|
|
|
|
Fiddler Country US né Alexander
Robertson le 20 Novembre 1887 à Delaney (Arkansas). Alexander "Eck"
Robertson est connu pour être le premier artiste de Country Music à avoir
été enregistré en 1922.
Robertson grandit dans une ferme du Texas où sa famille s'est installé depuis
1891. À l'âge de 5 ans, Robertson commence à apprendre à jouer du fiddle puis du
banjo et de la guitare. Durant les années 1920, il se produit régulièrement à
l'"Annual Old Confederate Soldiers' Reunions". Il devient ami avec le joueur de
fiddle Henry C. Gilliland qui l'accompagna à New-York pendant l'été 1922.
Là-bas, ils auditionnèrent et obtinrent un contrat pour un enregistrement pour
la Victor Talking Machine Company.
Le 30 juin 1922, Robertson enregistra six chansons, dont la plus connue "Sally
Gooden", avec la participation du duo Arkansas Travelew. Le disque sortira vers
la fin de l'année 1922, mais Victor Records n'en fera pas une grande promotion
et il ne se vendra pas en grande quantité.
Le deuxième enregistrement de Robertson sera en août 1929, avec sa femme Nettie
à la guitare, sa fille Daphne à la guitare ténor et son fils Dueron au banjo. En
septembre, ils enregistrent leur dernier titre en compagnie de J. B. Cranfill.
Robertson continua à se produire dans plusieurs spectacles et à la radio. Dans
les années 1960, John Cohen vint à la rencontre de Robertson dans sa maison
d'Amarillo (Texas) où le musicien et folkloriste Mike Seeger le fit enregistrer.
Eck Robertson est mort le
15 Février 1975 à Borger (Texas).
Robertson
was born in Arkansas and grew up on a farm in the Texas panhandle where his
family moved when he was three years old. His father, grandfather and uncles
were fiddlers who competed in local contests. His father, a veteran of the Civil
War, was also a farmer, and later quit fiddling to become a preacher.
At the age of five, Robertson began learning to play the fiddle, and later
learned banjo and guitar. In 1904, at the age of sixteen, he decided to become a
professional musician and left home to travel with a medicine show through
Indian Territory. In 1906 he married and settled in Vernon, Texas and became a
piano tuner for the Total Line Music Company.
Robertson and his wife Nettie performed at silent movie theaters and fiddling
contests through the region. As the son of a Confederate veteran, Robertson was
able to attend the annual Old Confederate Soldiers' Reunions across the South,
and became a regular performer at these events. He met 74-year-old fiddler Henry
C. Gilliland at one of these reunions, and the two began performing together.
After the Richmond, Virginia reunion in June 1922, Gilliland and Robertson
traveled to New York City, auditioned for and received a recording contract with
the Victor Talking Machine Company. On Friday, June 30, 1922, Robertson and
Gilliland recorded four fiddle duos for Victor. These probably represent the
first commercial recordings of country music performers. Two of them, "Arkansaw
Traveler" and "Turkey in the Straw", were released on Victor. Two others, "Forked
Deer" and "Apple Blossom", were never issued. At the company's request,
Robertson returned the next day, July 1, without Gilliland and recorded six
additional sides. Four of them - "Sally Gooden", "Ragtime Annie", "Sally
Johnson/Billy in the Low Ground" and "Done Gone" - were released on Victor over
the next two years. The other two, "General Logan Reel/Dominion Hornpipe" and "Brilliancy
and Cheatum", remain unissued. Robertson's rendition of "Sally Gooden" showcased
his ability to interpret one melody with several variations.
Robertson's first record, with his solo "Sally Gooden" on one side and duo "Arkansaw
Traveler" on the other, was released on September 1, 1922, but was not widely
circulated until the spring of 1923. Sales figures are not known, but Victor did
not promote the record strongly. His next two records were released in 1923 and
1924, but only after the summer of 1923, when Fiddlin' John Carson's recordings
on Okeh Records kicked off a boom in old-time country music record sales. In
1925, Victor started using a new electrical recording process, and let
Robertson's 1922 acoustically made recordings go out of print.
Robertson approached Victor about recording again, and in 1929 arranged to meet
a Victor field recording engineer in Dallas, Texas. This time he included his
wife Nettie on guitar, his daughter Daphne on tenor guitar and his son Dueron on
tenor banjo. On August 12, 1929 the group recorded four fiddle tunes - "Texas
Wagoner", "There's a Brown Skin Gal Down the Road", "Amarillo Waltz" and "Brown
Kelly Waltz". On October 10, the Robertson family band returned to Dallas and
recorded two fiddle duos with Texas fiddler J. B. Cranfill, "Great Big Taters"
and "Run Boy Run". Two additional tunes were recorded that evening, "Apple
Blossom" and "My Frog Ain't Got No Blues", but were not issued. The next day,
October 11, the band recorded "Brilliancy Medley", released in September 1930,
and the ballad "The Island Unknown", released in December 1929. That day the
band also recorded three additional sides that were not released - "My
Experience on the Ranch" and remakes of "Arkansaw Traveler" and "Sally Gooden".
The week of September 20, 1940, Robertson recorded 100 fiddle tunes at Jack
Sellers Studios in Dallas, Texas. Unfortunately, there is no song listing from
these sessions, and none of the tunes have ever surfaced.
Robertson continued to perform extensively at dances, theaters, fiddlers'
conventions and on radio. In 1963, John Cohen, Mike Seeger and Tracy Schwarz
visited Robertson at his home in Amarillo, Texas and taped some of his music,
which was released on County Records as Eck Robertson, Famous Cowboy Fiddler.
Robertson appeared at the UCLA Folk Festival in 1964, and at the Newport Folk
Festival in 1965, accompanied by the New Lost City Ramblers.
Robertson died in 1975 in Borger, Texas and was interred at the Westlawn
Memorial Park Cemetery. His tombstone is engraved "World's Champion Fiddler.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eck_Robertson
Talents : Fiddle
Style musical : Old Timey
Sallie
Gooden (1923)
 (A.C. (Eck)
Robertson)
Arkansaw Traveler
(1923)
Ragtime
Annie (1923)
SALLY JOHNSON & BILLY IN THE LOW GROUND (1924)
Run Boy Run
(1930)
|
|
Years in activity :
| 1910 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 2000 | 10 | 20 |
DISCOGRAPHY
78 t.
| 04/1923 | 78 t. VICTOR 18956 (US) | . | A.C. (Eck) ROBERTSON -
Sallie Gooden
/
Arkansaw Traveler
(with Henry C.
GILLILAND) |
| 11/1923 | 78 t. VICTOR 19149 (US) | . | A.C. (Eck) ROBERTSON - Turkey In The Straw (with Henry C. GILLILAND) /
Ragtime Annie
|
| 09/1924 | 78 t. VICTOR 19372 (US) | . | A.C. (Eck) ROBERTSON -
Sally Johnson & Billy In The Low Ground
/ Done Gone |
| 11/1929 | 78 t. VICTOR V 40145 (US) | . | Eck ROBERTSON - Texas Wagoner / There's A Brown Skin Gal Down The Road |
| 12/1929 | 78 t. VICTOR V 40166 (US) | . | Eck ROBERTSON & FAMILY - The Island Unknown Part 1 / The Island Unknown Part 2 |
| 02/1930 | 78 t. VICTOR V 40205 (US) | . |
J.B. CRANFILL & Eck ROBERTSON -
Run Boy Run
|
| 08/1930 | 78 t. VICTOR V 40298 (US) | . | Brilliancy Waltz (Eck ROBERTSON & FAMILY) / Amarillo Waltz (Eck ROBERTSON) |
| 10/1930 | 78 t. VICTOR V 40334 (US) | . | Eck ROBERTSON & FAMILY - Brown Kelly Waltz Part 1 / Brown Kelly Waltz Part 2 |
| 1987 | SP RCA B-26660-2 (US) (promo) |
 |
Eck ROBERTSON / Henry C. GILLILAND - COMMEMORATIVE SINGLES - Arkansas Traveler (Country Dance) / Arkansas Traveler (Country Dance) |
|
|
|
|
|
Albums
| 1976 | LP 12" Sonyatone STR 201 (US) |
 |
Master Fiddler - His Complete Recordings, 1922-1929 - Arkansaw Traveler / Turkey In The Straw / Sally Gooden / Ragtime Annie / Sallie Johnson And Billy In The Low Ground / Done Gone / Texas Wagoner / There‘s A Brown Skin Gal Down The Road / Amarillo Waltz / Brown Kelly Waltz Pt.1 - Brown Kelly Waltz Pt.2 / Great Big Taters In Sandy Land / Run Boy Run / Brilliancy Waltz / Island Unknown Pt.1 - Island Unknown Pt.2 / Radio Theme Song |
| 08/1992 | LP 12" County 202 (US) |
 |
Famous Cowboy Fiddler - Texas Wagoner / Stumptown Stomp / Lost Indian / Grigsby's Hornpipe / Rye Whiskey / Lost Goose / Sally Johnson / Billy In The Lowground / Beaumont Rag / Grey Eagle / Dusty Miller / Hell Among The Yearlings / Say Old Man Can You Play The Fiddle / Get Up In The Cool / Hawk Got The Chicken / Unnamed D Tune / Bonaparte's Retreat / Forky Dear / Done Gone |
| 05/1998 | CD COUNTY CO-3515-CD (US) |
 |
OLD-TIME TEXAS FIDDLER - VINTAGE RECORDINGS - 1922-1929 - Brilliancy Medley / Texas Wagoner / Arkansas Traveler / Great Big Taters / Sallie Gooden / There's A Brownskin Girl Down The Road Somewhere / Ragtime Annie / Amarillo Waltz / Done Gone / The Island Unknown, Part 1 / The Island Unknown, Part 2 / Sally Johnson - Billy In The Low Ground / Turkey In The Straw / Brown Kelly Waltz, Part 1 / Brown Kelly Waltz, Part 2 / Run Boy Run |
© Rocky Productions 14/01/2018
