The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #135431   Message #3227325
Posted By: Gibb Sahib
22-Sep-11 - 04:08 PM
Thread Name: Earliest Commercial Shanty Recordings
Subject: RE: Earliest Commercial Shanty Recordings
Does anyone know of any commercial recordings of chanties in the 1910s decade?

I think the history of these recordings is a good way to follow the development of the chanty revival(s).

So far, I'm seeing the Minster Singers recordings of the 1900s decade as an isolated incident. I'm suggesting that they were done mainly as a novelty, and they filled a "slot" in the growing record market that sought to offer diverse selections for collectors. (I am not saying that was the inspiration for recording, however.) There doesn't seem to have been any strong, broad interest in listening to/performing chanties as entertainment at that time.

Shanties *were* being written about, in nostalgic terms or framed as folklore, at that time.

I'd be interested to fill in some gaps to better pinpoint when, by the 1920s, chanteys began to have wide appeal.