1920s
As the decade began,
the spring-wound talking machine with pre-electrical, no-fidelity sound
was already established and probably the most popular of the home entertainment
devices; the best selling makes were the Victrola
and the Graphanola.
Radio
stations were mushrooming across the United States in the 1920s.
In March of 1922, the Atlanta Journal opened up WSB in Atlanta, the first
radio station in the south. Six months later on September 9, Fiddlin'
John Carson made his radio debut, one of the first country music performers
to modulate the airwaves.
The Grand
Ole Opry, originally known as the WSM Barn Dance, made its inaugural
broadcast on November 28, 1925.
In the 1920s, Ma
Rainey, "The Mother of the Blues," became a featured performer on the
T.O.B.A (Theater Owners Booking Association) circuit. Before signing
a recording contract with Paramount Records in 1923, Rainey had almost
a quarter century's worth of stage work to her credit.
Bessie
Smith was the greatest and most influential classic blues singer of
the 1920s. During her heyday, she earned upwards of $2000 per week,
a queenly sum in the 20s.
King
Oliver is a legend in Jazz history. As a trumpet player,
he was strongly influenced by Buddy
Bolden whom he imitated, but Oliver soon became a Jazz stylist in his
own right. In the end, the designation of "king," which Bolden had long
assumed, became Oliver's--particularly after one memorable night in Storyville.
In the early 1920s, Louis
Armstrong joined King Oliver in Chicago--playing solos with Fletcher
Henderson at the Roseland Ballroom in New York and making jazz history
with the Hot Five.
Cow
Cow Davenport was one of the earliest boogie-woogie pianists.
Sippie
Wallace was born in Texas and carried with her a tradition of Texas-styled
blues that emphasized risque` lyrics and rough-cut, rural vocal phrasing
rather than the sophisticated accents of the era's more cosmopolitan blues
singers. Although her recording career stretched throughout most
of the 20s, her best work was done from 1923 to 1927 when the likes of
Louis Armstrong,
Johnny
Dodds,
Sidney Bechet,
and Clarence Williams
accompanied her in the recording studio.
Blind
Lemon Jefferson recorded over eighty blues tunes between 1925 and 1929
and was generally responsible for the surge of popularity in the country
blues in this period.
During the mid-1920s, the unexpectedly strong
sales of Blind Lemon Jefferson's Paramount 78s sent record scouts scrambling
to sign male blues artists. One of their best discoveries was Blind
Blake, a swinging, sophisticated guitarist whose warm, relaxed voice
was a far cry from harsh country blues.
Charlie Poole
developed a three-fingered banjo playing technique
after a baseball accident injured his right hand. This technique influenced
many banjo players and would later be perfected by Earl Scruggs.
Ralph
Peer recorded Jimmie
Rodgers and the Carter
Family in Bristol, Tennessee in 1927. Rodgers, known as "The
Father of Country Music," reportedly sold over 20 million records in the
six years of his career.
Gid
Tanner and His Skillet Lickers was the most prolific of the Georgia
string bands of the 20s and 30s in terms of number of recordings.
Blind
Willie McTell recorded his first sides for the Victor company in 1927
in Atlanta.
Memphis Minnie
signed with Columbia records in 1929.
Charlie
Patton and Son
House defined early Delta blues in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
