Collections Archives - The Birthplace of Country Music

From the Vault: National Fiddle Day

Collections

December 13, 2022

Posted on December 13, 2022 by Julia Underkoffler

While December 13 – today – is National Violin Day, here at the Birthplace of Country Music, we celebrate it as National Fiddle Day!

The violin or fiddle is believed to have originated in 16th-century Italy, though there are certainly earlier instruments, particularly from the Middle East, that are viewed as part of the fiddle’s “family tree.” Soon after its appearance or development in Italy, the modern fiddle began to move into other areas of Europe, including England, Ireland, and Scotland, and it was primarily immigrants from these areas, along with French settlers, who brought the fiddle across the Atlantic to North America.

As early as 1736, there are written accounts of fiddle contests in the South, and the fiddle was the primary musical instrument in southern Appalachia through World War II. It was often accompanied by the banjo, making them the foundational instruments for string band music. Despite the instrument’s common association with white rural musicians, a strong African American fiddle tradition developed in the 19th century and Native Americans and Mexican Americans also explored their own fiddle styles in the Southwest.

The four-stringed instrument is played with a bow, though it can also be strummed or plucked. People tend to use the term violin when the instrument is played for classical or chamber music, symphonies, or orchestras, while the term fiddle is associated with Cajun, Irish, bluegrass, folk, oldtime, and country music – tunes where musicians can really let loose and play! Historically, the fiddle was sometimes referred to as “The Devil’s Box” because many people associated the fiddle with dancing, drinking, and merry-making – activities viewed by some as improper.

Left: Blind Alfred Reed’s family brought the fiddle he played on the 1927 Bristol Sessions recordings to the museum’s 90th anniversary in 2017. In this photograph, it is being shown to Ralph Peer II. Right: Charles McReynolds was a part of the Bull Mountain Moonshiners who played at the 1927 Bristol Sessions. McReynolds was a lively fiddle player and a pillow had to be placed under his foot during the band’s 1927 recordings. His grandsons Jim and Jesse McReynolds became big stars on WCYB’s Farm and Fun Time, and Jesse can be seen her playing Charles’s fiddle on Radio Bristol’s revival of the show!

The museum is fortunate to have several fiddles within our collection:

The fiddle on display in the museum’s permanent exhibit was made in 1935. Several artists played the fiddle on recordings from the 1927 Bristol Sessions, including Hattie Stoneman, Blind Alfred Reed, Kahle Brewer, Jesse and Pyrhus Shelor of the Shelor Family/Dad Blackard’s Moonshiners, J. E. Green with Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Baker, Jack Pierce of the Tenneva Ramblers, Charles McReynolds of the Bull Mountain Moonshiners, Norman Edmonds, Wesley “Bane” Boyles of the West Virginia Coon Hunters, and Uncle Eck Dunford. Our display fiddle is very similar to the fiddles that would have been played at the 1927 Bristol Sessions.

This fiddle was owned and played by Herbert Sweet, who played with his brother Earl in the 1920s and 1930s. The inside of the fiddle’s case has handwritten details of several places where they played, including a Gennett Records session in 1928 with Ernest Stoneman and WOPI, a Bristol radio station. Herbert played this instrument well into the 1980s, as told by Ruth Roe, who donated the instrument to us.

A few years back, we received two fiddles from Tennessee Ernie Ford Enterprises. The fiddles belonged to Mr. and Mrs. T. C. Ford, the parents of Tennessee Ernie Ford. They lived in the area throughout their lives, and Ernie referenced his Bristol roots often in his radio and television shows.

This fiddle was owned and played by Charlie Bowman, an East Tennessee museum whose distinctive fiddling style was a major influence on early country music in the 1920s and 1930s. Inside the f-holes on the instrument, there are etchings of “Charlie Bowman” and “1934.” This fiddle is currently on loan to us from Bowman’s great-nephew Bob Cox.

Matchstick modeling has its origins as a pastime of prisoners during the 18th century. Many things can be built out of matchsticks – from architectural structures to tea cups. The museum has two matchstick fiddles in our collection where the bodies of the instruments are made completely out of matchsticks. Made by Wade Nichols and donated to the museum by Anita Morrell from her father Joe’s collection, it would be interesting to know how this unusual construction and wood source affected their sound!

The image at the top of this page is of Ernest Stoneman’s band, known by different names including The Stoneman Family, the Blue Ridge Corn Shuckers, and Ernest V. Stoneman & His Dixie Mountaineers. Two fiddle players are seen on the back row: Uncle Eck Dunford and Hattie Stoneman. From the John Edwards Memorial Foundation Records, #20001, Southern Folklife Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Julia Underkoffler is the Collections Specialist at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.

The World of Marty Stuart: Country Music’s Legacy in Mississippi

Collections History Museum

December 10, 2022

Posted on December 10, 2022December 10, 2022 by Guest Blogger

Today we welcome guest writer Miriam Meeks to the BCM Blog as she shares stories and objects from a wonderful special exhibit currently on display at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) in Jackson until December 31. Focused on Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion favorite Marty Stuart and his collection of country music artifacts, this exhibit is sure to be of interest to Birthplace of Country Music fans and friends! Enjoy!

As the year begins to wind down, many people are feeling nostalgic for the past. Until December 31, fans of country music will be able to take a walk down memory lane through the golden age of country music at The World of Marty Stuart, a collaboration between Grammy-winning musician Marty Stuart and MDAH to tell the story of country music with emphasis on its lasting role within Mississippi. The World of Marty Stuart exhibit covers his life and legacy of preserving country music’s stories, photographs, instruments, costumes, and more.

Marty Stuart with his electric guitar. Photo by Alysse Gafken; courtesy of Mississippi Department of Archives and History

As a young boy, Stuart began playing music in his hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi. He joined The Sullivans, a family bluegrass gospel group based in Alabama, after being drawn to bluegrass and gospel music. He played guitar and mandolin with them until eventually meeting bluegrass musician Roland White, who invited Stuart to back Lester Flatt’s band.

After touring with Flatt, Stuart recorded his first solo album, With a Little Help from My Friends, and performed with various artists like Vassar Clements and Doc Watson before joining Johnny Cash’s band in 1980. Stuart collected memorabilia from shows played by fellow musicians, many of whom were friends and mentors of Stuart. His greatest passion to safeguard the legacy of country music strengthened as he continued to produce solo albums.

Over the years, Stuart’s trove of treasures grew as he recognized the importance of preservation. “Somewhere along the way, about the early ‘80s, those artifacts were being discarded,” said Stuart. “So it became a self-appointed mission to curate, protect, and preserve that end of country music: authentic, traditional country music. The people and their treasures.” Hundreds of these priceless artifacts are currently housed at the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson as part of The World of Marty Stuart exhibit.

Drum set used by Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives. Artifacts courtesy of Marty Stuart; photography by Mark Geil

Stuart and the MDAH worked together to curate a truly timeless exhibit, one that gives a small glimpse into Stuart’s dedicated collection. A plethora of pieces from the golden age of country music are on display, including Stuart’s first guitar; original manuscripts from Hank Williams; guitars that belonged to Merle Haggard and Pops Staples; and costumes worn by Porter Wagoner, Dolly Parton, and Johnny Cash, including Cash’s “Walk the Line” performance suit.

Eagle-eyed visitors will recognize the connection to the namesake for Stuart’s second solo album from 1982. Stuart first experienced rhythm and blues as a young boy at the Busy Bee Café, now the Busy Bee Suites, in Philadelphia. Virgil Griffin and the Rhythm Kings frequently played there, and now the group’s original bass drum head rests at the Two Mississippi Museums. A school essay also hangs in the halls of the exhibit. A young Stuart was asked by his teacher, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” to which Stuart wrote, “a musician.” Now his answer has come full circle. The exhibit is the living embodiment of Stuart’s musical journey resting in the state that raised him.

Various performance costumes featured in The World of Marty Stuart exhibit. Photo courtesy of Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

What you see in the exhibit is only the tip of the iceberg – in actuality, Stuart has collected over 20,000 pieces of country music memorabilia and historic items, which will settle in the future home of Marty Stuart’s Congress of Country Music in Philadelphia. This Congress will be a celebration of country music and a culmination of the musician’s ultimate goals.

The World of Marty Stuart exhibit is brought to you by the title sponsor, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi, as well as by AT&T and Visit Mississippi. The World of Marty Stuart runs through December 31, 2022, with regular exhibit hours: Tuesday—Saturday, 9:00am—5:00pm and Sunday, 11:00am—5:00pm. For more information, visit www.mdah.ms.gov. You can also check out Stuart’s memoir, The World of Marty Stuart. The book covers his life with photographs and artifact reproductions straight from his collection. It was published by MDAH and distributed by the University Press of Mississippi.

Finally, check out the interview with Nan Prince, Director of Collections at MDAH, that we conducted last week on the Birthplace of Country Music Museum’s Museum Talk radio show.

Image at top of page: Marty Stuart and his acoustic guitar. Photo by Alysse Gafken; courtesy of Mississippi Department of Archives and History

Miriam Meeks is the Content Writer of Moore Media Group in Jackson, Mississippi.

From the Vault: In Memory

Collections Museum

September 20, 2022

Posted on September 20, 2022 by Julia Underkoffler

Museums build their collections by purchasing items, receiving donations, and getting objects or images on loan, some of which may later turn into a permanent part of the collection. When something enters our permanent collection, it becomes “accessioned” and is given an accession number, entered into the collections database, and stored safely in the museum’s secure storage or put on display.

The Birthplace of Country Music Museum (BCMM) has two separate collections where we accession items:

The museum collection, which serves as a place to preserve important items related to the museum’s content, many of which will be used in our permanent or special exhibits at some point
The education collection, which includes items that we will take out and use as hands-on examples when we go to schools or for outreach activities

Both collections are very important to our mission, which states that the museum will “develop programs of exhibitions, education, research, and publications and events that engage our audiences.”

A large percentage of BCMM’s collections come from donations, and we are always very grateful for these gifts. However, we have a very strict collection policy and limited storage space, and so each potential donation has to be assessed carefully before it is accepted and accessioned into the museum. BCMM’s collections policy states that our permanent collection should consist of, “items that help tell the story of the Bristol Sessions, most notably instruments, photographs and negatives, audiovisual materials, paper items (songbooks, sheet music, letters, and ephemera), legacy playback and recording machines, and items related to radio in the Tri-Cities and upper Southeast. The museum also houses its institutional archives, including items related to the Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion festival.” We also keep items relating to and about Tennessee Ernie Ford and radio equipment. A visitor to our website can find out more about our collections, including a detailed list of the types of items we accept as donations. However, if you are interested in possibly donating an item to a museum you should always contact their collections department to see if the proposed item fits into their collection and that they have space to store it in the correct conditions.

People decide to donate to museum collections for a variety of reasons. For instance, some people may want to donate objects that have been found while decluttering their house. Another reason is that the donor values the item, but no other family member may be interested in it as much as the donor. Wanting the item to go to a good home and be preserved is another reason behind museum donations. Finally, the donor may recognize the item’s historical importance or see how the story it tells connects in an interesting way to the museum’s content.

When donating artifacts, many people choose to do so in memory of a loved one who has passed. At the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, we receive a lot of country music records and other items donated in memory of a friend or family member. In these cases, the donors want a place where the items will be cared for and cherished as much as their loved one did, and the donation process is often poignant as they share the stories of their loved ones with museum staff. This recognition is an important part of the donation for the donor and is reflected in the credit line they provide for use in the museum’s collections database and on any labels when the item is on display or used for other purposes, such as social media or a blog post like this one!

Here are just a few of the items in BCMM’s collections that have been donated in memory of loved ones:

In Memory of Carolyn Clark

In June 2022, the museum received a donation of three records in memory of Carolyn Clark from her sons. The records were brought to the museum by Mrs. Clark’s husband and included Arthur Smith’s Singing On The Mountain, The Carter Family Album, and Dolly Parton’s As Long As I Love. These records will enhance the museum’s collections, especially in the connections that can be made between two of them and an upcoming special exhibit on women in old-time music, and the donation gives the family the chance to remember their wife and mother in a meaningful way.

In Memory of W. A. Wilson

In October 2021, we received multiple items related to W. A. Wilson, the founder and first president of WOPI-AM, a well-known Bristol radio station and the first radio station between Knoxville and Raleigh. From his family, we received a framed record, medal, and program from Wilson’s induction into the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame providing a wonderful piece of Bristol’s radio history for our museum.

In Memory of Ernest Phipps

In 2017, we received multiple items that belonged to Ernest Phipps. Phipps recorded six songs on July 26, 1927 at the Bristol Sessions. His granddaughter donated Phipps’s military dog tags, his marriage license with Minnie Douglas, five family photos, a typed list of his recordings, and a copy of Charles Richard Phipps’s birth certificate at the 90th anniversary celebration of the 1927 Bristol Sessions. This year, for the 95th anniversary of the 1927 Bristol Sessions, we put Phipps’s dog tags and a photo on display.

In Memory of Ruth Hamm

Also in 2017, Dorothy Horne donated 54 shape note songbooks from the mid-1900s singing schools, in memory of her mother, Ruth Hamm. These songbooks are a great resource to see how people learned to sing – and find the correct pitch for – the many popular sacred songs of the era. Hamm went to a lot of singing schools and bought most of the shape note songbooks when they were released.

In Memory of Bill Inscho

In 2018, Lawrence Inscho donated 11 photos taken at the Grand Ole Opry by his father, Bill Inscho, in 1945 and a photo of his father Bill. These photographs are a wonderful personal record of several famous stars performing on the stage at the Opry, including Pee Wee King, Uncle Dave Macon, and Zeke Clements.

We love getting to preserve the wonderful pieces that families have enjoyed for years and hearing the stories of why they want them to be preserved. If you have any artifacts that may be of interest to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum’s collectio,n please reach out to collections@birthplaceofcountrymusic.org.

* Image at top of page: The dream of visible collections storage as seen at the Brooklyn Museum. Photograph by Mark B. Schlemmer

Julia Underkoffler is the Birthplace of Country Music Museum’s Collections Specialist.

From The Vault: The 1927 Sears, Roebuck Catalogue

Collections Museum

August 18, 2021

Posted on August 18, 2021November 18, 2022 by Julia Underkoffler

Want to know what’s behind our closed museum vault door? With “From the Vault,” we take you behind the scenes to learn more about some of the interesting objects in our museum collections.

Long before the invention of the internet and being able to purchase goods online, you would have to travel to the nearest store or market to get the items you wanted, or even make them yourself. But that all changed with the introduction of mail-order shopping – and today being National Mail-Order Catalog Day makes it the perfect time to dive into that history and our collection to explore this history more!

Back in the 1800s, the railroads were hugely important in America, used for passenger travel, freight transport, and within specific industries like timber and coal. For Richard Warren Sears, the railroad was also his way of life. He worked as a railway station agent in North Redwood, Minnesota, which is also where Sears got into the merchandise industry. One day, he bought a shipment of watches after its delivery was refused by a jeweler. Sears then sold the watches to other station agents for a low price, making a profit for himself in the process. He had so much success with this initial foray into retail that he soon created his own company called R. W. Sears Watch Company.

A black-and-white portrait of a white man with dark hair and a big moustache. He is wearing a dark suit and patterned tie. — Richard Warren Sears. From Wikimedia Commons

In 1887 Sears met Alvah C. Roebuck, a watch repairman, and they moved the company to Chicago. In the same year, they also sent out their first mail-order catalog, which sold jewelry, diamonds, and of course, watches. Together in 1893, they created a new mail-order business that they called Sears, Roebuck and Company, and they began selling even more types of goods. The railroad again played a role in Sears’ business as trains, as well as the postal service’s Pony Express, helped to transport the merchandise they sold.

This advent of mail-order catalogs was transformative for customers. As the Sears, Roebuck Catalogue expanded and the goods for sale continued to grow, you could buy anything from jewelry and watches to musical instruments and houses! In 1897 – 30 years prior to the 1927 Bristol Sessions – customers could order an Edison phonograph from the Sears, Roebuck Catalogue, and the guitar that Maybelle Carter used on those Bristol recordings was also from the catalog. Besides guitars, the Sears, Roebuck Catalogue also sold violins (or fiddles), banjos, ukuleles, mouth organs (harmonicas), accordions, cornets, trombones, saxophones, trumpets, mellophones (French horns), clarinets, piccolos, flutes, drums, cymbals, triangles, tambourines, pianos, and all the accessories you could ever need for your instruments!

A catalog page for a 10-room Colonial style house showing a drawing of the front elevation of the house with manicured gardens in front. Below the drawing is a plan of both floors, along with a textual description of what can be found in the house. — An illustration and plan for a Colonial-style house for sale in the 1921 Sears Modern Homes Catalogue. Public domain image

Here at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, there is a facsimile of the 1927 Sears, Roebuck Catalogue on display in the permanent exhibits, along with other copies in the museum vault. As a museum intern this summer, I focused on the museum’s collections, which gave me the chance to thoroughly inventory the vault, and this catalog always seemed to draw me in. I grew up in the age of the internet, where you can buy everything and anything – to me, the Sears, Roebuck Catalogue seems like the past version of Amazon!

Even though the Sears, Roebuck Catalogue was discontinued before I was born, I have many memories of my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and parents telling me about receiving these catalogs, especially right before the holidays. The Christmas holiday issue in particular – called the Sears Wishbook – would include even more products than normal, especially toys and other gifts. My relatives would always tell me that they would circle the items that they wanted, and their parents would plan their present shopping from there.

The Sears, Roebuck Catalogue is a great example of a collections item that on first glance doesn’t seem to be about music – or even history – but that connects to the 1927 Bristol Sessions story and also reveals historical and economic context to the time in which the artists from those recordings lived.

Julia Underkoffler is a senior at Shepherd University in West Virginia, majoring in Historic Preservation and Public History. She was a Birthplace of Country Music Museum intern this past summer, when she worked on the museum collections, within the museum’s frontline team, and on various other curatorial tasks.

Putting the Band Back Together!: Using Cutting-Edge Technology to Recover Sounds From the Past

Collections Museum Radio Technology & Sound

January 6, 2020

Posted on January 6, 2020October 19, 2021 by Rene Rodgers

At the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) in Andover, Massachusetts, we recently completed an especially rewarding project for the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. The museum honored us with the task of recovering nine previously unheard, live recorded songs performed by The Stanley Brothers & The Clinch Mountain Boys on the Farm and Fun Time radio show, circa 1950, from a damaged transcription disc – a project supported by the Virginia Association of Museums’ “Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts” in 2018.

We were so thrilled to be a part of this project for two reasons in particular. One, despite our northern orientation, The Stanley Brothers happen to have quite a fan base here! And two, we always welcome a challenge, and this disc delivered.

The *Farm and Fun Time* disc showing signs of delamination. © Birthplace of Country Music; donated by Glen Harlow via Dean Casey

The damage seen on the disc in the image above is called delamination, and it means the grooved lacquer coating is separating from the aluminum base. Any missing piece of the lacquer is a loss of the audio content. Additionally, a delaminating disc cannot safely be played with a stylus because the physical contact will cause further damage.

Therefore, in order to safely retrieve the audio from the disc, we used a non-contact, optical-scanning technology called IRENE. With IRENE, we take microscopic images of the grooves, and those images are analyzed in software to produce an audio file. The concept is fairly simple, but the process can be challenging for damaged media like this.

First, we carefully “puzzled” the separated pieces of lacquer back together on the disc. We did this by lining up the grooves as best as possible, without touching the grooved surface. The added challenge here is that delamination occurs with a loss of plasticizer. The lacquer becomes brittle, shrinks, and can warp. This means that the grooves won’t be perfectly aligned. A slight offset of the grooves might not seem dramatic to the human eye, but on a microscopic level (which you can see in the images), the disruptions can be quite dizzying.

After puzzling, we imaged the disc with a Precitek CHRocodile CLS Confocal Microscope. This “camera” captures the horizontal motion of the grooves by measuring the groove’s depth. The disc is carefully mounted on a platter that rotates beneath the camera as the grooves are imaged. The image resolution is based on the disc’s original recording speed and the desired specifications for the resulting audio file. Other factors, such as the disc’s reflectivity and surface wear, dictate other imaging parameters – like the optical sampling rate and exposure.

The process creates a high-resolution TIFF image file of the surface of the disc, where you can see the extent of the damage and misaligned grooves due to delamination:

Image of the grooves on the disc resulting from the IRENE imaging process with the 3D camera. © NEDCC

One of the biggest challenges for us is getting the software – called Weaver – to follow the correct path of the groove as it shifts along the breaks. To enable this software to properly track the grooves on delaminating discs like this, we painstakingly plot the trajectory of the groove in a process called manual tracking. With proper tracking enabled, Weaver can mimic the motion of a stylus through the grooves to produce an audio file.

Weaver is a modular program built on a series of plug-ins, and our work involves selecting and adjusting settings within a set-of plug-ins. Each plug-in enables or performs a different analysis function to produce audio. For example, the VerticalFlip plug-in flips the image. This was necessary because these discs were originally recorded from the inside-out, and our cameras are only configured to scan in one direction. Flipping the image and then reversing the resulting audio file gives us the same results if we had played the record from the inside as it was originally intended. A series of tools like this allow us to manipulate the images in a variety of ways to accommodate different types of media and the unique damage they may have incurred during their lifetime.

A TIFF image of the grooves being processed for audio in the Weaver software after it has been “manually tracked.” © NEDCC

Our goal is to produce a digital file that most accurately represents the audio on this disc in its current condition. On damaged discs like this, there can be brief moments where the audio drops out due to a missing piece of lacquer. Though there is some damage on the Farm and Fun Time disc, the “raw” audio from the Weaver software is remarkably listenable. And the true measure of success for this project: it’s also danceable!

In addition to the raw audio, we created separate listening copies for this project that have been processed with historically-accurate playback equalization and some restoration work to reduce the noise and to get rid of the clicks and pops. Though this process is subjective, we did our best to respect the content. The “cleaned-up” audio is more listenable but still reminds us of the disc’s condition and the music’s place in history.

The quality of the original recording plays a large role in the fidelity of the audio we’re able to capture. In this case, it probably helps that the recording took place in a studio with professional audio engineers. And the musicians were pros too – they knew how to approach the microphone when it was their time to sing or take a solo.

Here’s a short clip to get a sense of the result:

Clinch Mountain Boys – Nine Pound Hammer sample (from WCYB Farm & Fun Time Transcription Disc)

That we were able to image the disc before it incurred any further delamination or other damage was also critical for the quality of the resulting audio. Lacquer-coated instantaneous discs are some of the most inherently fragile formats in archival collections. Delamination is one of the major preservation threats, and it can progress relatively quickly.

The museum is owed much appreciation for their efforts to save the disc before it was too late, and we’re grateful to have had the opportunity to help preserve this audio treasure! And for your chance to hear the first reveal of the songs from this rescued disc, be sure to attend the live Farm and Fun Time show in the museum’s Performance Theater on February 13 or listen online via Radio Bristol’s Facebook page!

You can learn more about the Birthplace of Country Music Museum’s valiant efforts to save the disc, including how the disc was carefully packaged and transported to NEDCC, here. You can learn more about IRENE at NEDCC here.

From the Vault: Without a Yodel – The Manuscripts of W. E. Myer and His Lonesome Ace Label

Collections History Music & Songs

July 14, 2019

Posted on July 14, 2019October 19, 2021 by Rene Rodgers

Yodeling? Maybe for Jimmie Rodgers, but not for the little-known W. E. Myer.

William Evert Myer (1884—1964) was an entrepreneur from Richlands, Virginia, who tried his hand at producing a successful record label called Lonesome Ace. Sadly he felt the crushing blows dealt by the Great Depression instead. A man of many interests and talents, Myer taught school, studied law, and worked on the accounts of a coal company before following his musical dream. He sold phonographs and records in his store and also wrote several songs – or “ballets” as he called them – preserving them in a set of manuscripts that were recently donated to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum’s collections.

Black-and-white portrait of W. E. Myer as a young man -- dark hair, dark suit, high collar and striped tie. — William Evert Myer. Gift of Dwight Dailey and Robyn Raines, in memory of their great-grandfather W. E. Myer

Unlike much of the rest of the listening public at this time, Myer didn’t like Jimmie Rodgers’ popular yodeling sound. Indeed, he immortalized his thoughts on this subject with his Lonesome Ace record label. Each record was blazoned with Charles Lindbergh’s plane The Spirit of St. Louis and bore the motto “WITHOUT A YODEL”! Lonesome Ace’s promotional material also declared: “Every song has a moral,…and all subjects are covered without the use of any ‘near decent’ language which is so prevalent among many of the modern records.” Myer’s quirky label and his work to release records were the culmination of all of his hopes: a removal of yodeling from the lexicon of American popular music and a desire to shares his musical loves.

Myer’s strong opinions led him to seek out more well-known musicians as a way to market his own songs. Most of all, he wanted his songs to be performed by musicians he liked, and one of his grandest notions was to have the famed country-blues musician Mississippi John Hurt set lyrics that Myer wrote to music. He sent Hurt several of his compositions, and Hurt set three of them to music he chose: “Waiting for You” and “Richlands Woman” set to his own melodies and “Let the Mermaids Flirt with Me,” ironically set to Jimmie Rodgers’ “Waiting for a Train.” This last song was a wild mixture of country, blues, and legendary sea creatures that was later recorded by musician Tom Hoskins in 1963.

Typed lyrics to "Let the Mermaids Flirt With Me," including copyright date of 1929 and the note "By William E. Myer." The lyrics included 6 verses and a chorus, and there is a pencil-written number 15 at the bottom of the page. — “Let the Mermaids Flirt with Me” tells the sad tale of a man who is unhappy in his home life and missing a sweetheart so he looks to burial at sea as sweet respite amongst the mermaids. Gift of Dwight Dailey and Robyn Raines, in memory of their great-grandfather W. E. Myer

Myer also approached traditional musician Dock Boggs, a banjo-frailing, hard-drinking coal miner from a musically inclined family in West Norton, Virginia. Boggs had recorded with The Magic City Trio, led by Fiddlin’ John Dykes, with New York’s Brunswick Records in March 1927, the same year as the Bristol Sessions. During the succeeding years, he did well playing in his local community for various dances and events, much to the chagrin of his wife. And In 1929 Boggs recorded with the Lonesome Ace label, producing four sides of Myer’s “ballets” with his own choice of tune, but following Myer’s advice with “False Hearted Lover’s Blues” by setting it to Myer’s suggestion of Boggs’ “Country Blues.” Even with Boggs’ skill and Myer’s entrepreneurship, the Great Depression led to the decline of the record label and Dock’s career as a musician. Myer declared bankruptcy in 1930 after releasing only three records, and Dock pawned off his banjo to make ends meet.

However, this was not the end of Dock Boggs or of W. E. Myer’s music. During the folk revival of the 1960s, Boggs was rediscovered by folk musician and folklorist Mike Seeger, who traveled to Virginia and located Boggs at his home near Needmore. Boggs had recently purchased another banjo, and after Seeger heard him play it, he convinced Boggs to perform at various folk festivals and clubs. This rediscovery brought a renewed love by the American public for the music of Dock Boggs, which continues through today.

Myer, though not revitalized by the folk revival, continues to be known because of his association with Boggs and other important musicians. The stories told to us by his family underline what a remarkable character Myer was, and his manuscripts, which are now part of the museum’s collection, highlight this even further. With song titles like “Old Rub Alcohol Blues” and “Milkin’ the Devil’s Billy Goat” – and one of my personal favorites “The New Deal Won’t Go Down,” which supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program – it is clear that Myer’s songs reflected a wide range of interests and stories! And while Myer’s Lonesome Ace may not be well-known or prolific, it certainly played a noteworthy role in the folk music of Southern Appalachia – even “without the yodel”!

The typewritten lyrics to "Milkin' the Devil's Billy Goat," including the copyright date of 1929 and "By William E. Myer" at the top of the page. The song consists of 7 verses and the chorus. — The lyrics of “Milkin’ the Devil’s Billy Goat” chastises and judges “tattlers.” Gift of Dwight Dailey and Robyn Raines, in memory of their great-grandfather W. E. Myer

Along with the William E. Myer manuscripts, the donors generously gave the museum several other items related to their great-grandfather, including the collector’s edition of The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records Vol. 2 (1928-32), which contains the duets by Emry Arthur and Della Hatfield of the two Myer’s songs they recorded.

From the Vault: A Father’s Photographs

Collections History Museum

May 7, 2019

Posted on May 7, 2019October 19, 2021 by Rene Rodgers

When you think of a specific site associated with country music, the first place that comes to mind is more than likely the Grand Ole Opry. In 2018, Lawrence Inscho, one of our regular contributors to Radio Bristol, donated a personal connection to this iconic venue to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.

But first some background: Lawrence’s father William Lawrence Inscho Sr. served in World War II as a staff sergeant. After Pearl Harbor, he was stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska – with the Alaskan Aleutian Islands as early targets of the enemy, the US military’s position there played a strategic role in the defense of the country. He was eventually stationed in Memphis, Tennessee, and during his service, he went to Nashville for a needed surgery. He met a young woman there and later married her.

Left: Portrait of William Lawrence Inscho Sr. in his military uniform. Right: Picture of Inscho Sr.'s Leica camera. — Left: Staff Sgt. William Lawrence Inscho Sr. Right: The camera used by Lawrence’s father in the 1940s. Courtesy of Lawrence Inscho

The Grand Ole Opry has played host to so many greats of country and bluegrass music over the years, almost too many to count. In the summer of 1945, Inscho Sr. took a series of photographs at the revered Grand Ole Opry stage. The younger Lawrence likes to imagine that these photos were from his parents’ honeymoon.

For us, the photos taken by Inscho Sr. are a true treasure trove, documenting performances from the heyday of the Grand Ole Opry and country music. Some of the most well-known musicians that played at the Opry, like Bill Monroe and Uncle Dave Macon, have their likenesses preserved in these images. Others not quite as famous, like Zeke Clements, are remembered here as well. It’s a real thrill to see these important musicians as we take a gander at some of the photograph collection!

One of the lesser known monuments of country music and the Grand Ole Opry was Pee Wee King, seen here on the far left. Despite his Polish-German musical heritage (he was born Frank Julius Anthony Kuczynski), he co-wrote “The Tennessee Waltz,” which became a standard of the country music genre, and toured and made movies with Gene Autry. King joined the Opry in 1937, and he brought a rebellious side to this traditional venue by defying the Opry’s ban on drums, horns, the accordion, and electrical instruments. In doing so, he was one of the first people to introduce those instruments to country music at the Grand Ole Opry. He also wore the flamboyant, rhinestone-covered suits of Nudie Cohn, introducing this style to many country music artists. These suits became very popular within the genre, and the likes of Elvis Presley also later wore them. Pee Wee King was truly one of the great pioneers of country music.

Several musicians and background people on the stage with a Prince Albert tobacco advertisement hung on the wall behind them. The Duke of Paducah is center stage, dressed as a woman. — The Duke of Paducah (center). Photo credit to William Lawrence Inscho Sr.

One of the more unusual musicians featured in these photos was Benjamin Francis “Whitey” Ford, known on stage as The Duke of Paducah. A banjo picker, he founded the Renfro Valley Barn Dance stage and radio show with two other musicians. But he was also a well-known country comedian whose tagline “I’m goin’ back to the wagon, boys, these shoes are killing me!” became a standard. His jokes also influenced the classic country TV show Hee Haw. The Duke later shared the occasional show bill with none other than Elvis Presley.

Eight musicians and background people on the Opry stage, playing a variety of instruments. Zeke Clements is front and center playing the guitar at the mic. — Zeke Clements (third from right in white shirt and hat). Photo credit to William Lawrence Inscho Sr.

Zeke Clements, also known as “The Dixie Yodeler,” had some fascinating ventures during his lifetime. One of the bands he was in, Otto Gray and his Oklahoma Cowboys, was the first nationally famous cowboy western band. And one of his most prominent successes was writing the song “Smoke on the Water.” Clements also took acting roles as singing cowboys in multiple B-Western films in the 1930s and 1940s. He even voiced one of the yodeling dwarfs in the 1937 Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He was quite the character in early country music!

Four musicians, all wearing hats of various styles, on the Grand Ole Opry stage, gathered round the central mic. Far left: mandolin player, near left: Curly Bradshaw playing harmonica, near right: Bill Monroe playing guitar, and far right: Stringbean playing banjo. — Photo credit to William Lawrence Inscho Sr.

When people think of bluegrass, they think of Bill Monroe, one of the greatest bluegrass musicians that has ever been. This rare early photo of Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys is significant for a few reasons. First, it shows the group before Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs joined. It also shows Monroe playing his Gibson F7, an instrument he played before he turned to his iconic 1923 Lloyd Loar-signed Gibson F5. Further, this is the only known performance photo of the man playing the harmonica, Curly Bradshaw. He only performed shortly with Monroe, and before the discovery of these photos, the only known photo of him with Monroe was a 1944 publicity photo.

At this time, the man on the right, David Akeman, better known as Stringbean, was also a member of the Bluegrass Boys. A banjo player and in the cast of the Hee Haw television series, Akeman was later famously murdered, along with his wife, in his home near Ridgetop, Tennessee, due to a hidden sum of money that was rumored to be in the home. This photo is one of the most fascinating in the Inscho photograph collection.

The Opry stage decorated with a backdrop for Purina Chows for Poultry and Livestock. Four musicians, plus a man in the background, are seen, including Dorris Macon on guitar and Uncle Dave Macon on banjo. — Photo credit to William Lawrence Inscho Sr.

This last photo shows an old-time element of the show Inscho Sr. saw at the Grand Ole Opry in 1945. It features Dorris Macon playing the guitar and Uncle Dave Macon sitting in the middle with his banjo. A vaudeville performer, Uncle Dave Macon was known for his lively and lengthy performances, which led to him becoming the first star of the Grand Ole Opry.

These photographs by Inscho Sr. reveal a once-in-a-lifetime experience where he and his wife got to see a great show with musicians of huge talent and fabled status perform. This experience was special to Inscho Sr., and the memories and record of them are now special to his son. We feel very privileged that Lawrence chose to share these photographs with us – it is personal stories and objects like these that make up a truly special part of the museum’s collections.

* If you want to hear more from Lawrence Inscho, check out Kris Truelsen’s On the Sunny Side show on Wednesdays. From 10:00 to 11:00 AM every Wednesday, Lawrence shares music primarily from his personal collection, a significant portion of which came from his father.

Preservation Priority: Rare Transcription Disc of WCYB’s Farm and Fun Time Radio Show

Collections History Museum

January 15, 2018

Posted on January 15, 2018June 17, 2021 by Emily Robinson

Here at the Birthplace of Country Music we are so excited that a radio transcription disc from our museum collections has been chosen as one of the Virginia Association of Museum’s Top 10 Most Endangered Artifacts! At first glance it might seem odd to be excited about having an object that is in danger of falling apart, but this honor gives us the chance to receive much-needed funds to save it.

Early in 2017, Glen Harlow donated a Farm and Fun Time radio transcription disc containing live tracks that have not been heard in over 60 years. The fact that an original live recording of the Stanley Brothers with the Clinch Mountain Boys from Farm and Fun Time exists at all is pretty amazing, because the discs used to record radio broadcasts in the mid-20th century are highly unstable and prone to degradation. Before the advent of magnetic tape, instantaneous recordings were usually made on lacquer discs. These discs have an aluminum core covered with a lacquer coating. Over time, the lacquer becomes brittle and shrinks. Since the aluminum core cannot shrink, the lacquer flakes off and the recording can no longer be played with a stylus.

Two photographs of disc showing split laquer and other signs of degradation. — These details show some of the degradation to the transcription disc. © Birthplace of Country Music; Donated by Glen Harlow via Dean Casey

This recording is no different – it is fragile, damaged, and unplayable. Until recently, recordings on degraded lacquer discs like this one were usually lost forever. Starting in 2014, the Northeast Document Conservation Center began offering audio preservation services using a new technology called IRENE. This process involves creating highly detailed images of the grooves on a disc and recreating the sound from these images. The recordings can be heard again without a stylus getting anywhere near the disc and damaging it further. Buried treasure revealed without even touching the fragile disc!

Two photographs showing the IRENE camera appartus with a record disc and the wavy black lines that are created from the camera's photographs of a disc. — The IRENE camera apparatus (left) and an IRENE scan (right). As the disc rotates, the IRENE camera virtually ‘unravels’ the spiral shape, producing images of long straight lines. These images can then be analyzed in custom software to extract the sound. Courtesy of the Northeast Document Conservation Center

And buried treasure it truly is. The chance to hear a live recording of the Stanley Brothers from Farm and Fun Time is tantalizing to say the least. Farm and Fun Time began broadcasting to a five-state area from WCYB in Bristol, Tennessee-Virginia in 1946 and provided a platform for many of the first generation of bluegrass performers. Indeed, the program was crucial in the development of bluegrass music. The Clinch Mountain Boys, the band of Ralph and Carter Stanley, were featured on the first episode of Farm and Fun Time and continued to play on the show on and off for the next decade. The recording trapped in this degrading transcription disc is truly a piece of lost history. It is beyond exciting to have an opportunity to uncover it again!

Cover of The Stanley Brothers on WCYB album showing them standing in front of a WCYB mic. — This album is a collection of Stanley Brothers recordings from their time on WCYB — but not the one from the transcription disc! From the Birthplace of Country Music Museum Collection

Part of the Virginia Association of Museums Top 10 Endangered Artifacts honor is a People’s Choice voting contest. The artifacts that receive the most votes will receive conservation awards of $5000 and $4000 respectively. In other words, YOUR votes translate into dollars that will enable the Birthplace of Country Music Museum to work with NEDCC to scan the damaged disc and reveal this performance that hasn’t been heard in decades.

We hope you are as excited about this prospect as we are – and so we need you!

Please click on the link below and help us uncover this amazing piece of music history! You can vote daily from January 15 through January 24.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

Emily Robinson is the Collections Manager at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.

Caring for Your Family Treasures: Photographs

Collections

November 21, 2017

Posted on November 21, 2017June 12, 2021 by Emily Robinson

The holidays are upon us! Cozy gatherings with family and friends often lead to reminiscing about past gatherings, retelling funny family stories, and maybe even paging through photo albums. That works best, of course, if your family photos are actually in albums and not stacked in shoeboxes like mine are.

Two boxes overflowing with family photographs — Two of many photo boxes just waiting to be organized… © Emily Robinson

Because I am a museum collections manager, my family has decided that I should also be the family history collections manager! I’ve been slowly organizing our photos, documents, and special keepsakes and trying to apply my professional collections training to a home setting. And so I thought it would be a great time to share some tips and tricks so that you too can start to tackle elements of your own family history!

First up: photographs. There are many different kinds of photographs. Maybe you are lucky enough to have some glass slides or tin-type portraits of your ancestors. I can almost guarantee that you have a phone or computer hard drive full of digital photos. For the purposes of this post, though, I’m going to focus on what’s piled up in shoeboxes in most of our homes: photographic prints on paper. Here are some tips to storing and caring for these photos so you can actually enjoy them with your family…maybe next Thanksgiving!

Ditch the shoeboxes and the self-adhesive albums

Cardboard boxes and shoeboxes contain acids that will eventually harm your photograph collections. Old photo albums may also contain acidic paper that will brown and crumble over time. And remember those old “magnetic” self-adhesive albums where you place your pictures on a sticky page and then cover them with an attached plastic sheet? The sticky stuff will actually damage photographs as they years pass by.

A photo album label noting that it is acid, lignin and PVC free — Look for labels like this one to be sure your albums won’t damage your photographs. © Emily Robinson

Look for boxes and albums that are acid-free, lignin-free, PVC-free, and have passed the PAT (Photographic Activity Test). The scrapbooking craze of a few years ago was great for home archivists – it means there are a ton of great photo album and photo box options available at craft stores, big box stores, and online. Add some to your holiday wish list!

Avoid sticky situations

Have you ever come across an old piece of tape or the remnants of an old rubber band when going through old files? Blech. Avoid using adhesive labels, tape, post-its, rubber bands, or glue on your photos, especially for long-term storage. Adhesives will inevitably fail and rubber bands will dry up and get gummy. The sticky residue from all of these things will damage your photos. Look for albums with sleeves or use photo corners to put pictures in albums.

Pictures of people like to live in the same places that actual people like to live

Most of us have storage space in our basements or attics, but basements are usually too damp and attics too hot for photograph storage. Chemical deterioration doubles with each 10 degree increase in temperature, and damp conditions can lead to mold and insect infestation. Extreme temperature and humidity fluctuations cause structural damage – think of a wooden door swelling and shrinking. It’s better to keep your photos in a place where YOU would feel comfortable – a bedroom chest or guest room closet, for example, rather than a basement or attic (not that you’d feel comfortable stuffed into a chest or a closet, but you get the idea).

Photographs don’t like wet feet

Water pools on the floor when there is a leak or a flood, so your photos will be safer if they are up on a shelf. Aim for at least 6 inches off the floor.

Shelving that is raised off the floor — Purchase shelving units with shelves that can be installed at any height you choose for flexibility. © Emily Robinson

Don’t let memories fade away

Photographs, particularly color prints, will fade if exposed to light. The safest place to keep them is in albums, where they will only be exposed to light when you are looking at them. For framed photos, consider framing good-quality copies and keeping the originals in albums. At the very least, try to keep framed photographs out of sunlight and unfiltered fluorescent light. Professional frame shops offer treated acrylic that blocks the UV rays that cause fading, but keep in mind that this just slows fading. Nothing can prevent it altogether except blocking all exposure to light.

Bridal photograph of the author's mother, showing quite a bit of fading — This bridal photograph of my mother is badly faded after decades of display. © Emily Robinson

Information please!

Future generations will have no idea who’s who in an unlabeled photo! Use a soft pencil to label the backs of photos with dates, names, and places. Avoid permanent markers, which can bleed or break down and damage photos. Pigma Micron pens can work well depending on the type of paper your photograph is printed on, but in my experience the ink can sometimes smear when not allowed to fully dry.

The author and another family member on vacation in the 1980s — If you really hate writing dates on photographs, just make sure to always wear conspicuously trendy clothes in all your photographs. This photo from a family vacation is clearly from the 1980s. © Emily Robinson

Learn more about caring for your family photographs

There are a lot of professional resources out there that will also help you in your role as the family archivist. Check out the advice from the National Archives, the Northeast Document Conservation Center, and the American Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works.

Most importantly, enjoy the time with your family and the trips down memory lane as you start taking care of your family treasures!

Emily Robinson is the Collections Manager at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.

It’s Not You, It’s Us: The Heartbreak of Unsolicited Object Donations

Collections Museum

November 15, 2017

Posted on November 15, 2017June 17, 2021 by Emily Robinson

As the museum collections manager, it’s my job to take care of and keep track of all the STUFF in the museum. Which is great, because I love old stuff! I love my old stuff. I love the museum’s old stuff. I might love your old stuff, too!

In the museum biz, though, we have to put the brakes on our love of stuff and be very thoughtful about what we bring into our permanent collection. We’re talking about a serious long-term relationship, to have and to hold, forever and ever. It’s not something to be entered into lightly. Have you ever brought an object to the front desk of a museum, only to be told that you need to make an appointment and come back later? What’s the big deal about dropping something off? Well, it’s not you, it’s us – I promise. Let me explain…

My other true love is paperwork

When we accept objects into the museum’s permanent collection, we really do mean permanent. The museum is promising to be stewards of these important historical objects and to keep them in perpetuity. As a nonprofit organization that serves the community, we take our duties as stewards of these objects seriously. We keep track of them and take care of them so they will be available to the community for research and via exhibitions and publications. Through saving objects and audio/visual material, we are saving and perpetuating the incredible stories of people in our community and region.

Keeping track of the museum’s objects, their condition, and their location involves a lot of database records, file folders, lists, photographs, tracking numbers…you get the idea. The Collections Management department is responsible for the large amount of tracking documentation and legal paperwork that follows each and every object we accept, so it makes sense for us to be the ones to be the gateway for object donations. Our friendly and hardworking Visitor Services staff has plenty to do without having to keep track of objects and huge amounts of paperwork, too! It would be tragic if something was dropped off at the front desk and it got lost in the shuffle, or if the amazing story behind an object got lost. To keep things straightforward and streamlined, our policy only allows the Collections Management staff to accept objects.

Our Visitor Services staff is the best! They cannot accept object donations, but they will be happy to give you the contact information for the Collections Manager. © Birthplace of Country Music

If I can’t have the one I love, I won’t have none at all

You may have heard the Smithsonian Institution referred to as “America’s Attic.” That makes collections managers cringe, because not only are attics too hot for storing museum objects, but attics are notorious for being disorganized. Also, sometimes they have squirrels in them. We pride ourselves here at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum on being both organized and squirrel-free!

In order to remain so, we have a Scope of Collections. Instead of collecting anything and everything related to country music and Bristol, we collect objects that support the types of exhibitions we want to do. This is driven by the Birthplace of Country Music’s mission, which is to perpetuate, promote, and celebrate Bristol’s rich musical heritage; to educate and engage audiences worldwide regarding the history, impact and legacy of the 1927 Bristol Sessions from which we derive our name; and to create recognition, opportunities, and economic benefit for our local and regional communities. You can find a list of what we do and do not collect here! The Curatorial and Collections staff carefully reviews each and every potential object donation to be sure it fits our mission before we make room for it on the shelf – this is another reason we require an appointment to discuss donations.

I just need some space

We have our Scope of Collections not only as a guide to help us keep our collecting activity mission-driven, but also for practical reasons. For one thing, we want to provide meaningful collections for research and not collect the exact same things that other institutions are collecting. Additionally, we simply have limited space, time, and money! Before we agree to take an object or collection of objects, we have to make sure we have a safe place to put it. We also have to plan our budget to cover costs associated with processing new objects – things like archival boxes, supportive foam and tissue, new shelving, and staff time. Speaking of staff time, it can take weeks (or even years, depending on the size of the collection) to fully process a donation of objects. Because of these constraints, we must be careful to only accept objects that are truly within our scope.

The sight of archival boxes in a neat row makes a Collections Manager swoon. © Birthplace of Country Music

Call us, maybe?

If you think we might want your object to have and to hold, in the public trust, forever and ever, please don’t drop it off at the front desk. Your stuff is special! It deserves careful consideration and attention! To make sure I can provide that attention, please email me at erobinson@birthplaceofcountrymusic.org or call me at 423-573-1927. I will happily find a time for us to talk about the potential of a serious long-term relationship between the Birthplace of Country Music and your amazing STUFF!

Emily Robinson is the Collections Manager at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.