Wild About My Lovin' Jim Jackson August 1928 (covered by Lovin' Spoonful 1965);
Jug Band Quartette (Music) Memphis Jug Band, 1934, (the last song they recorded);
Might As Well Let Er' Go -- Casey Bill Weldon, 1936 (ex Memphis Jug Band member and husband of Memphis Minnie);
On the Road Again Jab Jones/Will Shade (Memphis Jug Band) September 11, 1928
Adam & Eve (in the Garden of Eden) Blind Bogus Ben Covington 1928. Ben Covington began playing music while he was in his teens. He frequently worked with Big Joe Williams doing street shows, medicine shows, carnivals and touring with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels. He often posed as a blind man to increase his tips and also worked as a sideshow attraction called "The Human Pretzel". Covington recorded for the Paramount / Brunswick labels in 1928 and worked with Williams as a fake blind man, at the Century of Progress World’s Fair of 1933 in Chicago. Also wrote “I Heard the Voice of a Porkchop.”

(Wish I Could) Shimmy Like My Sister Kate/15 Cents/Heebie Jeebies (medley) Sister Kate was stolen from Louie Armstrong by jazz legend Clarence Williams (grandfather of Mod Squad actor Clarence Williams III?) in 1916 and published in 1924. Williams never paid Armstrong the $25 he promised him for the song. The original version was a bawdy New Orleans red light district favorite, possibly inspired by Kate Townsend, a Storyville madam. 15 Cents was recorded by Frankie "Half Pint" Jaxon in 1933 and Heebie Jeebies (an archaic reference to what we now call anxiety) was recorded By Louis Armstrong and the Hot 5 in 1925.
Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now) Jack Yellen, Milt Ager, 1924. Jack Yellen was born in Poland in 1892, moved to the US when very young, and started writing songs as a youth. After serving in WWI met Milt Ager, and together they wrote many of the smash hits of the Roaring Twenties.
James Alley Blues Richard “Rabbit” Brown March 5, 1927. He was from Jane's Alley (not James) in New Orleans, an active and dangerous place around the turn of the century. Brown lived in the "Battlefield" a neighborhood so tough that the police would not go in to quell disturbances. Jane's Alley was also the original home of Louis Armstrong.
Memphis Blues W.C. Handy's original tune, titled "Mr. Crump," merged blues sounds with ragtime style. Overwhelmingly popular, the song helped “Boss” Crump to the Memphis Mayor's office and Handy to musical success. Handy changed the song's name to "The Memphis Blues," -- sheet music went on sale in department stores on September 28, 1912
You May Leave But This’ll Bring You Back (Memphis Jug Band) 1930

New Minglewood Blues Noah Lewis, with Gus Cannon and the Jug Stompers, January 30, 1928 recorded the original version. Noah Lewis re-wrote and recorded the New Minglewood Blues with the Noah Lewis Jug Band, November 26, 1930, in Memphis. Minglewood was described as a small lumber camp or saw mill in Ashport, TN, west of Ripley, that was a "good time spot."
Deep Ellem Blues - Shelton Brothers 1933 -- celebrates the red light district of the same name in Dallas, Texas. Recorded many many times and made currently popular by the Grateful Dead.
Movin' Day Arthur Collins -lyrics Von Tilzer-Sterling with added. lyrics by Jim Kweskin, circa 1965.
Whitewash Station Will Shade, Jab Jones (Memphis Jug Band) Sept 1928
Baby Got the Rickets, Mama's Got The Mobile Blues Vol Stevens (Memphis Jug Band), October 1927
Viola Lee Blues Noah Lewis, Cannon’s Jug Stompers, September 28, 1928
He’s in the Jailhouse Now usually credited to Jimmie Rodgers --a popular medicine show song probably where Rodgers learned it. First recorded as She's in the Graveyard Now by Earl McDonald's Original Louisville Jug Band in 1927. Revived by the Soggy Bottom Boys in the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou. A TFC favorite for over 30 years.
I Got Mine William Moore, January 1928 - another medicine show favorite
Going To Germany Cannon’s Jug Stompers ?1927
Alabama Jubilee George Collins, Frank Yellen 1915

Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey Arthur Collins (?), 1902
Ella Speed
Beedle-Um-Bum
Mr. Crump Frank Stokes version, WC Handy, 1909

Return to TFC Home