Updates

• Added info on Jimmy Ford, thanks to Volker Houghton. • Extended and corrected the post on Happy Harold Thaxton (long overdue), thanks to everyone who sent in memories and information! • Added information to the Jim Murray post, provided by Mike Doyle, Dennis Rogers, and Marty Scarbrough. • Expanded the information on Charlie Dial found in the Little Shoe post.

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Jerry Barlow on Khoury's

  Jerry Barlow and his Louisianans - Mama Don't Allow (Khoury's 701), ca. 1949

Jerry Barlow and his Louisianans
Unfortunately, I was not able to collect any info on Jerry Barlow or his backing band, the Louisianans. Barlow had another release on OT Records in 1949, "Louisiana Baby" b/w "Drifting Along the River" (OT 103). 

Khoury's Records
The Khoury's and OT labels were operated by George Khoury (1909-1998) in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Khoury, a record store owner of Lebanese ancestry, noticed that Cajun music, one of Louisiana's original music styles, was generally ignored by music companies and decided to change the situation. After being involved in the founding of OT Records, Khoury also set up the Lyric and Khoury's labels in 1949. He recorded a great body of authentic Louisiana music, including cajun, blues, swamp-pop and country music in subsequent years. He also produced the 1959 hit "Sea of Love" by Phil Phillips & the Twilights, releasing it originally on Khoury's. He stopped producing music in 1965.

Some confusion surounds this Khoury's release, since there is a later disc with the same catalogue number by Nathan Abshire from 1957. However, the Jerry Barlow release is believed to be from an earlier date, most likely from around 1949 (like his OT disc) and was probably the first non-Cajun recording on Khoury's and predated the 100 Lyric series as well. There is a lot of confusion regarding the label's release dates, since George Khoury often used numbers twice or left blankets in the label's catalogue.

Mama Don't Allow No Low Down Hangin' 'Round: A Chronology
The song "Mama Don't Allow" has been around for more than a century in American music. Peter C. Muir suggests in his book "Long Lost Blues: Popular Blues in America 1850-1920" that the song has a longer tradition in American folklore and existed in one form or another at least since the early 1900s. Further, he explained that one of those variants was the draft for W.C. Handy's 1912 work "The Memphis Blues," first recorded by the Victor Military Band for Victor and the Prince's Band for Columbia, both in 1914.

Papa Charlie Jackson
Apparently, W. C. Handy already performed a song called "Mr. Crump Won't 'Low No Easy Riders Here" in 1909 in Memphis, referring to the city's mayor Edward H. Crump. A similar version was created by Frank Stokes, a black blues guitarist also from Memphis, who recorded "Mr. Crump Don't Like It" circa in September 1927 in Chicago for Paramount with Dan Sane under the name of "Beale Street Sheiks." Both songs were based loosely on "Mama Don't Allow."

"Mama Don't Allow" soon became popular with both black and white musicians and a standard in different musical genres, including jazz, blues, and old-time folk. In fact, one of the first known recordings was made by popular old-time singer-guitarist Riley Puckett in 1928. However, probably the first who recorded it was the black singer Papa Charlie Jackson in 1925. In 1929, the black piano player Cow Cow Davenport recorded it for Vocalion as "Mama Don't Allow Now Easy Riders Here" and copyrighted it. Tampa Red recorded a version of this variant twice also for Vocalion. Davenport had performed on occasion with Tampa Red - probably also around that time -, which would explain why it became part of Tampa Red's repertoire. That same variant was also cut by John Oscar for Brunswick.

Subsequently, the song was recorded by countless artists. The following list contains historical recordings which I was able to track down. I am sure the list is incomplete - additions are appreciated.

Papa Charlie Jackson, Mama Don't Allow It (And She Ain't Gonna Have It Here) (Paramount 12296), recorded August 1925 in Chicago, Illinois  
Riley Puckett, Mama Won't Allow No Low Down Hanging Around (Columbia 15361-D), recorded April 11, 1928, in Atlanta, Georgia
Byrd Moore, Mama Don't Allow No Low Down Hagin' Around (Gennett 6991), recorded April 10, 1929, in Richmond, Indiana 
Cow Cow Davenport, Mama Don't Allow No Easy Riders Here (Vocalion 1434), recorded June 22, 1929, in Chicago, Illinois
Happy Bud Harrison, Mama Dont't Allow No Easy Riders Here (Vocalion 5405), recorded August 14, 1929, in Chicago, Illinois
Tampa Red and Georgia Tom, Mama Don't Allow No Easy Riders Here (Vocalion 1429), recorded September 4, 1929, in Chicago, Illinois
Tampa Red and his Hokum Jug Band, Mama Don't Allow No Easy Riders Here (Vocalion 1430), recorded September 4, 1929, in Chicago, Illinois
John Oscar, Mama Don't Allow No Easy Riders Here (Brunswick 7104), recorded 1929 prob. in Chicago, Illinois
Allen Brothers, No Low Down Hanging Around (Victor 23536, Bluebird B-5448, Montgomery Ward M-4797, His Master's Voice N4305 [India]), recorded November 22, 1930, in Memphis, Tennessee
Frank Welling, No Low Down Hanging Around (Champion 16709), recorded July 28, 1932, in Richmond, Indiana
Smilie Burnette, Mama Don't Like Music (Banner 33082, Melotone M13046, Melotone 91844 [Canada], Oriole 8344, Perfect 13011, Romeo 5344, Conqueror 8387), recorded May 29, 1934, in New York City, New York
Bill Boyd & His Cowboy Ramblers, Mama Don't Like No Music (Bluebird B-5855), recorded January 27, 1935, in San Antonio, Texas
Leon's Lone Star Cowboys, Mama Don't Allow It (Champion 45151, Decca 5423, Montgomery Ward 8015), recorded August 14, 1935, in Chicago, Illinois 
The Ink Spots, Mama Don't Allow (), recorded 1935
Washboard Sam, Mama Don't Allow It (), recorded 1935
Hackberry Ramblers, Mama Don't Allow No Hanging Around (Bluebird B-2187), recorded February 19, 1936, in New Orleans, Louisiana
Milton Brown & His Brownies, Mama Don't Allow It (Decca 5281), recorded March 3, 1936, in New Orleans, Louisiana
The Yellow Jackets, Mama Don't Allow (ARC unissued), recorded October 26, 1937, in Chicago, Illinois
Jerry Barlow and his Louisianans, Mama Don't Allow (Khoury's 701), recorded ca. 1949 prob. in Lake Charles, Louisiana
Vern Pullens, Mama Don't Allow No Boppin' Tonight (Spade unissued), recorded September 27, 1956, in Houston, Texas 
Lynn Pratt and his Rhythm Cats, Come Here Mama (Hornet 1002), recorded ca. late 1950s poss. in Jackson, Tennessee
Billie and Dede Pierce, Mama Don't Allow (Folk-Lyric FL 110 "New Orleans Jazz"), recorded ca. 1960 
Billy & Jimmy [Billy Wallace & Jimmy King], No Low Down Hangin' Around (Sims 120), recorded 1961 in Nashville, Tennessee
Barbara Dane, Mama Don't Allow No Twistin' (Capitol SXE-1758), recorded ca. 1962

Flatt & Scruggs, Mama Don't Allow It (Columbia 4-42840), recorded February 25, 1963, in Nashville, Tennessee 
Al Brundage / Pete Lofthouse Band, Mama Don't Allow It (Windsor 4826), recorded ca. 1963
The Rooftop Singers, Mama Don't Allow (Vanguard VRS-335020), recorded prob. 1964
Tommy Wills, Mama Don't Allow (Golden Moon GM 003), recorded 1978

3 comments:

bopping said...

great research, well done as usual! Keep up the good work!

Mellow said...

Thanks!

Kiri said...

Hi!
Could you please re-up this one? Thanks in advance))