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(Contributed / Johnson City Press)

Johnson City Sessions - Columbia Records executive mined music gold in Johnson City

By Doug Janz
Press Tempo Writer
djanz@johnsoncitypress.com

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Few people remember or even know about the Johnson City Sessions.

It was in October 1928 when a fascinating collection of amateur and professional musicians emerged from the mountains and towns of Appalachia to record their music, drawn by an ad in the Johnson City newspaper that asked: “Can You Sing or Play Old-Time Music? This is an actual try-out for the purpose of making Columbia Records.”

The sessions were directly inspired by the legendary Bristol Sessions of 1927 that were overseen by Ralph Peer for the Victor record label. A year later, Peer returned for another round of recording in Bristol, and within a few days of his departure, one of his rivals in the fledgling record business, Frank B. Walker of Columbia, put out his call for musicians to come to Johnson City.

“Columbia Records, witnessing the popularity of the 1927 Bristol recordings, sent one of their producers to Johnson City to sort of see if lightning would strike twice in the same area,” said Ted Olson, professor of Appalachian Studies at East Tennessee State University.

The musicians met Walker at his headquarters in the John Sevier Hotel, perhaps even doing auditions there, and then the chosen artists were called the next day to the upstairs of a shop on Main Street, where they played their music in a makeshift recording studio.

“Most of them must have been relatively new if not completely new to the recording process, which itself was still quite new and had a power and an allure,” Olson said. “It was a delightful newspaper ad, asking you to come record music for money. People had never heard of that kind of thing. Apparently they had a huge response to it.”

Walker recorded more than 20 artists and 67 songs over four days, going through them quickly at a pace unheard of by today’s recording standards. Unlike the Bristol Sessions of 1927, there were no legends like Jimmie Rodgers or the A.P. Carter Family to emerge from the Johnson City Sessions in 1928, but there was some very good stuff, and a year later, in October 1929, Walker returned to Johnson City for a second session that was even better than the first one.

He and his assistant, Bill Brown of Atlanta, likely followed the same process both years, doing tryouts and then recording in their upstairs studio.

These recording sessions took place at 334 E. Main St., an address that no longer exists. The building likely stood where an on-ramp to Interstate 26 is now located, next to the WJHL building. While information on this building is sketchy, one member of the recording session remembered it as having a cream separating station downstairs.

But it served its purpose as a recording studio, giving birth to some fine examples of traditional Appalachian music.

“The Johnson City Sessions were incredibly important for a variety of reasons, but they’ve been overshadowed by the Bristol Sessions,” Olson said. “Particularly the 1929 sessions were very influential, with recordings that continue to reverberate in the American consciousness. People may know the records but may not realize they were first recorded in Johnson City.”

Olson and historian Charles K. Wolfe edited and contributed to a book called “The Bristol Sessions: Writings about the Big Bang of Country Music,” and they included a section on the Johnson City Sessions.

“The 1929 sessions were more historically significant than 1928 here, generating key recordings from the Bentley Boys, Clarence ‘Tom’ Ashley, the Roane County Ramblers and Charlie Bowman, among others,” Olson said.

Ashley recorded “The Coo-Coo Bird” and The Bentley Boys recorded “Down on Penny’s Farm” in 1929. Both of those recordings were on Harry Smith’s famous recording “Anthology of American Folk Music,” which came out in the 1950s and inspired such folk revivalist musicians as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.

Olson describes the 1929 sessions, which totaled 18 acts (13 new ones and five returnees from the previous year) and 65 sides:

“On Wednesday, Walker hit artistic paydirt by recording Ashley, and his four songs have become classics, particularly his ‘The Coo Coo Bird.’ It was of British origin but he reworked it for Appalachia.

“It describes the emotions of a singer who’s lovelorn. There’s a melancholy air to it, it has a minor tuning and he played it on the banjo. Ashley had a very distinctive style; he was a fine old-time banjo player with a haunting voice.”

Ashley also recorded at the session as a member of Byrd Moore and His Hot Shots. (In later years, Ashley would be instrumental in helping a young guitar player named Doc Watson get “discovered.” Had Ashley not done the Johnson City Sessions and gained subsequent notoriety, perhaps Watson would not have been noticed when he was, Olson speculates.)

In their session, The Bentley Boys, relative unknowns as musicians, did “Down on Penny’s Farm,” a song with African-American roots, and it also later made Smith’s anthology. It inspired not one but two of Dylan’s songs — “Hard Times in New York Town” and “Maggie’s Farm.” (Another Johnson City-recorded tune also appeared on that anthology, “Old Lady and the Devil” by Bill and Belle Reed.)

One of the best from the 1928 session was “When Roses Bloom Again” by Earl Shirkey and Roy Harper, a hit of sorts. The Roane County Ramblers were one of Tennessee’s greatest string bands, so their presence at the sessions both years was significant. Not to be overlooked was work by Fiddlin’ Charlie Bowman, a local farmer turned musician who became one of the pioneers of country music with his distinctive fiddling style.

The commercial success of recordings made here, particularly the 1929 sessions, was hurt by the October 1929 Wall Street crash and the onset of the Great Depression. While music historians acknowledge the importance of these Johnson City Sessions, the general public and even most musicians don’t know much about them.

Olson would love to see some kind of commemoration, even a historical marker, to celebrate the events.

“They deserve a lot more attention than they’ve received,” Olson said. “Some very important records were made here.”

Reach Doug Janz at djanz@johnsoncitypress.com.