Alexander “Eck” Campbell  Robertson was born in Delaney, Arkansas on November 20, 1887.  At the age of three Robertson’s family moved to a small farm just outside of the newly incorporated settlement of Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle.

His father, a farmer-turned-preacher and Confederate veteran of the Civil War, was a talented fiddle player and competed in local and regional fiddle contests alongside Robertson’s uncles and grandfather. This talent may as well have been genetic: all eight of the Robertson kids learned how to play and sing

 

Robertson began learning fiddle at five years old on a self-made instrument created from a long-necked gourd and a tanned cat hide (his own cat, or so the legend goes). Whatever the quality of the instrument itself, he appears to have made a quick study of it. He claimed in a 1972 interview with Earl Spielman that he learned how to play his father’s repertoire before he ever held an instrument in his hands, “It was just natural with me to play (the tunes), I didn’t have to learn them. I already knew them.”

His talent progressed at a prodigious pace along with his aspirations and at sixteen he left home to join up with a traveling Medicine Show. It was on the Medicine Show circuit that Robertson would develop and hone his many fiddle playing “tricks”: playing behind his back, imitating various animal noises, throwing his fiddle or bow in the air and catching it, and even making the instrument “talk”. He would later utilize these tricks while competing at various fiddle contests.

In 1906 Robertson married his childhood sweetheart (and talented musician in her own right), Jenetta “Nettie” Bell Levy. In their first years of marriage, the couple performed fiddle and piano music at silent movie theaters to supplement Robertson’s income as a piano tuner. It was most likely around this time that Robertson started performing in a cowboy outfit and began billing himself as “The Cowboy Fiddler”.

As the son of a Confederate veteran, Robertson started attending annual Old Confederate Soldiers’ Reunions throughout the South. At the Chattanooga, TN reunion in October 1921 his reputation as a performer earned him an invitation to perform with then-governor of Tennessee, Alf Taylor. The performance went well enough for Robertson to gain an invitation to perform at the following year’s reunion held in Richmond, VA. It was there that Robertson met, or was reacquainted with, Henry C. Gilliland; a former justice of the peace, Confederate veteran, and renowned fiddler.

At the 1922 Confederate Reunion Robertson and Gilliland made the decision to travel to New York City in search of a recording audition. The two were offered a place to stay for a few nights by Gilliland’s friend Martin Littleton, a lawyer for the Victor Talking Machine Company. Littleton gave them a tour of the city and introduced them to his colleagues at one of the Victor studios (there were two in operation in 1922).

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“It wasn’t Robertson’s talent, but a good connection that got him the audition with Victor. His sometime fiddle partner Henry C. Gilliland, a former justice of the peace in Altus, Oklahoma, was friends with lawyer Marvin Littleton, who represented Victor. Gilliland played with Robertson on the session that produced “Arkansaw Traveler,” but Robertson came back the next day by himself to record “Sallie” and five more fiddle tunes. Silent cowboy movies were big at the time, so Robertson showed up in full Western wear—a satin fuchsia shirt with pearl studs, wide-brimmed black hat, and pants tucked into high boots. That information comes from the liner notes of the LP Eck Robertson: Famous Cowboy Fiddler, which he recorded at home in Amarillo as a 76-year-old in 1963. “By MICHAEL CORCORAN  Texas Highways 

Eck’s own account of this historic confrontation:

“You couldn’t fool that man was running the shop in the Victor office…But then he come at me, he just come into the room in a hurry with a long piece of paper with names on it. He done that on purpose, you see, thought he’d get rid of me just like he had all the rest of them. He said `Young man, get your fiddle out and start off on a tune.’ Said `I can tell that quick whether I can use you or not.’ Well, I said back to him just as honest as I could `Mister, I come a long ways to get an audition with you. Maybe I better wait and come back another time. You seem like you’re in an awful hurry.’ `No,’ he said, `Just start off a tune…’ Well, I didn’t get to play half of Sallie Gooden; he just throwed up his hands and stopped me. Said, `By Ned, that’s fine!’ And just smiled, you know. Said, `Come back in the morning at nine o’clock and we’ll make a test record.”

“Long time ago there was a girl named Sallie, the most beautiful in the land. She had many suitors but couldn’t make up her mind which one to marry. So she held a fiddle contest for her hand. Her beau made the tune and played it for her to win the prize. His name was Gooden, and there have been 13 generations of Goodens since that time. That’s where Sallie Gooden came from and that’s why I composed a variation for each generation in my version of the tune.” Eck Robertson 

On the morning of June 30, 1922 Robertson and Gilliland returned to the studio and recorded four duets: “Arkansas Traveler”, “Turkey In The Straw”, “Forked Deer” and “Apple Blossom” (the latter two unreleased). “Arkansas Traveler” showcases the stunning interplay the two were known for, while their counter-melodies weave together as if they had been Henry Gilliland performing with each other for decades. “Turkey In The Straw” features the same dynamic playing while also offering some stunning unison melody lines.

Robertson returned to the studio by himself the next day and recorded six sides. Two tracks (“Sallie Johnson – Billy In The Low Ground” and “Done Gone”) feature Victor staff pianist, Nat Shilkret. Shilkret’s accompaniments bounce along, providing a strong rhythmic pulse for Robertson to play off.

Victor advertisement from 1924 noted the tracks for their “Swift melody and droning, sleepy double-stops.” While the piano accompaniment makes for a nice listening experience, Robertson’s solo fiddle recordings are where he really shines.

 

“Ragtime Annie” showcases Robertson’s bowing technique while his left hand hammers out the melody with striking precision. The stunning “Sallie Gooden” still excites to this day. The explosive high E-string melodies, impressive double-stop work, and Robertson’s endless creative variations of the tune all contribute to the recording’s lasting influence. In 1972 Robertson discussed his arrangement: “I worked that out by myself. I mostly improved every old hoedown tune that ever was put out. I generally played better than anybody else, a better arrangement of tunes. I didn’t skip nothing. I didn’t leave out no part of the tune. I didn’t put parts in there that didn’t belong in there, things like that. I stuck with the tunes more than any fiddler. Had people compliment me a lot, people who knew how the tune was really supposed to go.”   

Two sides from the July 1 session were regrettably never issued: “General Logan – Reel” and “Brilliancy and Cheathum”. “Brilliancy” may have been an early draft of “Brilliancy Medley” that Robertson later recorded in 1929.

Victor released “Arkansas Traveler” b/w “Sallie Gooden” on September 1, 1922. While there are no surviving sales figures, the release was apparently successful enough for Victor to put out four additional sides over the next year. The success of these releases makes it all the more baffling that Robertson would not enter another recording studio until 1929.

These recordings and Eck’s playing is still revered today..Comment taken from You Tube