Coon Creek Girls:
The Pussycat Dolls of old-time American music
17/05/2015
The other day I bought this very good value triple-disc set for just NZ$4.98. It is nicely presented, but has no booklet of info, just composer & year for each track.
I was intrigued by one of the tracks, Banjo Pickin' Girl by Coon Creek Girls, 1944, and looked it up on YouTube. The information with the posting was interesting....... |
You might think from the picture above, where you can see they are dressed in a very old-fashioned way even for the 1940's, that it was taken of the girls "up at Coon Creek, posin' fer a fotygraph", as it were; but it turns out the group was put together by musical promoter John Lair for a stage and radio show, Renfro Valley Barn Dance, in Cincinnati, Ohio. The name was invented by him, there is no actual Coon Creek, and although the two Ledford sisters were originally from Kentucky, the two others were from Indiana and Ohio. I can't imagine there were too many double-basses tucked away in log cabins like the one in the background either!
This is not to devalue the band in any way, they even went on to play the White House for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of England, my point is that once again, we find there is a lot done in the present thought to be new, that turns out to have already been thought of, well into the past.
In my youth there was a lot made of the fact that The Monkees were not a real group, because they were formed by audition for the making of a TV show. In more recent times we have had The Pussycat Dolls, put together as a burlesque troupe, and "transformed into a global image and commercial brand". A couple of years ago, the soundtrack of the movie El Violin led me to a South American musical song and dance form called Cumbia, and through that I encountered a similar commercially operated franchise, with several "editions" working simultaneously, called Agua Bella, from Peru. (They have more "booty" than a busload of USA R&B acts! There is also better, less sensational Cumbia, by the way.)
The same promoter even put together a "New Coon Creek Girls" in1979, who also did alright.
Besides the girls, we have also had successful put-together boy bands such as Take That and Boyzone.
The way the entertainment business is run these days, there can only be more of these "created" acts. I have no problem with that, but once created they must still stand or fall on their own merits, and lack of talent will out in the end. (e.g. Milli Vanilli)
This is not to devalue the band in any way, they even went on to play the White House for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of England, my point is that once again, we find there is a lot done in the present thought to be new, that turns out to have already been thought of, well into the past.
In my youth there was a lot made of the fact that The Monkees were not a real group, because they were formed by audition for the making of a TV show. In more recent times we have had The Pussycat Dolls, put together as a burlesque troupe, and "transformed into a global image and commercial brand". A couple of years ago, the soundtrack of the movie El Violin led me to a South American musical song and dance form called Cumbia, and through that I encountered a similar commercially operated franchise, with several "editions" working simultaneously, called Agua Bella, from Peru. (They have more "booty" than a busload of USA R&B acts! There is also better, less sensational Cumbia, by the way.)
The same promoter even put together a "New Coon Creek Girls" in1979, who also did alright.
Besides the girls, we have also had successful put-together boy bands such as Take That and Boyzone.
The way the entertainment business is run these days, there can only be more of these "created" acts. I have no problem with that, but once created they must still stand or fall on their own merits, and lack of talent will out in the end. (e.g. Milli Vanilli)
Banjo Picking Girl
Coon Creek Girls 1944
[Banjo intro]
1. I'm goin' around the world, baby mine
I'm goin' around the world, baby mine
I'm goin' around this world, I be a banjer-pickin' girl
I'm goin' around this world, baby mine
2. I'm goin' Tennessee, baby mine
I'm goin' Tennessee, baby mine
I'm goin' Tennessee, don't you try followin' me
I'm goin' Tennessee, baby mine
[Banjo solo]
3. I'm goin' to Arkansas, baby mine
I'm goin' to Arkansas, baby mine
I'm goin' to Arkansas, you take care of Ma and Pa
I'm goin' to Arkansas, baby mine
4. I'm goin' Chattanooga, baby mine
I'm goin' Chattanooga, baby mine
I'm goin' Chattanooga, and from there on to Cuba
I'm goin' Chattanooga, baby mine
[Banjo solo]
5. I'm goin' North C'lina, baby mine
I'm goin' North C'lina, baby mine
I'm goin' North C'lina, and from there on to China
I'm goin' North C'lina, baby mine
6. I'm goin' 'cross the ocean, baby mine
I'm goin' 'cross the ocean, baby mine
I'm goin' 'cross the ocean, if I don't change my notion
I'm goin' 'cross the ocean, baby mine
[Banjo solo]
7. Oh, if you ain't got no money, baby mine
An you ain't got no money, baby mine
An you ain't got no money, get yourself 'nother honey
I'm goin' around this world, baby mine
8. Oh, I'm goin' around this world, baby mine
I'm goin' around this world, baby mine
I'm goin' around this world, I be a banjer-pickin' girl
I'm goin' around this world, baby mine
[Banjo solo, end]