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From ?Old Time Herald?
June ? July 2007 Review
Sunset Memories
I?m Sad and Blue/Gypsy Rag/Maudeline/On the Beach/By the Cottage Door/Downfall of Paris/It Might Have Been Worse/Evalina Waltz/Lexington/Take Me Home to Lincoln/Hawaiian Nights/Truckdriver?s Song/Silver Bell/Black Satin/Sunset Memories/Trail of the Lonesome Pine
The Perry County Music Makers, Nonnie Presson and Bulow Smith, were originally a brother-sister duo from Pine View, Tennessee musically active during the late 1920s and into the 1980s. They recorded four sides for Vocalion Records in 1930 that displayed their homespun, but unique style of old-time country music. When listening to those records (and this CD), two things immediately stand out. First is the group?s haunting harmony singing; the other is the sound of the unusual and unique instrument played by Nonnie- and over-sized, cutom built zither. Judging from the photographs in the booklet, the zither is shaped like an autoharp, but quite a bit longer and about 4-5 inches thick, with two sound holes on the top. Nonnie plucked it with both hands. The Music Makers drew their material from a wide range of sources- parlor songs and popular music from the late 19th century, fiddle and banjo instrumentals, and many of Nonnie?s own compositions- and rendered them in a style that might be described as remotely similar to the Cartewr Family, but at the same time very much their own. Regarding Nonnie?s compositions, a friend of hers once said, ?She has the knack to write a song on a day and sing it the next and it somehow sounds as old as the hills- even though you know it?s just been written.?
The duo retired from the professional side of music in the early 1940s to tend to family responsibilities. After coming to the attention of country music scholars in the early 1970s, Nonnie and Bulow dusted off and restrung their instruments, and joined by their cousin Virginia Clayborne, began playing again, mostly close to home. The group made two records for the fledgling Davis Unlimited Records label in 1974 and 1976, which revealed that the Music Makers? sound had not changed significantly in the 45 years since their first recording sessions.
The material on this CD comes from the group?s 1974 Davis Unlimited album (Sunset Memories, DU-33009) and is part of a series of planned reissues of Davis Unlimited LPs recently introduced by Spring Fed Records of Woodbury, Tennessee. Included are new recordings of three of the songs recorded by Nonnie and Bulow in 1930 (?I?m Sad and Blue,? ?Maudeline,? and ?By the Cottage Door?), fiddle or banjo tunes adapted to the zither by Nonnie (?Downfall of Paris,? ?Lexington? [a version of ?Love Somebody,? ?Lead Out,? etc.], and ?Black Satin?), older popular songs played as instrumentals (?On the Beach,? ?Evalina Waltz,? ?Hawiian Nights,? ?Silver Bell,? and ?Trail of the lonesome Pine?), a song from the medicine show tradition (?It Might Have Been Worse?), and several new compositions by Nonnie (?Gypsy Rag,? ?Take Me To Lincoln,? ?Truckdriver?s Song,? and ?Sunset Memories?). The performances given here by Bulow, Nonnie, and Virginia, all by then in their later years, are quite polished and yet have an informal and familiar feel to them that immediately wins over listeners, a quality which no doubt contributed to their popularity on the stage as well as over the airwaves during their stints on the radio in Nashville. The pace of the songs and instrumentals is steady and the tempo relaxed throughout (no dance music here), but the material itself grabs you, whether it?s Nonnie?s fine zither picking, the solid trio harmonies, or just the timeless subject matter of the songs, both old and new. As part of the reissue, the original notes, by the late Charles K. Wolfe, are included. In his notes, Wolfe provides some biographical background on the group, and a little history on each of the songs. The new cover design cleverly includes the original art. I was glad when I stumbled onto the Perry County Music Makers through the Sunset Memories LP in a Kentucky record store almost 20 years ago. I realized right away that I had stumbled onto something great. This album by the PCMM provides us with a glimpse into a branch of old-time music that had pretty much fallen by the wayside today. It?s good to know that the wonderful music of this Tennessee ensemble is once again out there to be savored by all.
Jim Nelson
Rating:  [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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