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Reuben's Train/ Train Forty-Five/ Old Reuben Old Ruben/Nine Hundred Miles/Five Hundred Miles
Old-Time and Bluegrass Song and Breakdown. USA widely known
ARTIST: Old Reuben- Bill Cornett. In 1959, John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers made field recordings in the mountains of Kentucky of Appalachian folk performers. Bill Cornett, known as "Banjo Bill" of Hindman, Knott County, Ky.
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
DATE: 1950's Earliest printed date 1909 (JAFL); 1924 release by Fiddlin' John Carson and 1927 recording, Grayson & Whitter, as "Train 45"
RECORDING INFO as “Reuben/Old Reuben”: Emry Arthur, "Reuben Oh Reuben" (Paramount 3295, c. 1931; on BefBlues2) Dock Boggs, "Ruben's Train" (on Boggs3, BoggsCD1) Carolina Ramblers String Band, "Ruben's Train" (Banner 33085/Romeo 5345, 1934; Melotone M-13947, c. 1935) Bill Cornett ,"Old Reuben" (on MMOKCD) Elizabeth Cotten, "Ruben" (on Cotten02) Poplin Family, "Reuben" (on Poplin01) Wade Ward, "Old Reuben" [instrumental] (on Holcomb-Ward1) Doc Watson, "Old Ruben" (on Ashley02, WatsonAshley01) 1. Arthur, Emry. Paramount Old Time Tunes, JEMF 103, LP (197?), cut#B.02 (Reuben Oh Reuben) 2. Blue Mountain Boys. 37th Old-Annual Old-Time Fiddlers Convention, Folkways FA 2434, LP (1962), cut# 13 3. Boone, Woodrow; and Roger Howell. Music in the Air, BearWallow 210, Cas (1993), cut#A.09 (Lost John) 4. Brickman, Weissberg & Company. New Dimensions in Banjo and Bluegrass, Elektra EKS-7238, LP (197?), cut# 10 (Reuben's Train) 5. Burke, John. Fancy Pickin' and Plain Singing, Kicking Mule KM 202, LP (1977), cut#B.07a (Old Reuben) 6. Cockerham, Jarrell and Jenkins. Down to the Cider Mill, County 713, LP (1968), cut# 8 7. Cooney, Michael. Still Cooney After All These Years, Front Hall FRH 016, LP (1979), cut#B.03 (Old Reuben) 8. Cornett, Bill (Banjo Bill). Mountain Music of Kentucky, Smithsonian/Folkways SF 40077, CD (1996), cut#1.05 (Old Reuben) 9. Cotten, Elizabeth. Shake Sugaree, Volume 2, Folkways FTS 31001, LP, cut# 12 10. Dillards. Backporch Bluegrass, Elektra EKS-7232, LP (197?), cut# 14 (Reuben's Train) 11. Flatt & Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys. Foggy Mountain Banjo, Columbia LE 10043, LP (196?), cut# 5 (Reuben) 12. Flatt & Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys. Flatt And Scruggs. Country and Western Classics, Time-Life Records TLCW-04, LP (1982), cut#F.04 (Lonesome Ruben) 13. Flatt & Scruggs with Doc Watson. Strictly Instrumental, Columbia CS 9443, LP, cut# 8 (Lonesome Ruben) 14. Gellert, Dan; and Brad Leftwich. Moment in Time, Marimac 9038, Cas (1993), cut#A.06 15. Graves, John. I Kind of Believe It's A Gift, Meriweather Meri 1001-2, LP (198?), cut# 11 (Dargai) 16. Graves, Josh. Josh Graves, Vetco LP 3025, LP (1976), cut#B.01 17. Helton, Ernest and Osey. Library of Congress Banjo Collection, Rounder 0237, LP (1988), cut# 19 (Reuban) 18. Holy Modal Rounders. Holy Modal Rounders, Prestige PR 7720, LP (1964), cut# 8 19. Holy Modal Rounders. Holy Modal Rounders, Fantasy 24711, LP (1972), cut#4.01 20. Ill-Mo Boys. Fine As Frog's Hair, Marimac 9054, Cas (1992), cut# 9 21. Jarrell, Tommy; and Kyle Creed. June Apple, Mountain 302, LP (1972), cut# 6 22. Jarrell, Tommy. Come and Go With Me, County 748, LP (1974), cut# 12 (Reuben) 23. Jones, Vester. Traditional Music From Grayson and Carroll Counties, Folkways FS 3811, LP (1962), cut# 8 (Old Ruben) 24. Letterly, Bob. National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest & Folk Music Festival. 1966, Century, LP (1966), cut# 18 25. Mainer, Wade; and the Sons of the Mountaineers. Wade Mainer, County 404, LP (1973), cut#A.01 (Old Ruben) 26. May, William. Folksongs and Ballads, Vol 4, Augusta Heritage AHR 010, Cas (1992), cut#A.01 (Rueben's Train) 27. Miller, Kenny. American Banjo, Folkways FA 2314, LP (1966), cut# 25 28. Parmley, Don; and Billy Strange. Don Parmley and Billy Strange, GNP Crescendo GNP-98, LP (196?), cut# 6 29. Pegram, George. George Pegram, Rounder 0001, LP (1970), cut# 8 (Reuben) 30. Poplin Family. Poplin Family of Sumter, South Carolina, Folkways FA 2306, LP (1963), cut#B.10 (Old Reuben) 31. Powell, Dirk. If I Go Ten Thousand Miles, Rounder 0384, CD (1996), cut# 6 32. Proffitt, Frank. Frank Proffitt of Reese, North Carolina, Folk Legacy FSA-001, Cas (1962), cut#A.07 (Reuben's Train) 33. Reed, Ola Belle. 1st Annual Brandywine Mountain Music Convention, Heritage (Galax) 006, LP (1975), cut# 3 34. Rice, Tony. Guitar, King Bluegrass KB-529, LP (197?), cut# 8 (Lonesome Ruben) 35. Rosenbaum, Art (Arthur). Five String Banjo, Kicking Mule KM 108, LP (1974), cut# 6 36. Rose, Buddy. Down Home Pickin', Dominion NR 3319, LP (197?), cut#B.03 37. Sidesaddle. Daylight Train, Turquoise TR 5080, Cas (1991), cut# 14 38. Ward, Wade. Roscoe Holcomb and Wade Ward, Folkways FA 2363, LP (1962), cut#B.13 (Old Reuben) 39. Ward, Wade. Uncle Wade. A Memorial to Wade Ward, Old Time Virginia Banjo ..., Folkways FA 2380, LP (1973), cut# 12 (Old Ruben) 40. Watson, Doc; and Gaither Carlton. Old-Time Music at Clarence Ashley's. Part 1, Folkways FA 2355, LP (1961), cut# 2 (Old Ruben) 41. Watson, Doc. Watson Family Tradition, Rounder 0129, LP (1977), cut#A.05 (Reuben's Train) 42. Watson, Doc; and Family. Treasures Untold, Vanguard CV 77001, Cas (1991), cut# 6 (Reuben's Train) 43. Watson, Doc; Clint Howard and Fred Price. Old Timey Concert, Vanguard 107/8, Cas (1987), cut#B.05 44. Winston, Winnie; and Gundy, Walter. Old-Time Banjo Project, Elektra EKL-7276, LP, cut# 12 (Reuben's Train)
RECORDING INFO as “Train 45”: Troxell Brothers Train 45 [key of G: fiddle - GDgd; banjo - gDGBD) This warhorse came to us in this form from the Troxell Brothers and also can be heard on their tape Troxsong. They learned it from one of their local favorites, Dick Burnett, who played it (but never recorded it) with his long-ago partner Leonard Rutherford. It is a version of the older tune/song, "Reuben." Influential versions that were recorded in The Golden Age include those by Grayson and Whitter (Gennett 6320 and Victor 21189) and J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers (Bluebird 7298).
Grayson & Whitter, "Train Forty-Five" (Victor 21189, 1928, rec. 1927); "Train No. 45" (Champion 15447, 1928) J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers [or Wade Mainer], "Riding on Train Forty-Five" (Bluebird B-7298, 1937; Victor 27493, 1941) Wade Mainer & the Sons of the Mountaineers, "Old Reuben" (Bluebird B-8990, 1941) New Lost City Ramblers, "Riding on That Train 45" (on NLCR06, NLCRCD2) Cockerham, Fred. Southern Clawhammer, Kicking Mule KM 213, Cas (1978), trk# A.02 Crowe, J.D.; & the Kentucky Mountain Boys. Bluegrass Holiday, King Bluegrass KB-524, LP (197?), trk# A.05 Dillard, Douglas. Banjo Album, Together STT 1003, LP (197?), trk# A.01 Flippen, Benton. Old Times, New Times, Rounder 0326, Cas (198?), trk# 4 Grayson and Whitter. Going Down Lee Highway, Davis Unlimited DU 33033, LP (1977), trk# 1 [192710/10] (Train No. 45) Grayson and Whitter. Southern Dance Music, Vol. 1, Old-Timey LP 100, LP (196?), trk# 11 [1927/10/18] Hart and Blech. Build Me a Boat, Voyager VRCD 354, CD (2001), trk# 27 Hill City Cut-Ups. New River Jam: One, Mountain 308, LP (197?), trk# 9 Hobbs, Smiley. American Banjo - Tunes and Songs in Scruggs Style, Folkways FA 2314, LP (1966), trk# B.02 Holland, Thomas; & his Crossroad Boys. Old Time Fiddling at Union Grove. The 38th Annual Old-Time Fi..., Prestige 14039, LP (1964), trk# A.02 Homefolks. Last Chance, June Appal JA 0033, LP (1980), trk# A.08 Jackson, Stan. Washington Traditional Fiddlers Project. Vol. 2. "Generations", NW Folklife, Cas (1996), trk# A.06 Kentucky Colonels. Livin' in the Past, Briar BT 7202, LP (1975), trk# B.01 [1965/03/27] Knopf, Bill. Bill Knopf on Banjo, American Heritage AH-401-524, LP (197?), trk# A.01 Limited Edition. Limited Edition Presents the Limited Edition, Limited Edition, LP (1975), trk# B.05 New Lost City Ramblers. Country Music and Bluegrass at Newport, Vanguard VSD-79146, LP (1968/1963), trk# B.06 [1963] (Train Forty-Five) Roan Mountain Hilltoppers. Music of Tennessee. Recorded Live at the 1981 Brandywine Musi..., Heritage (Galax) 042, LP (1982), trk# A.04 Roan Mountain Hilltoppers. Down Home, Roan Mountain, CD (2000), trk# 18 [1982/02] Stanley Brothers. Legendary Stanley Brothers, Vol. 2, Rebel SLP 1495, LP (197?/196?), trk# B.01 Stanley, Ralph. Man and his Music, Rebel SLP 1530, LP (1974), trk# 5 Trischka, Tony. Trischka, Tony / Banjo Songbook, Oak, Sof (1978), p108a Train 45 1/2 - Auldridge, Mike
RECORDING INFO as “Seventy Four”: 1. Staggers, J. C. "Jake". Folk Visions & Voices. Traditional Music & Song in North Georgia, University of Georgia, Bk (1983), p 79
RECORDING INFO as “Graveyard - Cousin Emmy”: 4. Cousin Emmy (Cynthia May Carver). New Lost City Ramblers with Cousin Emmy, Folkways FTS 31015, LP (1968), trk# 13 5. Cousin Emmy (Cynthia May Carver). Old Time Herald, Old Time Herald, Ser, 2/3, p16(1990) 6. Schwarz, Tracy. Look Out, Here It Comes, Folkways FA 2419, LP (1975), trk# 3
RECORDING INFO as “Five Hundred Miles”: 1. Axton, Hoyt. Greenback Dollar, Vee-Jay VJS-1126, LP (1964), cut#A.04 2. Childers, George. Folk Visions & Voices. Traditional Music & Song in North Georgia, University of Georgia, Bk (1983), p173 3. Peter, Paul & Mary. Peter, Paul and Mary, Warner Bros 1449, LP (1962), cut# 2 (500 Miles) 4. West, Hedy. Hedy West, Vanguard VRS 9124, LP (1963), cut# 7 (500 Miles)
RECORDING INFO as “Nine Hundred Miles”: Volo Bogtrotters. Tough Luck, Marimac 9042, Cas (1991), trk# 14 1. Baez, Joan. Very Early Joan, Vanguard VSD 79446/7, LP (1982), cut#D.01b (900 Miles) 2. Carson, Fiddlin' John. Old Hen Cackled and the Rooster's Gonna Crow, Rounder 1003, LP (1987), cut# 13 (I'm Nine Hundred Miles from My Home) 3. Cheatwood, Billy. Anthology of the Banjo, Tradition TR 2077, LP (196?), cut# 9 (Hundreds of Miles) 4. Dane, Barbara. Anthology of American Folk Songs, Tradition TR 2072, LP (196?), cut#A.03 5. Fahey, John. John Fahey Guitar, Vol. 4, Takoma C-1008, LP (196?), cut# 5 (900 Miles) 6. Guthrie, Woody. Woody Guthrie, Folkways FA 2483CS, Cas (1962), cut# 4 7. Hinton, Sam. Singing Across the Land, Decca DL 8108, LP (196?), B.01a 8. Houston, Cisco. Cisco Special, Vanguard VSD-2042, LP (196?), cut#A.03 9. Keller, Shirley; and Charlie Wright. Paul Cadwell, Shirley Keller, Charlie Wright, Twilight PSC 165, LP (1983), cut#B.03 (900 Miles) 10. New Christy Minstrels. New Christy Minstrels, Columbia CS 8672, LP (1962), cut#B.07 11. Poston, Mutt; and the Farm Hands. Hoe Down! Vol. 6. Country Blues Instrumentals, Rural Rhythm RR 156, LP (197?), cut# 5 (900 Miles) 12. Rosmini, Dick. Folksong '65, Elektra S-8, LP (1965), cut# 5 (900 Miles) 13. Schnaufer, David. Delcimore, Collecting Dust CD 0699001, CD (1999), cut#11b (Blackberry Winter) 14. Seeger, Pete. Third Annual Farewell Reunion, Rounder 0313, CD (1994), cut#17 (900 Miles) 15. Stamper, I.D.. Red Wing, June Appal JA 0010, LP (1977), cut# 13 (900 Miles) 16. Stevens, George. Blue Dog Cellar Project No. 1, Kimberly RINC 1245, LP (196?), cut#B.06 (900 Miles) 17. Stone, Pete. Chicago Mob Scene. A Folk Song Jam Session, Riverside RLP 12-641, LP (196?), cut# 6 (900 Miles) 18. Weavers. Weavers at Carnegie Hall, Vanguard VRS 9010, LP (195?), cut#B.03b (900 Miles) 19. Weissberg, Eric. Folk Banjo Styles, Elektra EKL-217, LP (195?), cut# 4
RELATED TO: “Ruby (Are You Mad at Your Man?);” “Cold Rain and Snow” “Longest Train I Ever Saw;” “Long Steel Rail;” "Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy,"
OTHER NAMES: "Reuben Oh Reuben;" "Train 45;" "Reuben/Reuban;" "Old Reuben;" "Nine Hundred Miles""A Hundred Miles;" "Five Hundred Miles;" “I'm Nine Hundred Miles from My Home;” “Vestapol;” “Train Is Off the Track” “Ridin' Home;” “Wanderer” "Seventy Four;" "Count the Days I'm Gone" “Lonesome Ruben” “Graveyard”
SOURCES: Ceolas; Mudcat Forum; BrownIII 236, "Reuben's Train" (2 texts, with "A" being closer to "Nine Hundred Miles" than "B"); Warner 133, "Reuben's Train" (1 text, 1 tune); Lomax-FSNA 302, "Reuben" (1 text, 1 tune); Roud #3423; BrownIII 285, "The Midnight Dew" (1 text, with an unusual introductory verse but most of the rest goes here); Lomax-FSUSA 73, "900 Miles" (1 text, 1 tune); Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 464, "900 Miles" (1 text, 1 tune); Silber-FSWB, p. 53, "Nine Hundred Miles" (1 text); DT, MILES900; Roud #4959 Q: According to the Traditional Ballad Index, the song was first mentioned in 1909 in JAFL, which would make it public domain, but of course many later recordings are copyright, including the 1924 release by Fiddlin' John Carson. Woody Guthrie had his own take on the lyrics, which would still be copyright; he did not compose the original. Other titles include "Midnight Dew (The Train Runs a Wreck)," 1914 (music on p. 205 of Brown, vol. 5, North Carolina Folklore, which puts the tune (not Hoo chorus) in public domain. Perrow has a fragment, "Fo' Hundud Miles From Home," in part 2 of his "Songs and Rhymes from the South," Songs connected with the railroad, No. 12, collected 1909 in South Carolina, and published in 1915.
NOTES: The Reuben’s Train family of songs are old-time songs, fiddle and banjo tunes that were first discovered in the early 1900’s in the Appalachian Mountain region. Some of the most common names are Reuben/Ruben; Reuben's Train; Train Forty-Five; Old Reuben/Old Ruben; Nine Hundred Miles; and Five Hundred Miles.
Reuben's Train is a old-time song and fiddle tune about Reuben's train and travels. Versions vary widely; most contain a verse something like this: "Reuben had a train and he put it on the track, Hear the whistle blow a hundred miles." The “Nine Hundred Miles” songs have the same melody and form but use these lyrics: "I'm a walking down the track, I've got tears in my eyes, Trying to read a letter from my home. If that train runs me right I'll be home tomorrow night." The singer will pawn anything or do whatever is needed to get home to his sweetheart. The Nine Hundred Miles songs and Train Forty-Five songs seem to pre-date the Rueben’s Train songs.
“Longest Train I Ever Saw,” “Black Girl” and “In the Pines” are related but different songs usually in ¾ or waltz time. A study by Judith McCulloh of 160 texts concluded that "The Longest Train" cluster and the "In the Pines" cluster once constituted two different songs that have been yoked together. See "Long Steel Rail," Norm Cohen, p. 493.
From Ceolas: “Reuben” is a banjo tune and song which Frank Proffitt pronounced as "one of the oldest simple banjo tunes...it was the first tune generally learned...There are about fifty different verses to this, as everybody added them all along" [Warner]. It was the first tune that Mt. Airy, North Carolina, fiddler and banjo player Tommy Jarrell learned, from a hired-hand named Cockerham on his father's farm. In 1982 he told interviewer Peter Anick that Cockerham played the tune, handed Jarrell the banjo and invited him to play it. Jarrell at first demurred saying he couldn't play the instrument, upon which the hand replied, "Well, it ain't but one string to note and I'll show you that." Jarrell, familiar with the song from the singing of other family members, worked it out in a few minutes.
From Best Loved American Folk Songs [Folk Song: U.S.A.], by John and Alan Lomax (1947): In its present form, this is a hillbilly blues. However, Woody Guthrie, the Okie balladeer and guitar-picker, learned it from a Negro shoeshine boy in his home town of Okema, Oklahoma. The tune has appeared in many disguises and has relations all over the South. In the tidewater country of Virginia, they call it the "Reuben Blues" and they sing:
When old Reuben left home, he wasn't but nine days old,
When he come back he was a full grown man.
When he come back he was a full grown man.
They got old Reuben down and they took his watch and charm,
It was everything that poor boy had.
It was everything that poor boy had.
In the backwoods, further west, the sharecroppers, white and black, dedicate the tune to a full belly, and sing:
I got my chickens in my sack and the hounds are on my track.
But I'll make it to my shanty 'fore day,
And I'll keep my skillet good and greasy all the time.
Up in Kentucky and Tennessee, they tell the story about a train that ran
around a coal mine, where convict labor was used in the old days:
The longest train that I ever seen,
Run around Joe Brown's coal mine,
The engine past (sic) at six o'clock,
And the last car passed by at nine.
Perhaps the oldest version is the Southern mountain song of the dark girl:
Black girl, black girl, don't lie to me,
Where did you stay last night?
In the pines, in the pines, where the sun never shines,
And I shivered where the cold wind blew.
Wherever this melody has turned up, it has been a vehicle for melancholy, for a yearning toward faraway places and toward things that are lost and irretrievable. In "Nine Hundred Miles," it has become the most haunting of railroad blues. It’s the same tune as Jack O'Diamond Blues recorded by Blind Lemon Jefferson.
FINAL NOTES: The Reuben Family is related to "Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy," “Ruby (Are You Mad at Your Man?),” and “Cold Rain and Snow.” It’s a white blues from the Appalachian region that has many titles and variants.
The song became popular in the early 1960s as "Five Hundred Miles." According to Norm Cohen, Hedy West arranged the song Five Hundred Miles based on a variant that her grandmother knew around 1900. According to Wiki: "Her most famous song, '500 Miles,' was put together from fragments of a melody she had heard her uncle sing to her back in Georgia. She copyrighted the resulting patched song, and the rest is history. '500 Miles' is one of America's best loved and best known folk songs."
West's song arrangement became a huge 'hit' in the sixties sung by Bobby Bare, Peter Paul and Mary and virtually every other commercial folk group. It was first done by The Journeymen (including young Scott McKenzie) in 1961. Then followed Peter Paul & Mary, who made it a huge hit. It was also covered by Peter and Gordon. The New Christy Minstrels did their version in 1962, 900 miles, a version based on Woody Guthrie's arrangement.
Some sources show "500 Miles From Home" as being "traditional," others give only Hedy West as the writer, while still others list it as having been written by Bobby Bare, Hedy West and Charlie Williams. Hedy West, a singer and banjo-player who came from a Cartersville, Georgia folksinging family, arranged the song for publication and Bare and Williams then changed the words somewhat in order to create different versions. West's other popular folk contribution was Cotton Mill Girls again based on traditional material. Hedy West died of cancer on July 3, 2005, aged 67.
Here Are the lyrics to "Old Reuben" by Bill Cornett.
OLD REUBEN- Bill Cornett
Banjo
Reuben, old Reuben old Reuben you must have been drunk,
You must have been drunk when you pawned your watch and trunk
To get your baby out of jail.
Banjo
I pawned you my watch, I pawned you my chain,
I pawned you my diamond gold ring.
Banjo
You take so, I’m ready to move,
I’ll pack up my trunk and go home.
Banjo
From: The Lost Recordings of Banjo Bill Cornett by John Cohen
Bill Cornett was born in East Kentucky in 1890. He started playing banjo at age eight. His musical flair, he reported, was inherited from his mother who sang ballads to him. He operated a country store two miles outside of Hindman. It is said that he’d rather sit and pick his banjo than wait on customers. In 1956 he was elected to the Kentucky State Legislature, representing Knot and Magoffin counties. A Democrat, he picked and sang his way to his first term. “You know how I win? I get the young folks with my music and the old-folks by fighting for old age benefits.” He was proud of his composition “the Old Age Pension Blues” which he sang on the floor of the Legislature. While serving in the House of Representatives in Frankfort, at age 69 he died of a heart attack while picking his banjo to entertain the customers at a downtown restaurant. The following day, his banjo was banked with flowers at his desk in the House chamber at the Capitol.
I first met him in 1959 at his home near Hindman,. Some officials from the United Mine Workers had brought me to his house to hear his music. I was in Kentucky to document local music and Bill was the first person I recorded. Although he was reticent about performing for my tape recorder, he respected the UMW men’s request and for about an hour, Bill played and sang a bunch of songs which I recorded and eventually issued on Folkways “Mountain Music of Kentucky”. He would often announce during the song, that he was the performer and the composer of the music. He claimed that some of his original songs had been taken from him and plagiarized. He was wary of folksong collectors. He also told me that he had already recorded his best material - it was inside on his tape recorder.
Banjo Bill Cornett died before “Mountain Music of Kentucky” came out, and for many years I asked his family if I might hear Bill’s own recordings. I tried several times during the first ten years, and then gave up. In 1995 I visited the Hindman Settlement School, and asked about memories of Bill Cornett. In 2002, forty three years after my initial recordings I heard from Bill’s son Brode Cornett who told me that he had listened to the tapes, and heard his father’s voice say that he wanted his music to be heard. The original quarter inch tapes had been destroyed, but eventually Brode sent me his own cassette copies of the tapes. That is how these recordings came to light, so many years after they were recorded.
Although the sound quality of the cassettes copies was worn and torn, the music was excellent…Bill was a great singer and a powerful banjo player. He was of a generation 20 years earlier than Roscoe Holcomb, and his music offered some special insights into Eastern Kentucky music. He had his own ideas about phrasing, used many different banjo tunings, and had the odd practice of repeating a section of the melody on the banjo right after he sung it. He had a variety of picking styles, from the old frailing approach to picking lead notes with his fingers, or playing lead with his thumb in conjunction with strumming the strings…something akin to the Carter family approach to guitar. He also created an African sound (like a griot approach) on the banjo… which accommodated a few of his blues-like songs (Lonesome Road, Hustling Gamblers, and Old Ruben. Throughout his entire banjo playing, Banjo Bill created a way to retain the extended, idiosyncratic phrasing of his singing.
It is reported that he met Uncle Dave Macon at the Grand Ole Opry, and that he got his banjo from him. It was a Bacon Belmont, with hand carved ivory on the neck and tuning pegs. In the 1950s his son Brode had loaned him a reel-to-reel tape recorder which he had obtained while serving in Germany. As Bill put it, at this time his children were into “honky-tonk and rock and roll,” so he would play his banjo while they were out, and that was when these recordings were made.
Bill Cornett had been a public figure in his home locale. During the depression of the 1930’s he was known as someone who would supply food to the needy: he’d bring lunch boxes and bags of beans to people on relief, as part of the WPA program, where he was a boss/ administrator. He also ran a local country store which sold furniture and supplies. Local people would come listen to his music; old people would cry at his lonesome songs, others would dance to his banjo.
His wife had been a weaver at the nearby Hindman School and kept traditional patterns alive. She had been a student at the school when it first opened, and had memories of waiting on school founders who came from Massachusetts. When he won his seat in the Kentucky State Legislature, Bill Cornett was already so well known locally that he never campaigned for office, and he won the election with 83% of the vote. He composed a song about the “Old Age Pension Blues,” and sang it on the floor of the Kentucky Legislature, accompanied by his banjo (the song can be heard on MMKentucky- Folkways). When he died, the Governor of Kentucky tried to persuade his son Brode to fill his father’s seat in the Legislature. There were many articles about his funeral in the local papers (which provided much of the history presented here).
His nephew Otis Cornett recalls that Bill listened and learned songs from Victrola records. In 1956 he performed in Saint Louis at the National Folk Festival (and brought home a prize) John Hartford remembered seeing him there. It was also reported that he played at Getrude Knott’s Festival in Floyd County, at Jenny Wilder State Park. Jean Ritchie had made some recordings of him in the 1950s. She was particularly impressed by his version of “I Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow” which contained many verses with which she was unfamiliar. When I recorded him, Bill told me that Pete Seeger had sat at his feet and learned banjo playing from him. Pete remembers hearing him in Kentucky.
The wild vigor of his singing coupled with the intricate busy-ness of his banjo- full of rapid dropped thumb and pull offs, produced a distinctive sound…in which the melody appears slow and drawn out, in a lyrical way that contrasts with the rhythmic, percussive banjo sound. Other East Kentucky musicians share this approach, but with Bill Cornett it was most pronounced. I recall from my brief time with him , that his banjo was sometimes tuned low…which afforded him an easier time bending and slurring specific notes (getting the sound of a fretless banjo), to echo the blues-like quality of his singing. John Hartford & myself both remembered that Bill’s banjo bridge was plastic, a bright fluorescent pink.
One is tempted to compare his music to the 1939 Alan Lomax recordings of Justice Begley, (who was the sheriff of Hazard)—to hear similarities in the relationship of vocal and banjo styles. Bill Cornett’s repertoire ranged from old ballads to mountains songs, banjo tunes, sentimental and patriotic tales. Some contain elements of Broadside ballads, and some reflect a nineteenth century Irish lyric. His music adds another facet to the extraordinary range of banjo playing and mountain style singing which emanated from East Kentucky. He joins the pantheon of Buell Kazee, B.F. Shelton, Roscoe Holcomb, Morgan Sexton, Hayes Shepherd, Pete Steele and Walter Williams.
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