Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions (album)
Encyclopedia
Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions is an American folk music
album. It was recorded live by the band of the same name at the Top of the Tangent coffee house in Palo Alto, California
in July, 1964, and released in 1999.
The band Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions was a precursor of the rock group the Grateful Dead
, and included three future members of the band — Jerry Garcia
, Bob Weir
, and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan.
. Jug band music is a type of folk music that uses traditional musical instruments such as guitar
, mandolin
, and banjo
, combined with home made instruments, including washtub bass
, washboard
, kazoo
, and, eponymously, a jug
, played by blowing into it as if it were a brass instrument
. Jug bands were popular in the 1920s and 1930s. In the 1960s, jug band music enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence as part of the American folk music revival
. Jug bands of the 1960s often played popular music from the earlier jug band era, along with more contemporary folk and blues
songs, as can be heard on the Mother McCree's album.
The performances on the album were recorded by Stanford University
students Pete Wanger and Wayne Ott. They played the recordings on the folk music show "Live from the Top of the Tangent", which was broadcast on Stanford's FM radio station KZSU
. The tapes were thought to be lost to history until Pete Wanger and his brother Michael found them in their mother's house in 1997 after she died and they were going through their things in the attic. They found enough material there for a whole album. The recordings were subsequently mastered
for CD by Grateful Dead recording engineer Jeffrey Norman. Michael Wanger was a boyhood friend of Bob Weir, and wrote the liner notes for the CD.
Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions includes several songs that were later played in concert by the Grateful Dead — "Overseas Stomp" (also known as "Lindy"), "Ain't It Crazy" (a.k.a. "The Rub"), "On the Road Again", "The Monkey and the Engineer", and "Beat It On Down the Line".
American folk music
American folk music is a musical term that encompasses numerous genres, many of which are known as traditional music or roots music. Roots music is a broad category of music including bluegrass, country music, gospel, old time music, jug bands, Appalachian folk, blues, Cajun and Native American...
album. It was recorded live by the band of the same name at the Top of the Tangent coffee house in Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
in July, 1964, and released in 1999.
The band Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions was a precursor of the rock group the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
, and included three future members of the band — Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
, Bob Weir
Bob Weir
Bob Weir is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, most recognized as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead, together with other former members of the Grateful Dead...
, and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan.
The jug band tapes
Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions was a jug bandJug band
A Jug band is a band employing a jug player and a mix of traditional and home-made instruments. These home-made instruments are ordinary objects adapted to or modified for making of sound, like the washtub bass, washboard, spoons, stovepipe and comb & tissue paper...
. Jug band music is a type of folk music that uses traditional musical instruments such as guitar
Steel-string acoustic guitar
A steel-string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar descended from the classical guitar, but strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound...
, mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, and banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, combined with home made instruments, including washtub bass
Washtub bass
The washtub bass, or "gutbucket", is a stringed instrument used in American folk music that uses a metal washtub as a resonator. Although it is possible for a washtub bass to have four or more strings and tuning pegs, traditional washtub basses have a single string whose pitch is adjusted by...
, washboard
Washboard
A washboard is a tool designed for hand washing clothing. With mechanized cleaning of clothing becoming more common by the end of the 20th century, the washboard has become better known for its originally subsidiary use as a musical instrument....
, kazoo
Kazoo
The kazoo is a wind instrument which adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton, which is a membranophone, a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane."Kazoo" was the name given by...
, and, eponymously, a jug
Jug (musical instrument)
The jug as a musical instrument reached its height of popularity in the 1920s, when jug bands, such as Cannon's Jug Stompers were popular. The jug is just that: an empty jug played with the mouth...
, played by blowing into it as if it were a brass instrument
Brass instrument
A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
. Jug bands were popular in the 1920s and 1930s. In the 1960s, jug band music enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence as part of the American folk music revival
American folk music revival
The American folk music revival was a phenomenon in the United States that began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Richard Dyer-Bennett, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie, John Jacob...
. Jug bands of the 1960s often played popular music from the earlier jug band era, along with more contemporary folk and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
songs, as can be heard on the Mother McCree's album.
The performances on the album were recorded by Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
students Pete Wanger and Wayne Ott. They played the recordings on the folk music show "Live from the Top of the Tangent", which was broadcast on Stanford's FM radio station KZSU
KZSU
KZSU is a freeform FM radio station broadcasting from the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California, USA.KZSU broadcasts in stereo at 90.1 MHz FM with an effective radiated power of 500 watts. The station is owned by the Trustees of Stanford University and is governed by a Board of...
. The tapes were thought to be lost to history until Pete Wanger and his brother Michael found them in their mother's house in 1997 after she died and they were going through their things in the attic. They found enough material there for a whole album. The recordings were subsequently mastered
Audio mastering
Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
for CD by Grateful Dead recording engineer Jeffrey Norman. Michael Wanger was a boyhood friend of Bob Weir, and wrote the liner notes for the CD.
Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions includes several songs that were later played in concert by the Grateful Dead — "Overseas Stomp" (also known as "Lindy"), "Ain't It Crazy" (a.k.a. "The Rub"), "On the Road Again", "The Monkey and the Engineer", and "Beat It On Down the Line".
Track listing
- "Overseas Stomp" (Will ShadeWill ShadeWill Shade was an African American Memphis blues musician, best known for his membership in the Memphis Jug Band. Shade was commonly called Son Brimmer, a nickname from his grandmother Annie Brimmer, because "son" is short for "grandson"...
) - "Ain't It Crazy" (Sam "Lightning" HopkinsLightnin' HopkinsSam John Hopkins better known as Lightnin’ Hopkins, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist, from Houston, Texas...
) - Boo Break
- "Yes She Do, No She Don't" (Peter DeRosePeter DeRosePeter DeRose was an American Hall of Fame composer of jazz and pop music during the Tin Pan Alley era.-Biography:DeRose was born in New York City and as a boy exhibited a gift for things musical...
, Jo Trent) - "MemphisMemphis, Tennessee (song)"Memphis, Tennessee" is a song by rock & roll singer-songwriter Chuck Berry. It is sometimes shortened to "Memphis". In the UK, the song charted at #6 in 1963, at the same time Decca Records issued a cover version in the UK by Dave Berry and the Cruisers, who came from Sheffield, Yorkshire...
" (Chuck BerryChuck BerryCharles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
) - "Boodle Am Shake" (Jack Palmer, Spencer WilliamsSpencer WilliamsSpencer Williams was an American jazz and popular music composer, pianist, and singer. He is best known for his hit songs "Basin Street Blues", "I Ain't Got Nobody", "Royal Garden Blues", "I've Found a New Baby", "Everybody Loves My Baby", "Tishomingo Blues", "Careless Love", and many...
) - "Big Fat Woman" (Huddie Ledbetter)
- "Borneo" (traditional)
- "My Gal" (traditional)
- "Shake That Thing" (Papa Charlie JacksonPapa Charlie JacksonPapa Charlie Jackson was an early American bluesman and songster. He played a hybrid banjo guitar and ukulele, his recording career beginning in 1924...
) - "Beat It On Down the Line" (Jesse FullerJesse FullerJesse Fuller was an American one-man band musician, best known for his song "San Francisco Bay Blues".-Early life:...
) - "Cocaine Habit BluesTake a Whiff on Me"Take a Whiff on Me" is an American folk song, with references to the use of cocaine. It is also known as "Take a Whiff ", "Cocaine Habit", and "Cocaine Habit Blues".-History:...
" (traditional) - "Beedle Um Bum" (Booker T. Bradshaw)
- "On the Road Again" (traditional)
- "The Monkey and the Engineer" (Jesse Fuller)
- "In the Jailhouse Now" (Jimmie RodgersJimmie Rodgers (country singer)James Charles Rodgers , known as Jimmie Rodgers, was an American country singer in the early 20th century known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling...
) - "Crazy Words, Crazy Tune" (Jack YellenJack YellenJack Selig Yellen was an American lyricist and screenwriter.-Life and career:Born in Poland, Yellen emigrated with his family to the United States when he was five years old. The oldest of seven children, he was raised in Buffalo, New York and began writing songs in high school...
, Milton AgerMilton AgerMilton Ager was an American composer.Ager was born in Chicago, Illinois, the sixth of nine children. Leaving school with only three years of formal high-school education, he taught himself to play the piano and embarked on a career as a musician. After spending time as an accompanist to silent...
) - Band Interview
Musicians
- Jerry GarciaJerry GarciaJerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
– guitarSteel-string acoustic guitarA steel-string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar descended from the classical guitar, but strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound...
, kazooKazooThe kazoo is a wind instrument which adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton, which is a membranophone, a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane."Kazoo" was the name given by...
, banjoBanjoIn the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, vocals - Ron "Pigpen" McKernan – harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, vocals - Bob WeirBob WeirBob Weir is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, most recognized as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead, together with other former members of the Grateful Dead...
– guitar, washtub bassWashtub bassThe washtub bass, or "gutbucket", is a stringed instrument used in American folk music that uses a metal washtub as a resonator. Although it is possible for a washtub bass to have four or more strings and tuning pegs, traditional washtub basses have a single string whose pitch is adjusted by...
, foot crusher, jugJug (musical instrument)The jug as a musical instrument reached its height of popularity in the 1920s, when jug bands, such as Cannon's Jug Stompers were popular. The jug is just that: an empty jug played with the mouth...
, kazoo, vocals - Dave Parker – washboardWashboardA washboard is a tool designed for hand washing clothing. With mechanized cleaning of clothing becoming more common by the end of the 20th century, the washboard has become better known for its originally subsidiary use as a musical instrument....
, kazoo, tin cup, vocals - Tom Stone – banjo, mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, guitar, vocals - Mike Garbett – washtub bass, guitar, kazoo
Production
- Produced by Michael Wanger
- Recorded live at the Tangent by Pete Wanger and Wayne Ott
- CD mastered by Jeffrey Norman, Club Front
- Cover art by Timothy Truman
- Package design by Gecko Graphics
- Jerry Garcia photo by Hank Harrison/Arkives
- Pigpen photo by Joe Novakovich/Arkives
- Bob Weir photo courtesy Weir family archives
- Special thanks to John Cutler and Peter McQuaid