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. 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. Later in 1929 Shores took Dupree and Locklear to Richmond, Indiana, to record for the Gennett Record Company, where they were issued as Shores Southern Trio. Two of the numbers they recorded for Gennett were "Down Yonder" and "Back Up and Push (1)," a pairing that was a major seller five years later when it was recorded by the Skillet Lickers.
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 fiddler 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 (Lee never recorded). 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.
