[Dixielandjazz] Influence of grammar on jazz, was spring sprang ...

[Charlie Hooks]

    Thanks, Anton, for a wonderful post!  This is the sort of post I always
hope for and seldom recieve, the more usual being crap about politics and/or
concert schedules. 

    I am still researching the source of Sprague's  "There Ain't No Sex On
The Praries, Only Cactus" (isn't that a marvelous title!) and will post it
when found.  I'll also post Sprague when and if HE is found.

helpfully,
Charlie




on 2/12/03 8:06 PM, Anton Crouch at a.crouch at unsw.edu.au wrote:

> 
> Hello all
> 
> Dan Augustine's revelation of the work of Beausolil is timely. DJML needs
> to know about this. Can we have a thread on oxometric research?
> 
> The influence of grammar on jazz (actually cowboy songs, but that's close
> enough for most people these days) is shown by the "discovery" and
> recording of the cowboy singer Carl T Sprague. In 1925 Sprague recorded
> such timeless pieces as "When the works all done this fall", "Bad
> companions", "The kicking mule", "Cowboy love song" and "The last great
> round-up". The Victor people in NJ were troubled by the fact that Carl
> couldn't agree on what his family name actually was (sometimes Spring,
> sometimes Sprang, sometimes Sprung), so he was re-named for records - Sprague.
> 
> Under his real name(s) he recorded for the obscure Abilene label Sudskog in
> 1923. These are the earliest electrical recordings known. The process,
> known as "Texagraph", was developed by Swamp Laboratories of Galveston and
> the discs may have been 7 inch coarse-grooved 33 rpms. We may never know
> what they sounded like - no copies are known to exist.
> 
> Sprague's most famous saying was "There ain't no sex on the prairie - just
> cactus".
> 
> All the best
> Anton
> 
> 
> 
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