Biography
The Birmingham Jug Band committed eight sides to tape during a December 1930 session, constituting the sole documented legacy of one of the period’s rawest, rowdiest, and least-known jug ensembles. Scholarly consensus has never confirmed the personnel, yet numerous researchers identify semi-mythic harpist Jaybird Coleman as the central figure alongside medicine-show performer Ben Curry, who also performed under the name “Bogus Blind” Ben Covington—the qualifier “bogus” underscoring that he possessed normal sight. Big Joe Williams asserted his own participation and supplied a roster that included Coleman, Covington, “One-Armed Dave” (Dave Miles), “Dr. Scott,” jug player “Honeycup,” and washboard specialist “New Orleans Slide.” The ensemble almost certainly worked medicine-show circuits throughout the Deep South, and the eight titles they preserved offer a window onto the stylistic range typical of those traveling shows.
Among jug bands active in the 1920s and 1930s, the Birmingham unit produced one of the most singular sonic signatures preserved on disc, even though its song selection displayed markedly narrower variety than that of the Memphis Jug Band or Cannon’s Jug Stompers. Likely the sole complete jug band from below Memphis to enter a studio, the group cultivated a pronounced rural texture that drew equally from country string-band conventions and the more urban jug-band idiom. Its eight recordings feature a commanding lead mandolin paired with an equally assertive harmonica, coarse and weighty vocals, and a pulsing groove driven primarily by the jug’s relentless thump. On the same day, in the identical Atlanta facility, King David’s Jug Band—another sparsely documented outfit—also recorded; the two groups together yielded some of the most energetic and compelling documents from the peak years of the jug-band phenomenon.
Among jug bands active in the 1920s and 1930s, the Birmingham unit produced one of the most singular sonic signatures preserved on disc, even though its song selection displayed markedly narrower variety than that of the Memphis Jug Band or Cannon’s Jug Stompers. Likely the sole complete jug band from below Memphis to enter a studio, the group cultivated a pronounced rural texture that drew equally from country string-band conventions and the more urban jug-band idiom. Its eight recordings feature a commanding lead mandolin paired with an equally assertive harmonica, coarse and weighty vocals, and a pulsing groove driven primarily by the jug’s relentless thump. On the same day, in the identical Atlanta facility, King David’s Jug Band—another sparsely documented outfit—also recorded; the two groups together yielded some of the most energetic and compelling documents from the peak years of the jug-band phenomenon.