Byrd Moore

Byrd Moore was maybe THE rambler among old-time musicians. He was a favored side men for musicians like Clarence Greene, famous Georgia fiddler Earl Johnson or Jess Johnston, but most of his life remains unclear due to his rambling lifestyle. Moore was born in 1889 in Virginia and moved much of his life from to town in the Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee area. In the early 1920s, he lived for a short while in Whitesburg, Kentucky, where he got married. Around the same time, he lived together with the Fiddlin' Powers family, but this was also only a short affair. He travelled on and earned his money with music and worked also as a barber. In 1928, he made his first recordings for Gennett and in the fall of that year, Moore recorded with his regular sidekick Melvin Robinette. Between 1928 and 1932, Moore was a profilic recording artist - often with other musicians and sometimes with his own band, the Hot Shots (1929 for Columbia and 1932 for Gennett). He gave up recording after 1932 and married the second time, a bootlegger in Virginia. In the 1940s, his health grew bad and he had to give up his music. In the late 1940s, he lived in a poorhouse where he reportedly died in 1949.

These recordings were made with the Hot Shots (the first two) and with fiddler Melvin Robinette (the last).

1. Careless Love
2. Three Men Went a-Huntin'
3. That Old Tiger Rag