Participation Type
Paper
Session Title
Session 8.01 Music
Presentation #1 Title
"'Blind' Alfred Reed: Appalachian Visionary"
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
I will present a contextualized overview of the life and music of "Blind" Alfred Reed. Today, many if not most fans of American roots music have heard of the Bristol sessions, the now-legendary recording sessions conducted in Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia, during the Summer of 1927 by producer Ralph Peer for the Victor Talking Machine Company. One aspect of the Bristol Sessions story gets most of the attention—that those sessions yielded the first recordings of two profoundly influential music acts: The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers, who recorded in Bristol in August 1927. In 1988, historian Nolan Porterfield wrote: “’Bristol, August 1927’ has come to signal the Big Bang of country music evolution, the genesis of every shape and species of Pickin’ & Singin’ down through the years.” Focusing on the Carters and Rodgers (as Peer/Victor did and as many people today continue to do) has marginalized other recordings that Peer made in Bristol, including those made during the last week of July 1927. Of all the nineteen music acts that Peer recorded during its 1927 sessions in Bristol, only three continued to record for the Victor label: the aforementioned two imminent superstars, and "Blind" Alfred Reed, who recorded in Bristol on July 28, 1927. Reed’s Bristol recordings and subsequent releases for Victor remain remarkably relevant in that they advance a clear-eyed, sometimes humorous, often searing vision of a world gone wrong. Reed’s best recordings are as essential as any of his contemporaries’ recordings in depicting and illuminating the changing realities of rural America on the cusp of the Great Depression.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Ted Olson is Professor of Appalachian Studies at East Tennessee State University and a past editor of _The Journal of Appalachian Studies_. For his work as music historian, he has been nominated for three Grammy Awards and received an International Bluegrass Music Association Award.
"'Blind' Alfred Reed: Appalachian Visionary"
I will present a contextualized overview of the life and music of "Blind" Alfred Reed. Today, many if not most fans of American roots music have heard of the Bristol sessions, the now-legendary recording sessions conducted in Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia, during the Summer of 1927 by producer Ralph Peer for the Victor Talking Machine Company. One aspect of the Bristol Sessions story gets most of the attention—that those sessions yielded the first recordings of two profoundly influential music acts: The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers, who recorded in Bristol in August 1927. In 1988, historian Nolan Porterfield wrote: “’Bristol, August 1927’ has come to signal the Big Bang of country music evolution, the genesis of every shape and species of Pickin’ & Singin’ down through the years.” Focusing on the Carters and Rodgers (as Peer/Victor did and as many people today continue to do) has marginalized other recordings that Peer made in Bristol, including those made during the last week of July 1927. Of all the nineteen music acts that Peer recorded during its 1927 sessions in Bristol, only three continued to record for the Victor label: the aforementioned two imminent superstars, and "Blind" Alfred Reed, who recorded in Bristol on July 28, 1927. Reed’s Bristol recordings and subsequent releases for Victor remain remarkably relevant in that they advance a clear-eyed, sometimes humorous, often searing vision of a world gone wrong. Reed’s best recordings are as essential as any of his contemporaries’ recordings in depicting and illuminating the changing realities of rural America on the cusp of the Great Depression.
