2 languages
Clarence Ashley & Doc Watson
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Clarence Ashley & Doc Watson · Clarence Ashley, born Clarence Earl McCurry in 1895 in Bristol, Tennessee, grew up with his grandfather in Shouns, a hamlet in the Appalachians. His grandfather bought him a banjo when he was eight. His mother and aunts taught him old ballads, and from itinerant lumberjacks and railway workers he picked up songs and playing styles. From 1911 he performed in medicine shows, travelling shows where music and comedy were used to sell remedies.
Music and breakthrough
In 1928 Ashley made his first recordings for Gennett, followed by records with the Carolina Tar Heels, among others, and solo for Columbia. On 6 September 1933 he recorded Rising Sun Blues with the harmonica player Gwen Foster, the oldest known recording of the song that later became world-famous as House of the Rising Sun. Ashley played clawhammer banjo, often in a tuning of his own that he called sawmill, and sang English and Irish ballads that had been handed down for generations in the Appalachians.
Influence
The Depression of the 1930s ended his recording career. He worked in the mine and later as a truck driver. During the folk revival of the late 1950s he was rediscovered, partly because Harry Smith had included his early recordings in the Anthology of American Folk Music. Ralph Rinzler brought him back onto the stage in 1960. Ashley now played together with the guitarist Doc Watson, who in those years began his own recording career at his side, and performed at Carnegie Hall and at the Newport Folk Festival. Jerry Garcia said that he learned clawhammer by listening to Ashley.
Listening
Rising Sun Blues · Clarence Ashley & Doc Watson, 1961Apple Music ↗