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Author Topic: Samantha Bumgarner 78 - any idea?  (Read 3164 times)

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downthedirtroad

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Samantha Bumgarner 78 - any idea?
« on: February 21, 2008, 07:22:55 PM »
I realize this post is off topic, but I don't know where else to post it.
Anyways, I recently came across a 78 on Columbia records by an old-time country artist named Samantha Bumgarner, which guessing by the brown Columbia label, dates to the early 1920s (the same label used for the earliest Bessie Smith recordings).  Although it is not of the "country blues" genre, I am just curious as to it's background and possible value, as I have noticed this artist on a handful of yazoo and old hat compilations.

BTW: the record is as follows:

Georgia Blues/The Worried Blues
Samantha Bumgarner "solo-banjo accomp"
Columbia 166-D

downthedirtroad

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Re: Samantha Bumgarner 78 - any idea?
« Reply #1 on: February 21, 2008, 07:28:53 PM »
Ok, I'm pretty sure this record was pretty common, so I don't expect it to be of any value, it was just very strange to find this 78 around Toronto Ontario Canada.

Offline uncle bud

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Re: Samantha Bumgarner 78 - any idea?
« Reply #2 on: February 22, 2008, 11:01:40 AM »
Don't know anything about Bumgarner myself, though I do have her Worried Blues on the JSP set Mountain Blues and have always liked it. Weird vocal! I've thought of trying to adapt it to guitar. It's quite a haunting piece somehow.

edited to add: found this googling: "Recorded on April 23, 1924 in New York City. This tune is from her first recording session, which made her the first recorded female country performer. "The Worried Blues" is a variant of "Going Down The Road Feeling Bad.""

Also found a pic:

[attachment deleted by admin]
« Last Edit: February 22, 2008, 11:09:28 AM by andrew »

Offline banjochris

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Re: Samantha Bumgarner 78 - any idea?
« Reply #3 on: February 22, 2008, 11:14:04 AM »
"The Worried Blues" is a variant of "Going Down The Road Feeling Bad.""

So is "Georgia Blues" -- I recorded a version of it on the Back Porch a couple of years ago -- it's a simple tune that sounds different because of some weird phrasing.
Chris

Offline uncle bud

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Re: Samantha Bumgarner 78 - any idea?
« Reply #4 on: February 22, 2008, 11:30:48 AM »
Oooh, forgot that one, and it's such a nice performance I think I have to refer people back to it:

http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?amp;Itemid=128&topic=787.0

Offline Parlor Picker

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Re: Samantha Bumgarner 78 - any idea?
« Reply #5 on: February 23, 2008, 01:45:19 AM »
I can only presume her surname is of Germanic origin - probably Baumgartner (literally "tree gardener") and think it might have been best to leave it alone.
"I ain't good looking, teeth don't shine like pearls,
So glad good looks don't take you through this world."
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Offline poymando

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Re: Samantha Bumgarner 78 - any idea?
« Reply #6 on: April 20, 2008, 02:40:44 PM »
Didn't Pete Seeger learn banjo from her at some point in his youth?

Offline banjochris

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Re: Samantha Bumgarner 78 - any idea?
« Reply #7 on: April 20, 2008, 05:34:59 PM »
I believe she was one of the first people he saw play a five-string; she was part of the crowd around Bascom Lamar Lunsford's festivals in Asheville(?) N.C. going back into the '30s.
Chris

 


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