Jenks Tex Carman The Old Guitar And Me

1 CD with 16-page booklet, 31 tracks, playing time 73:52 minutes.

Jenks 'Tex' Carman was a true American original. His unique style of hillbilly hula music would never have made a dent in Nashville, but on the west coast he was embraced. Playing a bizarre style of Hawaiian steel guitar, with little sense of timing, tuning, meter or rhythm, Jenks 'Tex' Carman was on a musical island all of his own. Jenks 'Tex' Carman brought such diverse influences as Hawaiian steel guitar, vaudeville, cowboy ballads, the 'punk' attitude of rockabilly and acoustic country blues together in an act that was as novel as it was perverse.

These two new CDs contain the complete recordings that Carman did for Sage & Sand Records in the late 1950s, 63 tracks in all! On the DVD, you will see many of Carmans’ live performances on the 'Town Hall Party' television show backed by such legends as Joe Maphis, Merle Travis, Quincy Snodgrass and the rest of the 'Town Hall Party' band. You will see how real West Coast country music used to be played—loose, on the edge, ragged but right. Rockabilly fans will be pleased to note that Carman is backed by the 'Town Hall Party' television show musicians on these CDs and DVD. Amazing rockabilly guitarists
Joe Maphis and Roy Lanham (both of whom have their own solo Bear Family CDs) contribute some amazingly hot rockabilly guitar solos to these recordings. If you’re a fan of the other 'Town Hall Party' artists such as the Collins Kids, Joe Maphis, Johnny Bond and Skeets McDonald then these CDs and DVD are a must! Deke Dickerson Jenks Tex Carman. Who and what was he? A half century ago he was making country records unlike anybody else’s. No amount of smoothing could remove his kind of rough edges.

Was he the “first punk country artist?” Did Jenks Tex Carman really have an alternative musical vision in his head or was he simply a borderline psychotic, blazing his own trail and giving voice to the odd collection of sounds in his head? Here was a man you couldn’t display during prime time. At least not in 1955. A half a century later, audiences are a lot more open to hybrid music and category bending.
Jenks Tex Carman might have been right at home as opening act for a 21st century psychobilly band. Too bad he was born 50 years too soon. Hank Davis Goldmine magazine

Jenks Tex Carman

geb. 14. 5. 1911 in Hardinsburg - Kentucky gest. 6. 2. 1967 Record Labels: Four Star, Capitol, Sage & Sand, Crown, Rem Jenks Tex Carman, ,The Dixie Cowboy“, ein eigenwilliger Sänger, der als Steel Guitar Spieler einen ganz persönlichen Stil entwickelt hatte, begann seine Karriere in den frühen 30er Jahren bei Vaudeville-Shows und Radiostationen. In den 40er Jahren arbeitete er vor allem an der Westküste. Zu seinen bekanntesten Titeln gehören ,Hillbilly Hula“, ,Dixie Cannonball“ und ,The Artillery Song“. Wahrscheinlich der einzige, der den Gitarrenstil von Jenks Tex Carman heute noch pflegt, ist der Schweizer Peter Gisin.

 

 

Jenks Tex Carman

The Carman family dates back at least to the revolutionary times in America when Elijah and Betsy Carman gave birth to a son, Andrew, in North Carolina in 1783. Andrew Carman moved to Breckinridge County, Kentucky, where the family has remained ever since. Tex was born Jenkins Carman on May 14, 1903 in the town of Hardinsburg, Kentucky. His father Alford was Andrew Carman’s grandson. Alford and his wife bore eight children of whom Tex was the seventh born. Various sources have listed Tex’s birth year as alternately 1911 and 1914, but these contradictions were most likely perpetuated by Carman himself (Upon returning to his home town for a visit in 1962, Carman stated his age as 56 years old, but this too was a fabrication.) T

his is but one aspect of Carman’s life that smacks of mystery as few details are known about his life other than isolated anecdotes and publicity blurbs that were duplicated ad nauseum on album covers. His penchant for wearing Indian regalia in public appearances and his occasional musical references to Indian themes (specifically Cherokee, i.e. Locust Hill Rag) more than hints to Carman’s possible ancestry as a native American (A 1962 Sage album is entitled ‘The Old Indian’ and features Carman sporting a Cherokee headdress and an assuredly un-warriorlike countenance!). Inquiries to the Cherokee nation in North Carolina, however, reveal no records of a Jenkins Carman having been registered. The Breckinridge County Archives notes that Jenks’ great-grandfather’s first wife claimed to be a Cherokee Indian.

The Carmans were farmers, but like many rural families at the turn of the century, they loved music, participating in informal musical activities at churches and schools in Hardinsburg. Young Jenkins displayed an early aptitude for music; at the age of twelve he was reportedly an expert at strumming the old family guitar. Probably while still in his teens, Jenkins ventured away from home into the entertainment world, first as leader of the International Clee Club Quartette with the Continental Lyceum Chautauqua Bureau of Louisville, Kentucky. After two years with the Quartette, he embarked on a variety of vaudeville tours, including Loew’s Time, Bently Theatrical Agency Time of St. Louis, Missouri, and others. Leading the nomadic existence of a vaudeville performer, Carman spent much of his career on the go, rarely settling in one place for more than a brief period and developing few close relationships. Even those who performed with him on a daily basis on Town Hall Party in the 1950s knew little about him.

On November 12, 1929, Jenkins Carman cut two sides for Gennett in Richmond, Indiana. The two titles, Gypsy Lady and Carson Robison’s Railroad Boomer were never issued.

Excerpt from the booklet BCD15574 - Jenks Tex Carman - Hillbilly Hula - Read more at: https://www.bear-family.com/carman-jenks-tex-hillbilly-hula.html

Excerpt from the booklet BCD15574 - Jenks Tex Carman - Hillbilly Hula - Read more at: https://www.bear-family.com/carman-jenks-tex-hillbilly-hula.html

Copyright © Bear Family Records

Read more at: https://www.bear-family.com/carman-jenks-tex/
Copyright © Bear Family Records