Fiddlin' John Carson
Encyclopedia
Fiddlin' John Carson was an American old time fiddler and an early-recorded country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

ian.

Early life

Carson was born in Fannin County, Georgia
Fannin County, Georgia
Fannin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created on January 21, 1854. As of 2000, the population was 19,798. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 22,580...

, and grew up on a farm there. His father worked as a section foreman for the W&A Railroad Company. In his teens, Carson learned to play the fiddle, using an old Stradivari-copy violin brought from Ireland in the early 18th century. When he was eleven years old he used to roam the streets of Copperhill playing for tips. In his teens, he worked as a racehorse jockey.

In 1894, he was married and a couple of years later, in 1900, he began working for the Exposition Cotton Mill in Atlanta followed by work in other cotton mills of the Atlanta area for the next twenty years, eventually he was promoted to be a foreman. In 1911, Carson's family moved to Cabbagetown, Georgia and he and his children began working for the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill. Two years later, in 1913, the workers of the cotton mill went on strike for their right to form a union, and Carson had nothing else to do but to perform for a living in the streets of North Atlanta. In these days, he wrote many songs and he used to print copies and sell them in the streets for a nickel or a dime. Some of the songs he wrote dealt with real life drama like the murder ballad "Mary Phagan". Because the governor of Georgia, John Marshall Slaton, commuted the death sentence of the accused murderer of Mary Phagan to a life sentence, Carson, in outrage, wrote another version of "Mary Phagan" where he accused the governor of being paid a million dollars from a New York bank to change the verdict. Carson was thrown in jail for slander. (The accused killer, Leo Frank
Leo Frank
Leo Max Frank was a Jewish-American factory superintendent whose hanging in 1915 by a lynch mob of prominent citizens in Marietta, Georgia drew attention to antisemitism in the United States....

, was lynched; decades later, a witness gave testimony indicating that the killer had probably been another man, Jim Conley.)

On April 1, 1913 Carson performed at the first annual "Georgia Old-Time Fiddlers' Convention", held at the Municipal Auditorium in Atlanta, where he only became fourth. But between 1914 and 1922 he was proclaimed "Champion Fiddler of Georgia" seven times. The governor of Tennessee, Robert L. Taylor dubbed him "Fiddlin' John". In 1919, Carson began touring, mostly the areas north of Atlanta, with his newly formed band the Cronies. He became associated with many politicians of Georgia, like Tom Watson
Thomas E. Watson
Thomas Edward "Tom" Watson was an American politician, newspaper editor, and writer from Georgia. In the 1890s Watson championed poor farmers as a leader of the Populist Party, articulating an agrarian political viewpoint while attacking business, bankers, railroads, Democratic President Grover...

, Herman Talmadge
Herman Talmadge
Herman Eugene Talmadge was an American politician from the U.S. state of Georgia. He served as governor of Georgia briefly in 1947 and again from 1948 to 1955. His term was marked by his segregationist policies. After leaving office Talmadge was elected to the U.S...

 and Eugene Talmadge
Eugene Talmadge
Eugene Talmadge was a Democratic politician who served two terms as the 67th Governor of Georgia from 1933 to 1937, and a third term from 1941 to 1943. Elected to a fourth term in 1946, he died before taking office...

, relations that gave rise to new songs like "Tom Watson Special". Carson and his daughter Rosa Lee
Moonshine Kate
Moonshine Kate was an American country banjoist, guitarist and singer. She was one of the earliest women to record country music, first appearing on record in the 1920s with her father Fiddlin' John Carson.Kate was the ninth and last child born to Jenny Nora Scroggins and John Carson...

 began a series of performances for different political campaigns: for the Tom Watson U.S. Senate Campaign in 1920, for all of the Gene Talmadge's campaigns, and for the Herman Talmadge governor campaign. On September 9, 1922, Carson made his radio debut at Atlanta Journal's radio station WSB
WSB (AM)
WSB — branded AM 750 and 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB — is a commercial radio station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia broadcasting a news/talk format. The station transmits with 50,000 watts of nondirectional power day and night, enjoying clear-channel status on its broadcast frequency according to the U.S...

 in Atlanta, It was reported by the Atlanta Journal that Carson's fame quickly spread all over the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 following his broadcast at WSB.

Career and aftermath

In early June 1923, Polk C. Brockman, an Atlanta furniture store owner, who had been instrumental in the distribution of records for Okeh, went to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 to work out a new business deal with Okeh Records. Later, in New York, he was asked if he knew of any artist in Atlanta that could justify a recording trip to Georgia. Brockman promised to return with an answer. A few days later, he was watching a movie followed by a silent newsreel at the Palace Theater in Times Square. The newsreel contained footage of Fiddlin' John Carson from an old time fiddler's contest in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

. Brockman wrote in his notebook: "Record Fiddlin' John Carson". At his next meeting with Okeh Records Board, he persuaded Ralph Peer
Ralph Peer
Ralph Sylvester Peer was an American talent scout, recording engineer and record producer in the field of music in the 1920s and 1930s...

 to go ahead and record Carson.

About June 14, 1923 (date is uncertain), Carson made his recording debut in an empty building on Nassau Street in Atlanta, cutting two sides, "The Little Old Log Cabin In The Lane
The Little Old Log Cabin In The Lane
"The Little Old Log Cabin In The Lane" is a popular song written by Will S. Hays in 1871 for the minstrel trade. Written in dialect, the song tells of an elderly man, presumably a slave or former slave, passing his latter years in a broken-down old log cabin...

" and "The Old Hen Cackled and the Rooster's going to Crow." Peer didn't like the singing style of Carson and described it "pluperfect awful" but he was persuaded by Brockman to press five hundred for him to distribute. The recording was immediately sold out from the stage of the next Fiddler's convention on July 13, 1923. Peer, realizing Carson's potential, immediately invited Carson to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 for another recording session.

Fiddlin' John Carson ceased recording temporarily in 1931 but resumed in 1934, now for the Victor
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...

 label. Between 1923 and 1931, Carson recorded almost 150 songs, mostly together with the "Virginia Reelers" or his daughter Rosa Lee Carson, who performed with him as "Moonshine Kate". He wrote more than 150 songs in his life but only nine were ever copyrighted. Because Carson couldn't read sheet music he had his songs transferred to standard notation by the stepdaughter of preacher Andrew Jenkins, Irene Spain. Carson was involved in several copyright issues with both Okeh Records and other musicians during his active career.

In his later years, he worked for the local government as an elevator operator in Atlanta, a job he had obtained through his friendship with governor Herman Talmadge. He died in 1949 in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

, and is buried in Sylvester Cemetery in the East Atlanta
East Atlanta
East Atlanta is a neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia in the eastern portion of the city. The term "East Atlanta" is frequently misused to refer to the entire eastern portion of the city located in DeKalb County, roughly 10% of Atlanta's area annexed in 1909...

neighborhood of Atlanta.

External links

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