Walter Smith & Friends – Various Artists – Complete Recorded Works 1929-1936 Vol 3 (1931-1936) ‘I’ll Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms’

This is the third and final volume featuring the complete recorded works of Walter Smith & Friends. The 3 volume set of Walter Smith & Friends covers some of the finest, and some of the rarest, recordings of what is often called the golden age of old-time music. Almost all the musicians in this collection were part of a loose clique that gathered in the 1920s and early ’30s around the charismatic Charlie Poole. Like so many other hillbilly groups of the era they were based in a section of south-western Virginia and north-western North Carolina bound by Patrick, Henry and Pittsylvania Counties in Virginia and Rockingham County, NC. One of the things all these groups had in common was an approach to making string band music that was both elegant and affecting. Walter Smith made the recording session for Victor in May 1931 a family affair by introducing his daughters Thelma on guitar and Dorothy on ukulele to the group. Charlie Poole was to have joined them in Charlotte but he died of a heart attack on May 21. In his honour Walter wrote a song in his memory entitled “The Life and Death of Charlie Poole” but he was not destined to record it. Poole’s death though acted like a catalyst to encouraging his friends to get their music recorded. Posey Rorer and Buster Carter got together again with guitarist Preston Young to record a batch of sides in New York in Columbia. Among the tracks recorded were “A Lazy Farmer Boy” and “Bill Morgan And His Gal” which tells the story of a man with an extravagant girlfriend. The sales generated from this session were not great and the men did not record again. During the 1930s Walter Smith was working as a comedian in tent shows and with his daughters on the radio. The Smith family would record again in December 1936 for the last time. Includes informative booklet notes by Tony Russell, full discographical details and illustrations.