Overview:
Sometime in the very early 1900s, "Jug" bands originated in Louisville, Kentucky. These bands achieved an almost instantaneous success, and nowhere did they prosper more than in Memphis, Tennessee. The bands were soon heard up and down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Early Jug bands played a mix of every type of music; old time Country, Blues, even Jazz and some Pop music with Ragtime roots. By 1910, several Jug bands were playing in Louisville. One of the first jug bands to be recorded was 'Earl McDonalds Dixieland Jug Blowers' (aka: Louisville Jug Band) in the early 1920s. Today, the guitar is associated with the blues, but that instrument's dominance is actually a rather recent development beginning soon after the start of the 20th century. During the 19th century, it was the fiddle and the banjo that were the dominant instruments for both White and Black American musicians. The Melody instruments usually consisted of a fiddle, banjo and sometimes a mandolin or guitar. ( The Banjo is the only musical instrument invented in America. See Michael Ellis article: The Five String Banjo In The Ozarks. Very often a "kazoo" and/or harmonica carried the melody. The "Rhythm Section" used instruments made from common household objects of the era including earthenware jugs, spoons, and washboards. A little later, even empty tin cans were used. At least one band member would provide the bass line by blowing rhythmically into or across the top of a jug - "The Poor Man's Tuba." The early Jug bands truly are a tribute to the ingenuity shown by impoverished rural Blacks in expressing themselves musically on whatever they found at hand. Often cited is the fact that Gus Cannon (leader of Cannon's Jug Stompers) fashioned his first banjo from a bread pan and a broom handle. Listen now to "Pig Ankle Strut", played by Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers, back in 1928.. (Digitally re-engineered by Mr. Verne Buland.)

During the South's Antebellum period, improvised and non-traditional instruments were common place due to traditional European instruments being both too costly and simply unavailable. Many musicians never even owned an instrument, perhaps borrowing one occasionally to practice or perform. Early Bluesmen commonly used such instruments as "Pan Pipes", or occasionally some willow stalks scraped against the teeth of a horse jawbone, and even gourds fashioned into banjos and crude guitars.

In the late 1890s, "Spasm Bands" were frequently heard playing in the streets, making music with kazoos, whistles, mandolins, guitars, jugs, washtubs, harmonicas, and very occasionally a piano, or trumpet. (Readers may wish to peruse the first paragraph on our Jazz Etymology page for an interesting note on "Spasm" bands.) One of the best known figures of his day was "Ironing Board Sam", who performed during Beale Street Vaudeville days using just his own homemade instrument. Some Jug Band song lyrics communicated tribulation, but the overall feeling was lively and cheerful.

Without question, the first Jug Bands were found in Louisville, Kentucky, where, before the genre peaked in the the early 1930s, artists like Clifford Hayes ("Atlantic Stomp"), and Earl McDonald's Original Louisville Jug Band ("She's In The Graveyard Now") recorded many tunes. Another early artist was Sarah Martin ("Sugar Blues"). As mentioned, following it's introduction in Louisville, KY, Jug Band music next found a home in Memphis, TN.

In the early 1970s, Indianapolis attorney Fred Cox, compiled a manuscript which he named "The Jug Bands of Louisville", but, in 1978, before it could be published, Cox died. (Some chapters were later printed in the British blues magazine Storyville, from which we quote here.) During the 1950s and '60s, Cox - working with two other researchers, John Randolph and John Harris - interviewed many of the original Jug Band musicians and was able to apparently trace the origins of Jug music to two Louisville musicians; --B.D. Tite, and an itinerant player whose name has echoed down the corridor of antiquity only as "Black Daddy". Cox said that Tite played banjo in the Tite Brothers String Band until the 1890s economic depression struck the country.

In the summer of 1898, Tite partnered with 'Black Daddy', and the two men roamed the country looking for work. In southwestern Virginia, Tite and Black Daddy spent the summer with with a fiddler named Cy Anderson, (and his brother Charley, also a musician) who had been looking for banjo players. One day a neighbor came over with an empty jug when Anderson's group was Jamming.

       "The Andersons nodded to him as he sat on the edge of the
       porch and began to laydown a simple bass line behind the
       music, -blowing on his jug," Cox wrote. "B.D. stopped
       playing, sat near the jug blower, watching and listening,
       fascinated bythe sounds he was hearing for the first time.
       When the band finished the tune, B.D. was all questions,
       but the old man could only say, "I just picked it up and
       started blowing." The advice he would offer was simple
       enough: 'Look around forthe right jug; a jug is a jug if
       you want whiskey, but if you want to blow on it, find
       one that's got music in it.' "

In time, Tite replaced his banjo in favor of the jug. He and Black Daddy then convinced the Anderson brothers to return to Louisville with them where they felt money could be made playing for the Kentucky Derby crowds. All of Louisville quickly became enamored of the Jug Band sound. In 1900, they began a seven-year riverboat tour. Cox noted that at the end of the seven years, Black Daddy and Tite returned to Louisville, leaving most of the riverboat towns along the Ohio very well acquainted with Jug music, and with many other Jug bands beginning to appear.

Very few folks today realize that from the 1910's to 1930's, Jug bands were among the most prevalent type of music in the rural South; an extension of the minstrel shows so popular during that era. The best known of these early bands were 'Cannon's Jug Stompers' and 'the Memphis Jug Band'. (Gus Cannon's group were homebased in Louisville, KY.)

By 1915, Louisville Jug bands were already appearing in Chicago and New York clubs. However, not until 1926 was Louisville Jug Band music recorded, when Black Swan Records (a Black-owned company) took the 'Dixieland Jug Blowers' into a Chicago studio. The DJB was co-led by two of the most outstanding figures in Jug music; jug blower Earl McDonald and violinist Clifford Hayes. (For contractual reasons, the 'Louisville Jug Band' was also called "The Dixieland Jug Blowers.)

Curiously, most discographers today regard the 'Dixieland Jug Blowers' (Louisville Jug Band) as a Jazz band, yet most other Jug bands are usually included with Country ("Hill-Billy"), and Blues groups. Still, in view of the light-hearted, happy-go-lucky music, Jug musicians may indeed rightfully be considered kindred spirits to Dixieland Jazz musicians.

McDonald was born in South Carolina, but in 1885 when he was just two years old, his family moved to Louisville, where he grew up listening to the Jug bands playing on the street. While still in High School, he started his own 'Louisville Jug Band' which, in 1903, played at Churchill Downs (home of the Kentucky Derby).

Clifford Hayes was a fiddler from a musical family. The four Hayes boys were all musicians. In 1912, when Clifford was a teenager, his family moved from Glasgow, KY to Jeffersonville, IN. By 1913, Hayes had joined McDonald's band; the start of a long collaboration performing at live shows and recording as both the 'Louisville Jug Band' and as the 'Dixieland Jug Blowers'.

According to Cox,
       "Although Earl McDonald was the undisputed leader of the
       Louisville Jug Band, the group operated on a cooperative
       basis. Any musician in the band getting a job became the
       nominal leader for the date and received a double share
       of the take. Clifford Hayes, unlike most jug band musicians
       never took outside employment to augment his income. Tall,
       handsome, outgoing, a natural-born promoter, Clifford spent
       his free time seeking jug band jobs and charming the women,
       with considerable success in both fields. Clifford's need
       for additional money to finance his amorous affairs and
       to pay the rent on their love nests led to his leaving the
       Louisville Jug Band."

By 1919, apparently due to money disputes, Hayes and McDonald parted company. The parting must have been rather amicable though because each man continued to hire the other for recording sessions and occasional gigs.

Hayes also recorded a number of sessions with vocalist Sarah Martin (b: Louisville, KY, 1884) who during her peak popularity was known as "the blues sensation of the West." Circa World War I, Martin relocated to New York City. She first worked as a vaudeville performer, but was soon into Blues material. In 1922, she recorded "Mean Tight Mama" for Okeh Records, and continued to record until 1928. In the early 1930s, she retired from show business, returned to Louisville, and began to sing gospel music in local churches. She ran a nursing home in Louisville until her demise in 1955.

Will Shade (aka: Son Brimmer. born Feb. 5, 1889, Memphis, TN) had started the Memphis Jug Band. The band became very popular playing in Memphis' Church Park. In February 1927, The Memphis Jug Band first recorded for for the RCA Victor label. Listen to "Overseas Stomp", recorded on Feb. 24, 1927, with Leader/Guitar picker Will Slade and Jug blower JB Jones (Digitally re-engineered by Mr. Verne Buland.) And, here's a Photo of the Band. The band recorded 57 sides over the next four years. By 1930, no less than seven different jug bands were active in Memphis. The Memphis Jug Band was so popular that they often split into two groups in order to play two different gigs on the same night.

Instruments played by the early Jug bands usually determined the band name. Some examples are Walter Taylor's Washboard Trio, or King David's Jug Band. It is interesting to note that 'The Memphis Jug Band' included such well known blues legends as "Furry" Lewis, Will Shade (Son Brimmer), and Casey Bill Weldon. From 1927 to 1934, the Memphis Jug Band recorded well over 100 songs. "Bottle It Up and Go!" was a blues standard of the 1930's.

The song lyrics reflected a range of subject matter from addiction woes to matters financial, traveling problems, and, of course, unrequited love. One of the best known bands of the era was 'Whistler's Jug Band', with perhaps "Low Down Blues" as their most requested tune. King David's Jug Band's version of "What's That Taste's Like Gravy" was popular, while 'The Dixieland Jug Blowers', a group that, in the mid-1920s, set the standards for jug band "sophistication", had a hit with "Boodle-Am-Shake". By and large, the music was always very lively.

In Memphis, on Beale Street, or in Handy Park, and in local clubs, Jug bands were heard just about every night. Patrons would promptly relieve a Jug of its alcoholic content, and it's sound quickly replaced that of the brass bass (tuba), often found in Jazz bands of that day.

Other Jug Bands of the day included Whistler's Jug Band, Jed Davenport, Cincinnati Jug Band, Mississippi Mud Steppers, Peg Leg Howell & His Gang, Johnson Boys, Bo Chatman, Birmingham Jug Band, and many others.

In 1926. visitors attending the Kentucky Derby heard sets by the Louisville Jug Band (minus Clifford Hayes), the Mud Gutters Jug Band, Whistler's Jug Band, the Faust Brothers Jug Band, the Henry Smith Jug Band, the Jess Ferguson Jug Band, Mike Perkin's Jug Band, and the Clifford Hayes Orchestra, to mention only the popular groups. Still other musicians plied their trade along Louisville's downtown streets.

It is important to note that 'Washboards' could be heard in a great many different types of orchestras. For just one example, listen to Tiny Parham's great 1929 Jazz orchestra playing (in Chicago) "Washboard Wiggles", -talk of "hot" washboard solos! (Tune digitally re-engineered by Mr. Verne Buland.)

In the 1920s and 1930s the music peaked, and then disappeared with public interest waining (due mainly to the great world-wide economic depression of the 1930s). But in the 1960s, Jug music experienced a renaissance fueled by the Jug bands of such musicians as John Sebastian, Jim Kweskin, and folk-rock musicians such as Stefan Grossman, Maria Muldaur, John Sebastian, David Grisman, and the Grateful Dead (who recorded a version of Gus Cannon's "Minglewood Blues"). The Rooftop Singers began to perform songs by Hayes and other early Jug musicians. Of course, there were others. Currently (2002), another revival of interest in Jug Band music is taking place with many amateur and semi-professinal groups across America playing this earthy and infectious style of music.

Interested readers may wish to check out the annual "Beale Street Mess Around and Jug Band Festival", sponsored by "The Beale Street Blues Society", usually held near the end of April. The society's hotline is (901) 527 4585.

Currently (2002) many Jug Bands are operating. Among them are:

• ... and the Leasebreakers
• American Cheese Band, The
• Centennial Jug Band, The
• Curbside Jug Band, The
• Dirdy Birdies Jug Band, The
• Emerald City Jug Band, The
• Federal Cigar Jug Band, The
• Ginger Jug Band, The
• Holland's Jug Stompers
• The Juggernaut Jug Band
• Jugularity
• Kapakahi Jug Band
• No Mercy Jugband
• Rhythm Bones Society
• Sadie Green Sales Jug Band, The
• Sunshine Skiffle Band, The
• Washboard Slim and the Blue Light
• What - Me Worry Jug Band
• Zingo Zango Generic Jug Band

(End Jug Band Historical Tour)    And now for a few exhaustive treatises on Jugs, and all that Jazz.

Readers who do not own a Jug or Washboard may still join in the Rhythm section using just two soup-size spoons.

This writer recalls that as a child, he often took two flat pieces of wood. (usually about 50mm wide, 150mm long and 6mm thick (2"x6"x1/4"), and made his own set of "Bones". He then proceeded to play "rhythm" to all his early 78rpm Dixieland records. (Back then, we called them "Clappers" - or 'Clackers', but very strictly speaking - "clackers" are NOT 'bones". "Clackers" are two pieces of wood -loosely connected together and the pair connected to a handle. When the handle is moved the free pieces of wood 'clack' together.)

Bone Playing technique is rather simple.
Place the handle of one spoon (or board) between the index finger and the middle finger (against the webbing of those two fingers). Lightly press it towards the palm. The two fingers and thumb are used to hold the handle (and so the spoon) stationary. That spoon (or wood) doesn't move. It remains stationary at all times.

Next, place the second spoon between the middle and ring fingers (also against the webbing of the fingers). The bottom of the spoon bowls face each other. If the wood is curved, the curve bottoms will face each other. This second spoon is the spoon that will be bouncing back and forth.

Now then, there are several methods in use to play the "bones" or spoons. Normally, rapid wrist movement alone creates the Rhythm. The movement is more in the wrist movement (a little like cracking a whip) ... not the arm movement. This makes one beat.

Practice this for awhile until it seems right.

Do this until you become at ease and proficient with the rhythm. Later, other movements will become evident.
For example, one can combine plain wrist movements with the slapping of the spoons on a leg or hand. The technique is to swing the spoons down bouncing them off of one's thigh, that makes One Clack, and then, holding out your other hand, bring the spoons up sharply hitting them against the raised palm, , and so forth. Many players often combine the two (or more) methods. However, mostly, players use free wrist motion playing, - with occasional slapping against the leg and palm.

Variations on the technique abound. For example, Irish musicians (mainly) often hold the spoons with the same fingers, but with the 'bowl' of the spoons extending outward... away from the hand. Rapid wrist motion alone cause the spoons to keep the rhythm.

There is a certain similarity between playing the Bones (or Spoons) and playing the washboard. The washboard is also played with the rapid wrist movement causing the fingers of that hand to flick back and forth.

Each fingertip - including Thumb - should have a metal or plastic thimble. Wrist movement will cause the fingertips to 'swish' across the corrugated washboard surface.

One may 'count' using just Down movement of the fingers, or just upward movement, or improvise by very rapid wrist movements. As one example, a very quick up and down 'brush' of the washboard can be counted as just ONE beat, and so forth.

Any size Jug or Bottle may be used. The bigger the container, the deeper the sound.

There are two distinct techniques.
One is to hold the Jug vertically, the mouth facing upwards. Blowing across the mouth will resonate the column of air inside the jug producing the bass tone.

The second method is to hold the jug horizontally, - the mouth of the jug facing the blowers mouth. Then, sharp exhalations by the blower into the jug's mouth will produce the bass tone. The blower's mouth and the mouth of the Jug should be approximately 50 to 75mm (two or three inches) apart.

Some say that by increasing, or decreasing, the jug mouth to blower's mouth distance will change the bass tone, but this writer never found that to be the case (In fact, it violates a fundamental law of Physics.) Changing the mouth-to-mouth distance will only affect the amplitude of the bass sound. It's the Jug size that produces differing pitch, -smaller sizes producing higher pitches. The larger the jug, the deeper the tone, due to the larger column of resonating air.

Perhaps a few words on Rhythm are in order.

Most "Jazz" and "Jug" music is played in 4/4ths time. That is to say, the musician counts 4 equal beats for each bar of music. For example, the musician can play 4 equal amplitude beats in the form of: one, two, three, four. This count can be done playing either the 'Bones' or a Jug.

Sometimes, this 4/4ths time is also referred to as 2/4th time. This is due to the manner is which the Jug (or other bass) may be played. Many times it is best to play the rhythm in the form of ONE, two, THREE, four. That is to say, the emphasis is placed on the first and third beats. And the reverse is also true. The bass player may use a one, TWO, three, FOUR beat.

In Jug Blowing, this often translates into ONE strong exhalation, a pause, followed by another exhalation and pause. (The TWO beats in the 2/4ths time.) As shown above, the emphasis may be on either the first and third or second and fourth beats. In practice, the musician will Puff, wait, Puff, wait, or vice-versa, thus the 4/4ths time.

"Speed" is another facet of rhythm that must also be understood; both for the Speed of puffings, and also for the duration of each individual puff.

For example, one very popular variation consists of the first and second beats having equal time, with the 3rd beat consisting of two beats in the space of just one beat, -the fourth beat again being of normal duration. The player should count One, Two, Three And, Four, -each count receiving an exhalation. There are five exhalations performed in the same 4/4ths time, -'Three And' are done very quickly so as not to use more than one beat of time.

Now that the reader is expert in Rhythm, Jug and Bones playing, it is time to get out some Jug or Dixieland Jazz records, and play along with those 'other' experts.