to create an unbroken link from today to the founding of a free-standing American culture.  That means that once again we know that with The Carter Family was spot-on. The marvelous Country Music culture circle will NOT be unbroken. Buy Protrobilly. Sit back. Listen to Protobilly. Read Protobilly. Enjoy responsibly. But get high on Protobilly. Keep on loving the Country Music ride!