Clayton McMichen: The Traditional Years
Between the two of them, Arthur Smith (who died in 1973) and Clayton McMichen (1900-1970) pretty much determined the direction of modern southern folk fiddling styles. A lot of the music of today's fiddling contests, a lot of the bluegrass fiddling styles, and even notions of back-up fiddling can be traced back to these two men. Both reached their peaks of popularity in the 1930's, and both lived to see themselves become "living legends" - - whatever that phrase means. Smith, in his quiet, serious way, was bemused by all the hoopla; McMichen, in his fierce individualism, was on occasion outraged by it. Though the tunes and the styles of these two men are apparent at almost every serious southern fiddling meet today, little of their work has been available on LP. Generations of people know of them only indirectly, through the work of other fiddlers. To partially remedy that, we are proud to present the first reissue devoted solely to the fiddle music of Clayton McMichen.
McMichen's career has generally been divided into two major parts: the music he made in the 1920's and early 1930's, when he was probably the most frequently recorded old-time fiddler, and when he worked on countless records with traditional musicians like Riley Puckett and the skillet Lickers; and the music of the mid-and -late 1930's, when Mac fronted his own band, the Georgia Wildcats, and moved out of traditional mountain style music into the newer, jazz-influenced western-swing style. There is much rewarding music in each of these two eras of Mac's career, but generally the music of the 1920's appeals to a different audience than does the music of the 1930's. For this reason, we have decided to concentrate on the "traditional" side of Mac's music in this LP. A later album is projected to document the 1930's music.
Clayton McMichen was born in Allatonna, Georgia, northwest of Atlanta, on January 26, 1900; as a boy Mac learned to fiddle from his father and his uncles, some of whom were formally trained and on occasion played Viennese waltzes as a chaser for their hoedowns. Young McMichen won his first fiddle contest in 1914, the year World War broke out; he was to continue winning contests throughout his life, and in one incredible spell from 1925-1932 he won the National Old-Time Fiddling Championship for eight years in a row. During World War I Mac moved to Atlanta and started working as an automobile mechanic, and then for a time as a railroad fireman. He met a number of other young local musicians who were interested in old time tunes as well as modern styles; Atlanta in the early 1920's was a bustling city as interested in the new-fangled jazz styles as old time music. Mac met up with people like Mike and Charles Whitten, Ezra Ted Hawkins (mandolin player), singer Riley Puckett, and fiddler Lowe Stokes. Stokes was to be a special influence on Mac; they roomed together in Atlanta, and Stokes passed onto Mac some of the fiddle style he had learned from the legendary fiddler from north Georgia, Joe Lee. Lee taught Stokes a form of long bow style, and showed him how to keep his strings run down to standard or lower pitch to give him a mellower tone and allow him to engage in fancy fingering. Stokes passed on much of this to Mac, and Mac eventually developed it into his own "superstyle." It was a style characterized by adapting the finely-noted, high-precision long bow style to the drive and rhythm of the older southeastern mountain fiddling patterns.
By 1922 Mac had formed his first band, The Hometown Boys, and they were among the first acts to perform on Atlanta station WSB. The group made its first records in 1925, but they weren't successful; they were fiddle standards played with a touch of dixieland jazz, and a bit odd for the day. Mac played in fiddling contests in Atlanta, and at one time helped start a new Fiddlers' Association devoted to counteracting the predominance of John Carson and Gid Tanner in Georgia fiddling. But a few years later, Mac joined forces with Gid Tanner to form the Skillet Lickers, the most famous old-time band of the 1920's. Mac and Lowe Stokes did much of the lead fiddling on the nearly one hundred sides the Skillet Lickers made between 1926-1931. Mac also recorded with his own group, McMichen's Melody Men, a series of more modern, sentimental numbers, but these seldom sold as well as the hell-for-leather breakdowns of the Skillet Lickers. (The one exception was the Melody Men's "Sweet Bunch of Daisies.") In fact, in the late 1920's Mac was recording with as many as nine or ten "splinter groups" in addition to The Skillet Lickers.
McMichen felt confined by the more traditional music; he wanted to break out, experiment, push his music in the direction of pop. He finally broke with the Skillet Lickers in 1931, and joined forces with a young hot guitarist named Slim Bryant to form the Georgia Wildcats. He also worked with Jimmie Rodgers during this time, and Rodgers recorded Mac's "Peach Picking Time in Georgia" as one of his big hits. Mac began playing more and more around the Cincinnati area, and at times led a full-fledged dixieland band. Throughout the 1940's he played for WAVE in Louisville, and retired in 1955 to run a tavern. He was rediscovered by fans of the folk music revival in the 1960's, and made several concert appearances before fans who remembered him primarily as a Skillet Licker. But even then Mac would not be confined to the old forms: on one occasion he brought along an accompanist who promptly plugged in a big electric guitar!
Some of the records on this LP were among the most popular old time sides ever recorded; others (such as those from the Depression years of 1930-31) sold so few copies that for all practical purposes they were never released to the public. However, they represent some of Mac's finest music, and deserve wider exposure. In general, we have tried to present a cross-section of Mac's music here: the traditional pieces (and make no mistake: in spite of his reservations about traditional music, Mac was one of its finest performers); the sweet, sentimental pieces; and the swing-styled pieces.
-Charles Wolfe
1 McMICHEN'S REEL (Recorded 1929) features Mac with Riley Puckett backing him on guitar. Later in life, Mac admitted that Riley, with his unusual guitar style and oddly-timed runs, was not the easiest guitarist to work with, but the two often seemed to inspire each other. Riley's back-up here is solid and (for him) rather simple, but throughly effective.
2 FIDDLIN' MEDLEY (Recorded 1927) is an example of old-time contest style fiddling, where the contestant was expected to, in the words of one old fiddler, "get out there and whup it out by his-self" - - no guitar or string band back-up. Mac didn't record many examples of pure solo fiddling, but this is one of his finest. The individual tunes, of course, are "Durang's Hornpipe," "Soldier's Joy," and "Ryestraw."
3 SWEET BUNCH OF DAISIES (Recorded 1926) was one of Mac's biggest hits that he recorded under his own name, and the song has gone on to become a fiddle standard, known by almost everyone and played at every contest. This version of the piece features McMichen's Melody Men, a recording band that Mac headed when he wanted to record "sweet" tunes: it generally included Mac and his brother-in-law Bert Layne, fiddles; K.D. Malone, clarinet (Mac had used clarinets in his band since his very first recording session in 1925); and Riley Puckett, guitar. Riley here does the vocal. This tune, originally written by Anita Owen in 1894, was probably based on an even earlier yodel song. Mac recorded a version in 1925 but, in his own words, "it was a Brody."
4 McMICHEN'S BREAKDOWN (Recorded 1931) was from the last session Mac recorded with the Skillet Lickers and is an original breakdown that seems vaguely based on the "Sally Gooden" changes. It's hard to hear any other Skillet Lickers here besides Riley (notice how he "pulls" his bass strings), but they probably included Bert Layne (who seems to be leading the cheers) and perhaps Gid Tanner playing banjo (as he did on some late Skillet Lickers sides.) Released in the depth of the Depression when few could afford the luxury of records, this side has been heard by hardly anyone but the most avid record collector.
5 MY CAROLINA HOME (Recorded 1927) is another lovely effort by McMichen's Melody Men, with Mac singing lead and Riley harmonizing. Bert Layne recalls that this song had been produced by Mac, himself, and Lowe Stokes sometime in early 1926. Mac (under the pseudonym Bob Nichols 1 and Riley had recorded an earlier version of this piece in 1926, and it was a giant hit - - bigger than even "Sweet Bunch of Daisies." In 1927 Mac decided to re-record it under his own name with a more sophisticated twin-fiddle sound. This latter version, though not nearly as commercially successful as the first, is in many ways more appealing, and we have chosen it for inclusion here.
6 FLY AROUND MY PRETTY LITTLE MISS (Recorded 1928) is the only side here that shows how Mac sounded leading the full Skillet Lickers band in one of their wild cavalry charges through traditional fiddle music. (More examples of Mac with the Skillet Lickers can be found on any of the six Skillet Lickers reissues now available.) Gid Tanner is probably playing the high fiddle part, and Riley is leading the singing.
7 CUMBERLAND VALLEY WALTZ (Recorded 1930) is perhaps Mac's finest recorded waltz, replete with the kind of trills, grace notes, and harmonics that won him the national fiddle championship many times. Riley again plays a simple, unobtrusive back-up that beautifully complements Mac's style. Mac is listed as composer of this piece, though it has also been recorded under the title "Lookout Valley Waltz." To fiddlers today who complain about the lack of good waltzes to play: take note of this.
8 DEVIL'S DREAM/RICKETT'S HORNPIPE/FISHER'S HORNPIPE (Recorded 1939) was one of a series of fiddling standards that McMichen recorded toward the end of his career; they are some of his very finest work. Though most of Mac's recordings at this time were quite commercial, these fiddling sides are pure examples of technical virtuosity; it's almost as if Mac wanted to prove that he could still do traditional fiddling in spite of his drift toward modernism. The back-up personnel for these medleys has never been fully established. Note the great double stops here, and the way Mac modulates down three keys in "Fisher's."
9 HOG TROUGH REEL (Recorded 1932) was recorded with the earliest version of the Georgia Wildcats, the band Mac formed when he left the Skillet Lickers. The personnel for the band during this time included Mac and at times Bert Layne, fiddles; Slim Bryant, Pat Perryman, and/or Jack Dunigan, guitars; and Jerry Wallace, banjo. There's a distinct jazz influence here, especially in Mac's phrasing toward the end.
10 HONOLULU MOON (Recorded 1929) is another effort by the Melody Men, with Mac doing the vocals. (People tend to forget that in the early days Mac sang on records about as much as he fiddled; he's no Riley Puckett, but does have a distinctive and pleasant voice.) An added bonus here is the Hawaiian guitar player, who is probably Jimmy Tarlton.
11 WILD CAT RAG (Recorded 1931) is from the very first session with the new Georgia Wildcats (notice how Mac introduces them on record). Slim Bryant, the keystone of the new band, takes a couple of exciting single-string guitar solos, giving the whole affair a sound reminiscent of the jazz-blues guitar-fiddle duets of Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang. Bert Layne has composer credits on this piece, and, in this writer's opinion, it well may be Bert playing the lead fiddle here, with Mac actually joining on the second, lower fiddle on the last chorus.
12 GEORGIA WILDCAT BREAKDOWN (Recorded 1932) is an attempt to inject some of the good-time atmosphere of the old Skillet Lickers sessions into the new Georgia Wildcat session. The effect is a lot of strained, silly shouting which gets in the way of the performance, itself an exhibit of McMichen's customary drive and skill.
13 YUM YUM BLUES (Recorded 1931) is from the first Georgia Wildcat session, and was written by Slim Bryant. (Presumably he is the vocalist as well.) More than any other performance here, this shows Mac moving in a more modern, western swing-oriented direction; within another three or four years songs like this would be his staples. Nonetheless, this version of the tune (Mac later recorded a more "sophisticated" one) retains much of the traditional charm of his earlier work.
14 SOLDIER'SJOY/AR KANSAS TRAVELER/MISSISSIPPISAWYER (Recorded 1939) is another late medley where Mac is backed by a banjo player who may well be Jerry Wallace. (Note how the banjoist makes bass runs, a la Riley Puckett.) A comparison of this version of "Soldier's Joy" with the one in the "Fiddlin' Medley" on side one, recorded some twelve years earlier, reveals some interesting stylistic development in Mac's fiddling.
15 FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN/IDA RED/ SALLY GOODEN (Recorded 1939, 1941) recorded with both banjo and guitar, are later versions of songs that Mac recorded in the 1920's with Riley Puckett. Here is fierce, densely textured, driving fiddling, and appropriate climax to this survey of McMichen's traditional canon.
