Harmonica players born 1880s or earlier

[Joseph Scott]

Hi all,

How many recorded harmonica players were born in the 1880s or earlier?
Two I can think of are Humphrey Bates (1875) and Freeman Stowers
(1884)...

Joseph Scott

[Judy Sacks]

This is a bit off date wise, but if the idea is to find archaic harmonica
sounds, I would suggest a listen to Harmonica Frank Floyd, born about 1908
and a very interesting, cross-racial-music kind of a guy. See this good UK
review of his "The Great Medical Menagerist" CD, on Edsel (384) . We
brought him to tender rural Ohio in the mid-1980s for a festival, and boy
were we in for a surprise. More than surreal, it was in the words of Craig
Johnson a psychedelic experience.
Best,
Judy

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/mustrad/reviews/floyd.htm

[Joseph Scott]

Oh, and Johnny "Daddy Stovepipe" Watson (1867)...

Joseph Scott

[Cleoma]

I'll second what Judy said about Harmonica Frank Floyd! I still remember his
performances at the San Diego Folk Festival, in the mid-1970's.

When was Deford Bailey born? Come to think of it, he was very young in those
early Opry days so he might have been born in the 20th century. Anybody know
for sure?
Suzy T.
To reply to this posting, remove "nojunk" from my email address.

[Pat Missin]

On 11 Dec 2001 16:04:09 GMT, cle...@aol.comnojunk (Cleoma) wrote:

>When was Deford Bailey born? Come to think of it, he was very young in those
>early Opry days so he might have been born in the 20th century. Anybody know
>for sure?

December 14th 1899.

-- Pat Missin

pa...@freereed.net
www.patmissin.com

[Pat Missin]

On 10 Dec 2001 22:15:05 -0800, jns...@ix.netcom.com (Joseph Scott)
wrote:

That should be Humphrey Bate (no 's'). Where did you get the
biographical info on Stowers - I've never been able to find much about
him. In fact, there is scant information about most of the early
harmonica players who appeared on record. Some of them could have been
born around this time.

A couple who spring to mind are Rich Amerson, who recorded for the LoC
and was born in 1887. Horace Sprott who recorded for Folkways was said
to have been born around 1890. I have heard that both Leadbelly (born
1889) and Henry Thomas (born 1874) was supposed to have played the
harmonica, but they never recorded on this instrument.

[Joseph Scott]

Whoops, I shouldn't have just said "1884" like that because it isn't
proven. There's one "Freeman Stowers" listed by Social Security, and
he was born in 1884 and died in St. Louis. It might be a different
guy, but I think it's very likely it's the harmonica player.

Thanks for the responses. I guess my thinking is kind of "Who were the
generation before Whitter and Bailey, what did that generation play
like?"
(Of course things would have been developing differently in different
regions at different speeds. E.g. Gwen Foster sounds a lot like Daddy
Stovepipe imo.)

Joseph Scott

[James N. Stewart]

I'd have to hunt for my copy, but there is a book called "Harmonicas, Harps,
and Heavy Breathers" or some such that might have some information.

"Joseph Scott" <jns...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
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