Charlie Poole

Biography

Charles Cleveland Poole (March 22, 1892 – May 21, 1931) was an American old-time musician and string band leader. His group, the North Carolina Ramblers, recorded many highly popular renditions of traditional songs from 1925 through 1930.
Poole is widely regarded as a pioneer of American country and folk music. His instrumental style and sound led to the development of bluegrass over the decade following his death, and in the years since, he has continued to have an influence on prominent recording artists, from Bob Dylan and Jerry Garcia to John Mellencamp and Billy Strings.

Biography

Poole was born near the mill town of Franklinville, North Carolina. He was the son of John Philip Poole and Elizabeth Johnson. In 1918, he moved to the town of Spray, North Carolina, now part of Eden. As a child, he learned to play the banjo. He played baseball, and his three-fingered technique was the result of an accident. After Poole bet that he could catch a baseball without a glove, the ball broke his thumb as he closed his hand too soon, resulting in a permanent arch in his right hand.
Poole bought his first banjo, an Orpheum No. 3 Special, with profits from making moonshine. He later appeared in the 1929 Gibson Company catalog to promote their banjo.
He spent much of his adult life working in textile mills.

The North Carolina Ramblers

Poole and his brother-in-law, fiddle player Posey Rorer, whom he had met in West Virginia in 1917 and whose sister he married, formed a trio with guitarist Norman Woodlief called the North Carolina Ramblers. They auditioned in New York City for Columbia Records. After signing a contract, they recorded "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Blues" on July 27 1925. This song was successful, selling over 106,000 copies at a time when only an estimated 6,000 phonographs were in the Southern United States, according to Poole's biographer and great-nephew, Kinney Rorrer. The band was paid $75 for the session.
For the next five years, Poole and the Ramblers were a popular band. The band's sound remained consistent, although several members came and left (including Posey Rorer and Norm Woodlief). The band recorded over 60 songs for Columbia Records during the 1920s, including "Sweet Sunny South", "White House Blues", "He Rambled", and "Take a Drink on Me". Former railroad engineer Roy Harvey was one of the guitarists. Fiddlers in various recording sessions were Posey Rorer, Lonnie Austin, and Odell Smith.
Bill C. Malone, in his history of country music, Country Music, U.S.A., says, "The Rambler sound was predictable: a bluesy fiddle lead, backed up by long, flowing, melodic guitar runs and the finger-style banjo picking of Poole. Predictable as it may be, it was nonetheless outstanding. No string band in early country music equaled the Ramblers' controlled, clean, well-patterned sound."
Poole composed few of his recordings, mostly covering old folk songs. Nevertheless, his dynamic renditions were popular with a broad audience in the Southeastern United States. He is considered a primary source for old-time music revivalists and aficionados. Songs like "Bill Morgan and His Gal", "Milwaukee Blues", and "Leavin' Home", have been resurrected by banjo players. Poole developed a unique fingerpicking style, a blend of melody, arpeggio, and rhythm (distinct from clawhammer/ frailing and Scruggs' variations).
Poole had been invited to Hollywood to play background music for a film, but died before this could happen in May 1931. His cause of death was a heart attack due to alcohol poisoning. According to some reports, he had been disheartened by the slump in record sales due to the Depression.

Legacy

Poole's music had a revival in the 1960s, most likely due to his inclusion on the 1952 Anthology of American Folk Music, and his renditions have been re-recorded by numerous artists, such as John Mellencamp with "White House Blues", the Chieftains, New Lost City Ramblers, Holy Modal Rounders, and Hot Tuna with "Hesitation Blues", and Joan Baez with "Sweet Sunny South". The Grateful Dead's popular song "Deal" was influenced by "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down". His recordings have also appeared on numerous compilations of old-time music. Since 1995, Poole's legacy has been carried on every year in Eden, North Carolina, during June, when the Piedmont Folk Legacies, Inc, a nonprofit organization, hosts the Charlie Poole Music Festival. Bob Dylan in his Nobel Lecture acknowledged Poole and several lyrics of his song "You Ain't Talkin to Me".
Columbia Records issued a three-CD box set of his music titled You Ain't Talkin' to Me: Charlie Poole and the Roots of Country Music in 2005. The album, produced by Henry "Hank" Sapoznik, was nominated for three Grammy Awards. It chronicles the music Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers recorded for Columbia from 1925 through 1931, including such important songs as "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down", "Can I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight, Mister?", "Old and Only in the Way" (the title of which was adapted by Jerry Garcia for the name of his 1970s bluegrass band with David Grisman, Old and in the Way), and the politically charged "White House Blues", which John Mellencamp updated in 2004 under the title "To Washington". In addition to 43 of Poole's original recordings, the package features performances by other early roots musicians, including Fred Van Eps, Arthur Collins, Billy Murray, the Floyd Country Ramblers, Uncle Dave Macon, and the Red Fox Chasers.
The original liner notes, by Peter Stampfel, state, "Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers recorded an incredible number of songs that are personal favorites of mine. Poole is, in fact, one of the great musicians of the century. No doubt about it." The album's cover art was created by Robert Crumb, a celebrated illustrator and an old-time music aficionado.
Poole's grandnephew Kinney Rorer (sometimes spelled Rorrer) penned the highly regarded biography Ramblin' Blues: The Life and Songs of Charlie Poole in 1982. Rorer, who is also the grandnephew of Poole's fiddler Posey Rorer, is the banjo player for the old-time music group the New North Carolina Ramblers.
A double-CD tribute to Poole was released by singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III in August 2009. The album, titled High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project, features 30 tracks, including new versions of songs originally recorded by Poole, as well as tunes on the artist's life and times composed by Wainwright and producer Dick Connette. The album earned the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album for 2009.

Compilations

Charlie Poole and the Highlanders: The Complete Paramount and Brunswick Recordings 1929 (Tompkins Square Records, April 20, 2013)