Clifford Hayes & Louisville Jug Bands Vol 2 1926 – 1927

JPCD-1502 ‘Clifford Hayes And The Louisville Jug Bands Volume 2 (1926-1927)

Dixieland Jug Blowers; with Lockwood Lewis, alto sax, vocal; Clifford Hayes, violin; Cal Smith, Emmett Perkins, Curtis Hayes, banjo; Earl McDonald, jug, vocal; H. Clifford, jug, Johnny Dodds, clarinet,
Earl McDonald’s Original Jug Band; with Lucien Brown, altos sax; Ben Calvin, mandolin;  Cal Smith, banjo; Earl McDonald, jug, vocal.
Whistler And His Jug Band; with Whistler (Buford Threlkeld), guitar, nose-whistle; Jesse Ferguson, violin; Willie black, tenor banjo; Rudolph Thompson, jug.

Genres; Jug Band, Jazz, Blues, Skiffle.
Informative booklet notes by Brenda Bogart.
Detailed discography.

A long-time Louisville resident recalls:

“You could not walk three blocks in downtown Louisville without running across a bunch of kids with jugs, banjos, guitars, homemade ukuleles and an upturned washtub with a single string that was played with a bow. Also you could see plenty of adults playing on corners trying to make an extra buck and they usually had legitimate instruments plus the jug. Jugs were plentiful in this part of the country during Prohibition.”
According to Paul Mott, a jug player with Whistler’s Jug Band, the band used to go into both black and white clubs, play a few numbers, then pass around the hat. He never heard of a jug band having a regular job in any of the joints. They could make more on the street corner hustlin’.”
Some of the most popular Louisville jug bands were those fronted by jug player Earl McDonald (1884-1949). Until 1920, when he could make a living playing music, McDonald worked various day jobs (including “stemming” in a tobacco warehouse) and performed with his band at night. During the 1920’s he, along with other musicians, lived on Carpet Alley, a street that the band immortalized in Carpet Alley Breakdown…