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Short History of Jugband Music Indigenous American music form, the beginnings of Blues, Jazz, & Rock 'n Roll. The definitive research on the origins of Jugband Music was done by the late Fred Cox. Beginning with Dan (Black Daddy) Smith and B.D.Tite "busking" and picking banjo from Kentucky, Cox research follows the formation and popularity of music using earthen jugs as bass instrumentation. Tite mastered the jug (which he had seen being used in the southwestern Appalachian region of Virginia) but it was Black Daddy who convinced him and other high caliber musicians to take the band to Louisville, KY where they were an instant hit. With Cy and Charlie Anderson on fiddle and guitar, the Cy Anderson Jug Band ruled night life in the spring of 1900. By 1913, repeated appearances at the Kentucky Derby and Derby house parties, lead to headlining dates in Chicago and New York. In New York City, two hot bands combined to record as The Dixieland Jug Blowers in 1924. They set the standard in sophisticated syncopation, using a jazz clarinet and alto sax. The young Memphis guitar picker Will Shade heard the recordings and soon after formed The Memphis Jugband. Beale Street was the place to be for Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers and eight other jug bands by the late 1920's. For more information about who played with whom and who's band reformed with what instrumentation, please go to the Rukus Juice & Chittlins site which offers a detailed discography. For information on the Memphis scene and great historical data combined with music samples go to the Memphis Blues Tour. There you will find the earliest influences on such modern phenomenon as The Grateful Dead, (originally Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions), the Beatles, (John Lennon's original "skiffle" band was The Quarrymen.), and Pink Floyd. Jugbands today still play the traditional tunes and write new music. Handmade instruments make music accessible to anyone motivated to "dance all night to a jugband show" ("Jug Band Widow" by Colorblind James and Miss Mink Oil). Singing phonetically, international jug bands perform from Singapore to Sidney, Hawaii to Holland, On any street corner in the world, jugband musicians who have never met and who may not speak the same language will open their cases, pull out their instruments and begin to play from a traditional song list each one knows by heart.
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For more information on the history of the music form go to the For more information on the music being written and performed today, you can start at the Jugband Rag.
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