Charlie Bowman
Encyclopedia
Charles Thomas Bowman was an American old-time
fiddle player and string band
leader. He was a major influence on the distinctive fiddle sound that helped shape and develop early Country music
in the 1920s and 1930s. After delivering a series of performances that won him the first prize in dozens of fiddle contests across Southern Appalachia
in the early 1920s, Bowman toured and recorded with several string bands and vaudeville
acts before forming his own band, the Blue Ridge Music Makers, in 1935. In his career, he would be associated with country and bluegrass
pioneers such as Uncle Dave Macon
, Fiddlin' John Carson
, Roy Acuff
, Charlie Poole
, and Bill Monroe
.
, a small community approximately 10 miles (16.1 km) west of Johnson City
. He first learned to play banjo at the age of 12, and purchased his first fiddle for $4.50 shortly thereafter. According to family tradition, Bowman actually made his first recording on a neighbor's Edison cylinder phonograph
in 1908. In his teen years, he and his brothers (who had each learned a different instrument) collected pocket change by playing at square dance
s and other local events around Washington County. Congressman B. Carroll Reece
was one of several politicians to hire the Bowmans to play at political rallies in the early 1920s, and Reece remained a lifelong friend of the Bowman family.
In the early 1920s, a local businessman sponsored Bowman in the United Commercial Travelers' fiddle contest in nearby Johnson City. After placing second and collecting a $25 prize, Bowman, realizing he could make money by playing in fiddle contests, spent several months traveling back and forth to contests around the region. He captured first prize in an astonishing 28 out of the 32 contests he entered. At one point, when several people had become skeptical of Bowman's success, the judges were placed so they couldn't see who was playing, yet Bowman still placed first.
fiddlers' convention in May 1925, Bowman met Al Hopkins
, who invited Bowman to join his band, the "Hill Billies." With Bowman on fiddle, the Hill Billies traveled to New York, where they recorded several sides for Vocalion
and Brunswick
and even played on Broadway
. The band then relocated to Washington, D.C.
where they played regularly on D.C.-area radio station WLS, and in 1928, performed at a White House social hosted by President Calvin Coolidge
. Later that year, the band played in the Al Jolson
motion picture, The Singing Fool
. In Fall 1928, Bowman left the band and returned to Gray Station.
In October 1928, Bowman and several family members made several recordings at the Johnson City sessions
, a recording audition held by Columbia Records
in Johnson City. The following year, Columbia invited Bowman to New York, where he and his brother, Walter (on banjo), recorded "Forked Deer" and "Moonshiner and His Money." Around 1930, Bowman and several family members joined the vaudeville group, the "Blue Ridge Ramblers", with whom they toured the Loew's vaudeville circuit until 1935.
In the early 1960s, at the height of the folk revival movement in the United States, Bowman was interviewed by several magazines and music collectors, including Dorsey Dixon
and Pete Seeger
. His recollections of the Johnson City sessions, his years with the Hill Billies, and numerous other memories provided an invaluable first-hand account of the development of Old-time music and country music in the 1920s and 1930s. Bowman died on May 20, 1962.
Bowman wrote and adapted dozens of songs and fiddle tunes throughout his career. His most well-known include railroad songs such as "Nine Pound Hammer," "Roll On, Buddy," and "Fogless Bill." "Reece Rag" was written for his friend, Congressman B. Carroll Reece. Oftentimes, Bowman's performances involved musical skits, such as with "Moonshiner and His Money." Bowman's repertoire of traditional songs included "Forked Deer" and "Turkey in the Straw
."
Old-time music
Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music, with roots in the folk music of many countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland and countries in Africa. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dance, buck dance, and clogging. The genre also...
fiddle player and string band
String band
A string band is an old-time music or jazz ensemble made up mainly or solely of string instruments. String bands were popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and are among the forerunners of modern country music and bluegrass.-String bands in old-time music:...
leader. He was a major influence on the distinctive fiddle sound that helped shape and develop early Country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
in the 1920s and 1930s. After delivering a series of performances that won him the first prize in dozens of fiddle contests across Southern Appalachia
Appalachia
Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...
in the early 1920s, Bowman toured and recorded with several string bands and vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
acts before forming his own band, the Blue Ridge Music Makers, in 1935. In his career, he would be associated with country and bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
pioneers such as Uncle Dave Macon
Uncle Dave Macon
Uncle Dave Macon , born David Harrison Macon—also known as "The Dixie Dewdrop"—was an American banjo player, singer, songwriter, and comedian...
, Fiddlin' John Carson
Fiddlin' John Carson
Fiddlin' John Carson was an American old time fiddler and an early-recorded country musician.-Early life:...
, Roy Acuff
Roy Acuff
Roy Claxton Acuff was an American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the King of Country Music, Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and "hoedown" format to the star singer-based format that helped make it internationally successful.Acuff...
, Charlie Poole
Charlie Poole
Charlie Poole was an American old time banjo player and country musician and the leader of the North Carolina Ramblers, an American old-time string band that recorded many popular songs between 1925 to 1930.-Biography:...
, and Bill Monroe
Bill Monroe
William Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...
.
Early life
Bowman was born July 30, 1889, in Gray Station, TennesseeGray, Tennessee
Gray is a census-designated place in Washington County, Tennessee, United States and a rural suburb of Johnson City. It is part of the Johnson City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City–Kingsport–Bristol, TN-VA Combined Statistical Area –...
, a small community approximately 10 miles (16.1 km) west of Johnson City
Johnson City, Tennessee
Johnson City is a city in Carter, Sullivan, and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, with most of the city being in Washington County...
. He first learned to play banjo at the age of 12, and purchased his first fiddle for $4.50 shortly thereafter. According to family tradition, Bowman actually made his first recording on a neighbor's Edison cylinder phonograph
Phonograph cylinder
Phonograph cylinders were the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity , these cylinder shaped objects had an audio recording engraved on the outside surface which could be reproduced when the cylinder was...
in 1908. In his teen years, he and his brothers (who had each learned a different instrument) collected pocket change by playing at square dance
Square dance
Square dance is a folk dance with four couples arranged in a square, with one couple on each side, beginning with Couple 1 facing away from the music and going counter-clockwise until getting to Couple 4. Couples 1 and 3 are known as the head couples, while Couples 2 and 4 are the side couples...
s and other local events around Washington County. Congressman B. Carroll Reece
B. Carroll Reece
Brazilla Carroll Reece was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee.-Early life and career:Reece was born on a farm near Butler, Tennessee, one of thirteen children of John Isaac and Sarah Maples Reece...
was one of several politicians to hire the Bowmans to play at political rallies in the early 1920s, and Reece remained a lifelong friend of the Bowman family.
In the early 1920s, a local businessman sponsored Bowman in the United Commercial Travelers' fiddle contest in nearby Johnson City. After placing second and collecting a $25 prize, Bowman, realizing he could make money by playing in fiddle contests, spent several months traveling back and forth to contests around the region. He captured first prize in an astonishing 28 out of the 32 contests he entered. At one point, when several people had become skeptical of Bowman's success, the judges were placed so they couldn't see who was playing, yet Bowman still placed first.
String bands and vaudeville
At a Mountain CityMountain City, Tennessee
Mountain City is a town in Johnson County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,383 at the 2000 census. It is the northeasternmost county seat in Tennessee; Mountain City is the county seat of Johnson County.-History:...
fiddlers' convention in May 1925, Bowman met Al Hopkins
Al Hopkins
Albert Green Hopkins was an American musician, a pioneer of what later came to be called country music; in 1925 he originated the earlier designation of this music as "hillbilly music", though not without qualms about its pejorative connotation.Hopkins played piano, an unusual instrument for...
, who invited Bowman to join his band, the "Hill Billies." With Bowman on fiddle, the Hill Billies traveled to New York, where they recorded several sides for Vocalion
Vocalion Records
Vocalion Records is a record label active for many years in the United States and in the United Kingdom.-History:Vocalion was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Piano Company of New York City, which introduced a retail line of phonographs at the same time. The name was derived from one of their...
and Brunswick
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
and even played on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
. The band then relocated to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
where they played regularly on D.C.-area radio station WLS, and in 1928, performed at a White House social hosted by President Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
. Later that year, the band played in the Al Jolson
Al Jolson
Al Jolson was an American singer, comedian and actor. In his heyday, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer"....
motion picture, The Singing Fool
The Singing Fool
The Singing Fool is a 1928 musical drama Part-Talkie motion picture which was released by Warner Brothers. The film starred Al Jolson and was a follow-up to his previous film, The Jazz Singer...
. In Fall 1928, Bowman left the band and returned to Gray Station.
In October 1928, Bowman and several family members made several recordings at the Johnson City sessions
Johnson City sessions
The Johnson City Sessions were a series of recording auditions conducted in Johnson City, Tennessee, in 1928 and 1929 by Frank Buckley Walker, head of the Columbia Records “hillbilly” recordings division. They were part of a search for native Appalachian-Blue Ridge Mountains musical talent...
, a recording audition held by Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
in Johnson City. The following year, Columbia invited Bowman to New York, where he and his brother, Walter (on banjo), recorded "Forked Deer" and "Moonshiner and His Money." Around 1930, Bowman and several family members joined the vaudeville group, the "Blue Ridge Ramblers", with whom they toured the Loew's vaudeville circuit until 1935.
Later career
After leaving the Blue Ridge Ramblers, Bowman formed his own string band, the Blue Ridge Music Makers, and played on various radio stations throughout the Southeastern United States. In the 1940s, Bowman traveled west, sometimes as far as California, playing at different venues and with various makeshift bands and line-ups. He played in 20 different states before he finally gave up performing in 1957.In the early 1960s, at the height of the folk revival movement in the United States, Bowman was interviewed by several magazines and music collectors, including Dorsey Dixon
Dorsey Dixon
Dorsey Murdock Dixon was an American old-time and country music songwriter and musician. He was also a millworker who spent much of his life working in textile mills in North and South Carolina...
and Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
. His recollections of the Johnson City sessions, his years with the Hill Billies, and numerous other memories provided an invaluable first-hand account of the development of Old-time music and country music in the 1920s and 1930s. Bowman died on May 20, 1962.
Bowman wrote and adapted dozens of songs and fiddle tunes throughout his career. His most well-known include railroad songs such as "Nine Pound Hammer," "Roll On, Buddy," and "Fogless Bill." "Reece Rag" was written for his friend, Congressman B. Carroll Reece. Oftentimes, Bowman's performances involved musical skits, such as with "Moonshiner and His Money." Bowman's repertoire of traditional songs included "Forked Deer" and "Turkey in the Straw
Turkey in the Straw
"Turkey in the Straw" is a well-known American folk song dating from the early 19th century.The song's tune was first popularized in the late 1820s and early 1830s by blackface performers, notably George Washington Dixon, Bob Farrell and George Nichols. Another song, "Zip Coon", was sung to the...
."
Discography
- Rural String Bands of Tennessee (CountyCounty RecordsCounty Records also expanded into the bluegrass music genre, although Freeman preferred those artists who stayed the closest to their old-time roots. The label's first bluegrass release was 1965's Blue Ridge Bluegrass featuring Larry Richardson and the Blue Ridge Boys.-Related businesses:Freeman...
, 1997)— contains "Moonshiner and His Money" and "Forker Deer", recorded by Charlie Bowman and His Brothers
External links
- Juneberry78s.com — Charlie Bowman — mp3 recording of "Moonshiner and His Money"