Annotation:West Texas Breakdown
X:1 T: West Texas Breakdown N:From fiddler Bill Shores, along with guitarist Melvin Dupree. Dupree and N:Shores were north Georgia musicians and sometime members of the N:Skillet Lickers circle of performers. M:C| L:1/8 R:Country Blues D:Columbia 15506-D (78 RPM), Shores & Dupree (1929) D:https://www.slippery-hill.com/content/west-texas-breakdown Z:Andrew Kuntz K:C ^d2-|e2g2e2g2-|g2e2g2^g2-|a2c'2a2c'2-|c'2a2^d2e2| c8-|c6a2-|b2d'2b2d'2-|d'2b2d'3-b-|a2c'2a2c'2-| c'2 g2^d2e2|c4 d2e2|g2e2^d2-e2|c8-|c6:| K:F G2|A2c2A2c2-|c2A2c2^c2|d2f2d2f2-|f2d2^G2A2| F8-|F6d2-|e2g2e2g2-|g2e2g2^c2|d2f2d2f2-| f2c2^G2A2|F4 G2A2|c2A2 ^G2A2|F8-|F6|| K:C g2-|g2.G2.c2.e2|.a2.G2.c2.e2|g2.G2.c2.e2|.a2.G2.c2.e2|| g4a4|b6g2-|a2c'2a2f2|d2c2-c2 g2-|a2c'2a2f2| d2c2-c2d2|e2g2e2c2|A2G2- G2c2|e2g2e2c2| A2G2-G2g2-|g2f2d2B2 |A2 G2-G2g2-|g2f2d2B2| A2G2-G2c'2-|c'2e'2b2c'2|a2b2g2d2|c8|c6||
WEST TEXAS BREAKDOWN. American, Country Blues (cut time). C Major ('A' and 'C' parts) & F Major ('B' part). "West Texas Breakdown" was recorded in Atlanta in 1929 by the dup of fiddler Bill Shore and guitarist Melvin Dupree, who also recorded (withmandolinist Fred Locklear) as Dupree's Rome Boys, and who also were issued as Shores' Southern Trio. As that name suggests, they were from Rome, Georgia, a smal city in the northwest part of the state near the border with Alabama. However, they were close enough to Atlanta that Shore and Dupree were part of the extended Skillet Lickers circle of musicians and sometimes played and recorded with various members. Dupree, for example, sang and played on a few 1929 song recordings with Fate Norris and Gid Tanner, and with members of the Georgia Yellow Hammers.
Shores was born a rural part of Cherokee County, Alabama, in 1907 into a musical family (both his father and brother played the fiddle). He was mentored by Joe Lee, ten years his senior, who lived in Silver Creek, Georgia, and who also was a teacher and mentor of another Skillet Lickers member, Lowe Stokes. Shores played and recorded for five years in the 1920's and early 1930's, although, as with many 78 RPM era musicians, the Depression forced him to seek other employment.
