Annotation:Wang Wang Blues

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WANG WANG BLUES. Country Blues Tune. USA; Georgia, North Carolina, Arkansas. G Major (Beisswenger & McCann): F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). Drew Beisswenger (2008) finds that “Wang Wang Blues” (really a ragtime-style piece than a blues melody) was composed in 1920 by Gus Mueller, Buster Johnson and Henry Busse, members of Paul Whiteman’s band (who recorded it). Lyrics were added, and both song and instrumental versions were much recorded by both jazz and western swing bands, as well as by early country music groups. The tune was recorded in Atlanta by the Scottdale String Band, who named their group in honor of the mill village of Scottdale, near Atlanta, and home to the band members (Wayne W. Daniel, Pickin’ on Peachtree, 1990). Their first recording was made for the OKeh studios on October 28, 1926, and between that date and 1932 the group recorded nearly thirty sides (all but two—released by Paramount—for OKeh). Bill Rattray wrote about the group in Old Time Music magazine (“Scottdale Boys,” OTM, Summer, 1971) and said the group’s records sold “well, or at least fairly well,” and that “their instrumentation was profoundly different from that of the other, more well-known Georgia bands like the Skillet-Lickers, and gave their music a more sophisticated sound that that of the ‘rough North Georgia’ school.” The group’s repertoire varied more than usual for string bands from the region, and included “a wider range of material including tunes used chiefly by the jazz bands…the more traditional breakdowns, songs and ballads are hardly featured at all.” [quoted by Daniel]. It was also recorded by the Red Mountain Trio (1928), Sid Harkreader & Blythe Poteet (1928), and Texas fiddler Bob Wills (1935). The melody was in the repertoire of the late North Carolina Piedmont fiddler Lauchlin Shaw. Some versions, such as Violet Hensley’s and Seth Mize’s, stray (often far) from the original.

Source for notated version: Seth Mize (1901-1977, Searcy County, Arkansas) [Beisswenger & McCann].

Printed sources: Beisswenger & McCann (Ozarks Fiddle Music), 2008; p. 95.

Recorded sources: Rounder CD 0435 – Violet Hensley – “Traditional Fiddle Music of the Ozarks, vol. 1” (1999. Various artists). Victor 18694-B (78 RPM), Paul Whiteman and his Ambassador Orchestra (1920).

See also listing at:
Hear Benny Goodman's recording of the tune on youtube.com [1] [2]

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