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01 Nov 18 - 12:29 PM (#3959563) Subject: Dixon of D&G re Palmer McAbee etc. From: GUEST,Joseph Scott Robert Dixon, coauthor of the famous reference book _Blues And Gospel Records_, quoted in _Pioneers Of The Blues Revival_ by Steve Cushing on the topic of trying to exclude blues artists, such as Palmer McAbee (17 years older than Robert Johnson), from the book whenever they were believed to be white: "[I]t's interesting how I only thought this through a couple of years ago: we were absolutely color conscious...." |
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01 Nov 18 - 03:18 PM (#3959586) Subject: RE: Dixon of D&G re Palmer McAbee etc. From: GUEST,Hootenanny Strangely enough if you bother to check it out the record industry has been since it's beginnings. Was Palmer McAbee a blues artist? The Victor session sheet for his two issued sides from 1928 is clearly labelled "Hillbilly". And of what relevance is his age? |
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02 Nov 18 - 01:59 PM (#3959751) Subject: RE: Dixon of D&G re Palmer McAbee etc. From: GUEST,Joseph Scott "Was Palmer McAbee a blues artist?" Yeah. "of what relevance is his age?" To his style, e.g. |
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02 Nov 18 - 04:45 PM (#3959780) Subject: RE: Dixon of D&G re Palmer McAbee etc. From: GUEST,Hootenanny How old does one have to be to qualify as a blues artist? and who decides? Sorry I don't follow your explanation. |
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02 Nov 18 - 05:24 PM (#3959788) Subject: RE: Dixon of D&G re Palmer McAbee etc. From: GUEST,Joseph Scott I haven't written anything about being a blues artist being contingent on age; Robert Johnson was a blues artist, I think and I bet you think. Who decides whether McAbee was a blues artist would be e.g. Robert Dixon and John Godrich, who included him in the 1982 edition of their famous reference work and wrote there that he "certainly sounds black." He was white. What Dixon was thinking about in recent years (he's 79), and admitted he hadn't thought about back then, was that trying to eliminate people from a book on the basis of them not being black was, in the real world, a _different_, inconsistent approach from noticing what they sounded like. How Dixon honestly thought McAbee sounded illustrates the inconsistency. |
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02 Nov 18 - 05:29 PM (#3959789) Subject: RE: Dixon of D&G re Palmer McAbee etc. From: GUEST,Joseph Scott "He was white" They didn't know it then, but he was white, if that helps explain. |
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03 Nov 18 - 06:34 AM (#3959838) Subject: RE: Dixon of D&G re Palmer McAbee etc. From: GUEST,Hootenanny Tell me something I don't know. What I was pointing out to you in my first post is that from the very early days of the 78 era. Record companies had to make it clear which audience their product was aimed at. Getting it wrong could upset some folks Ref. The Allen Brothers. D & G in their discography were aiming at a particular audience. Their book was aimed at blues collectors. McAbee is listed correctly where he belongs in Tony Russel's excellent Country Music Discography. I assume from your posts that you must not have been listening very long. |
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05 Nov 18 - 10:34 AM (#3960212) Subject: RE: Dixon of D&G re Palmer McAbee etc. From: GUEST,Mike Yates And what of Taylor's Kentucky Boys and that photograph which shows Dennis Taylor, their manager, 'playing' Jim Booker's fiddle. Booker, being black, was not shown. Their records were sold via the Old-Time/Hillbilly section of the catalogue. |
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06 Nov 18 - 10:10 PM (#3960459) Subject: RE: Dixon of D&G re Palmer McAbee etc. From: GUEST,Joseph Scott Hootenanny, Dixon corrected _himself_ about something, of his own volition, I wasn't there. Do you understand that Dixon corrected himself about something? |