Subject: RE: Folklore: New Lost City Bang Boys!?
From:
12-stringer
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 12:02 AM
Name of the group is a tribute to the little-known oldtimey band, "The Bang Boys," who recorded two sides for Vocalion in 1936 ("Bang Bang Lulu" b/w "Doin' It the Old-Fashioned Way"). They were more familiarly known as Roy Acuff and the Crazy Tennesseeans but used the alias for a slightly smutty 78. Acuff played fiddle but didn't sing on either side, as I recall, not having heard them in 35 years. The NLCBB's version of "Lulu" comes from the Bang Boys, I believe.
These tracks are from Acuff's first recording session. Possibly Vocalion was looking for a mountain counterpart to their group the Prairie Ramblers, a slick western swing-y band from the WLS Barn Dance, who also recorded slightly off-color material as "The Sweet Violet Boys." No further Bang Boys 78s were issued, so it's likely the experiment didn't pan out commercially. The records are quite rare, though they're not very dirty.
Seems to me that Buster Carter and Preston Young recorded "Then It Won't Hurt No More" for Columbia c1931, but I don't think I've ever heard it.
"Sweet Farm Girl" was recorded by the Carolina Tar Heels (smutty) and by Tom Ashley (smuttier). I think both are available on CD, and Ashley's is downloadable at Honking Duck.
"Women Wear No Clothes" is from a 78 by Fiddlin' Bob Larkan and is mostly a fiddle tune, with occasional chorus, "Oh, the women wear no clothes at all (x3), But they get there just the same."
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sj
