NRR Project: 'Wabash Cannon Ball' (1936)

 

NRR Project: ‘Wabash Cannon Ball’

Roy Acuff and His Crazy Tennesseans

Recorded Oct. 21, 1936

2:48

“Wabash Cannon Ball” is a folk song with origins in the 19^th century. It describes an imaginary train, dotted with hoboes, moving serenely across the landscape. The upbeat, rollicking tune is easy to sing and remember – but it became an American standard thanks to Roy Acuff.

Acuff was a singer and a fiddler, and with his backing band of Crazy Tennesseans, he crafted a major hit with this 1936 recording. At the time, country music was still considered a backwoods, primitive affair, fit only for hillbillies and the lower classes. Acuff, soon to be dubbed “The King of Country Music,” was a consummate showman, and this and other of his hits became country-music standards.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: the complete recordings of Robert Johnson.

NRR Project: 'La Chicharronera' (1936)

 

NRR Project: ‘La Chicharronera’

Narciso Martinez and Santiago Almeida

Recorded Oct. 21, 1936

2:40

I could not do better than Hector Saldana’s excellent essay on this piece, which you can read here.

This music, called conjunto, was a hybridization of European instruments and musical forms, and Mexican rhythm and content. These lively songs were popular with the working poor. In south Texas, artists sprung up and crafted this music in all kinds of social situations, developing a repertoire that would looked on later as a golden age of musical creativity.

Narcisco Martinez, known as the Hurricane of the Valley, was a master of the button accordion. His accompanist, Santiago Almeida, wielded a guitar-like instrument called a bajo sexto. Together they created a propulsive, tuneful sound that would expand and develop rapidly in the decades to come.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Nest time: Wabash Cannonball.