Rough Guide To Jug Band Blues

The Rough Guide To Jug Band Blues - By incorporating all manner of homemade instruments, jug bands were hugely popular in America during the 1920s and early 1930s. With an unparalleled vibrancy this 'do it yourself' and often overlooked approach to music was highly influential in the history of the blues. - The original jug bands had their origins in the 1890s amongst African-Americans, and were then known as 'spasm bands'. This 'do it yourself' approach to their instrument-making gained immense popularity in America during the 1920s and early 1930s, and became closely linked to the development of the blues. The jug could be earthenware or glass and was played by buzzing one's lips into it's mouth from about an inch away, thus creating a sound somewhere between that of a tuba or trombone. The swoop sounds that could be made gave the impression of sliding notes and a good player could get two octaves out of a good-sized jug. Incorporating all manner of homemade instruments, early jug bands were typically made up of African-American vaudeville and medicine show musicians and played a mixture of blues, ragtime and jazz music with a strong backbeat. - Further highlights include the sublime slide guitar playing of blues legend Tampa Red who formed his own Hokum Jug Band, as well as the frenzied and voice-like harp of Jaybird Coleman, the virtuoso harmonica player of the Birmingham Jug Band. Although other well-known blues performers embraced the jug-band craze, by the mid-1930s it had run it's course due to a combination of the depression and the devastating effect of radio on record sales. This collection goes to show how during it's heyday this not-often-talked-about genre was a highly influential and most vibrant of musical styles in the history of the blues.