| Will Slayden |
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Will Slayden
African-American Banjo Songs from West Tennessee
Tennessee Folklore Society
CD
$14 |
In 1952 Will Slayden was working as a sharecropper in western Tennessee when Charles McNutt stopped by to ask if he could record Slayden's music. Slayden was between 60 and 70 years old at the time and hadn't played banjo in around twenty years, but his name had come up during McNutt's inquiries in Memphis regarding locating local black musicians who played five-string banjo. He had been told that Slayden played "drag thumb" style, a term he hadn't heard previously (nor has he heard it since).
Slayden no longer owned a banjo so he borrowed McNutt's and they started recording. His playing is understandably tentative at first, but soon he's getting his chops back and it's exhilarating to hear. By the time we get to "Old Hen Cackled" he's really cooking and clearly having a ball, letting loose with some nimble picking and clucking like a man reborn.
The first time I listened to this disc I could almost swear that I heard the rat-a-tat snare beats of the fife-and-drum bands that were popular in that general area. Maybe Slayden played at parties? It sure sounds like dance music sometimes, such as on his rendition of "Shortnin' Bread," where musical and lyrical phrases are repeated frantically with slight variations throughout the song. Slayden's wife Emma, who initially wasn't pleased with the notion of her husband being recorded, joined in to sing a few gospel numbers which give credence to one of my rules of thumb for old-time music: involvement of the wife is a good sign.
Not much is known about Will Slayden apart from his music, but the booklet which accompanies the disc, with notes and lyric transcriptions from McNutt and Grammy-winning writer Dr. David Evans, helps to elucidate the situation. And when you consider that these recordings went unreleased for fifty years, we're certainly headed in the right direction.
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