Biography
Briefly active during the mid-'30s, the Dallas Jamboree Jug Band cut a small number of sides that later surfaced on numerous reissue anthologies, credited either to the ensemble itself or to individual participants. Overlap with the Dallas Jug Band has created lasting mix-ups, and the latter group itself proves far from straightforward: it functioned simply as a recording alias for the far better-known Memphis Jug Band, whose members sought to exceed contractual limits on output while avoiding any mention of their actual Memphis base. Further complications arose when the Picaninny Jug Band appeared in discographies as yet another name for the Dallas Jug Band, raising the possibility that the Dallas Jamboree Jug Band had adopted the designation or that one alias had merely spawned another.
In fall 1935, musicians including guitarist and singer Carl Davis plus washboard rubber Charles Jackson assembled to lay down “Elm Street Woman Blues,” “Dusting the Frets,” and “Flying Crow Blues.” Several additional participants remain unidentified, and the scant details attached to at least one of them—a bassist known solely as Shorty—leave even the most resourceful discographer with little to pursue. Whatever the full roster, the ensemble illustrated how Texas string-band and jug-band approaches could merge to support both standard blues material and occasional Tin Pan Alley themes. Frenchies’ String Band, a comparable unit from the same period, likewise paired a strongly strummed mandolin with an assortment of brass bass instruments to generate distinctive rhythmic layers.
In fall 1935, musicians including guitarist and singer Carl Davis plus washboard rubber Charles Jackson assembled to lay down “Elm Street Woman Blues,” “Dusting the Frets,” and “Flying Crow Blues.” Several additional participants remain unidentified, and the scant details attached to at least one of them—a bassist known solely as Shorty—leave even the most resourceful discographer with little to pursue. Whatever the full roster, the ensemble illustrated how Texas string-band and jug-band approaches could merge to support both standard blues material and occasional Tin Pan Alley themes. Frenchies’ String Band, a comparable unit from the same period, likewise paired a strongly strummed mandolin with an assortment of brass bass instruments to generate distinctive rhythmic layers.