The Skillet-Lickers – Complete Recorded Works 1926-1934 Vol 6 (1934)

By 1934 the music industry was starting to recover and the Skillet Lickers were approached to go back into the studio for the Bluebird label but they returned under the new line-up of Riley Puckett, Gid Tanner, Gid’s son Gordon on fiddle and mandolin player Ted Hawkins. It was a highly productive session resulting in the 22 sides featured on this CD together plus sides two sides featured in DOCD-8060. One of the most successful couplings from this session was “Down Yonder” / “Back Up And Push” which remained in the Bluebird catalogue for the rest of the label’s life. Quite a few of the tunes the band recorded has old Skillet Licker associations, but were delivered in less artful settings. What is lost by the absence of two fiddlers is made up for by Ted Hawkins’ mandolin which imparts a sparkle perhaps not detected in the earlier recordings. “Practice Night With The Skillet Lickers” rounds off the series and is more a medley of tracks that the group did not otherwise record. It closes appropriately with “Show Me The Way To Go Home”, Gid went home to his chicken farm, Riley spent several years work on radio and records and Gordon became a fiddle-maker. Includes informative booklet notes by Tony Russell with bibliography and full discographical details.