- Collection:
- Georgia Folklore Collection
- Title:
- Musical recording and interview Part 1, Athens, Georgia, 1981 July 3
- Creator:
- Rosenbaum, Art
- Date of Original:
- 1981-07-03
- Subject:
- African American guitarists--Georgia--Athens
Gospel musicians--Georgia--Athens
Chang gangs--Georgia--Athens
Work songs--Georgia--Athens
Railroad construction workers--Georgia--Athens
Gospel music--Georgia--Athens
Church music--Georgia--Athens
United States. Work Projects Administration
Field recordings - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Clarke County, Athens, 33.96095, -83.37794
- Type:
- Sound
- Format:
- audio/mpeg
- Description:
- Part one of a two-part recording. Art Rosenbaum interviews Doc Barnes and Henry Grady Terrell. Terrell was born in Fulton County in 1921. He has been singing since he was 12, and he mostly sings in gospel music quartets. His main quartet was The Gospel Pilgrims with Doc Barnes, and before that they were Soul Stirrers. They changed their name because another group had the same name. His first quartet was named the Four Fellows. Its members included Terrell, James Ward, Joe Warden and a fourth (undecipherable). The next group was with Ortha Cooper, and then with Homer, Ersha[?] and Leroy Jackson. He sang with George Johnson, and finally in The Gospel Pilgrims with Barnes. He speaks about singing work songs with the crew when he worked on the Monroe and Greensboro highways as a boy. He also worked on WPA projects, where he worked with ex-convicts who taught him the work songs, or "convict songs," that he knows today. Terrell and Barnes worked on the Athens post office building in 1939 and 1940. Terrell mentions a man named Leroy Smith who sang a lot, as did a man with the last name Thrasher. They sang "Hammer Dammerama," another that begins "Picking up line," as well as "Jack the rabbit and Jack the bear." They also used to sing "John Henry," but Terrell is hesitant to sing it for the recording because it is not a church song. He eventually does, and he and Barnes wielded pick axes to demonstrate how the men would hit the steel in time with the song. Barnes also mentions working for a white man named Mr Jim Thomas[?] who also employed an African-American man named Shout Johnson. Johnson was on parole and had recently been on the chain gang. Barnes was able to push more grain into the thrash than Shout Johnson, who was much larger than Barnes. The interview segments and songs are as follows: Interview on gospel quartets/work songs (H.T.), Hammer Dammerama (H.T.), Interview Doc on thrashing/track lining, Hammer Song (H.T.). Run time: 00:27:57
- External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/id:ugabma_gfc_gfc-2276-01
- Digital Object URL:
- https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/ugabma/gfc/do:gfc-2276-01
- Language:
- eng
- Extent:
- 00:27:57
- Original Collection:
- Georgia Folklore Collection, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia
- Holding Institution:
- Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection
- Rights:
-
