Big Chief Henry's Indian String Band

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Big Chief Henry's Indian String Band
OriginOklahoma, USA
GenresString band
Years active1920s-1930s
LabelsRCA Victor
Past membersHenry Hall (1877-1941)
Harold Hall (1901-1986)
Clarence Hall (1908-1975)

Big Chief Henry's Indian String Band was a Choctaw Indian string band from Oklahoma, United States. The band was composed of members of the Hall family—Henry, father, on vocals and fiddle; and sons Clarence on guitar and Harold on banjo. They played from Wichita, Kansas.[1]

H. C. Speir, a music promoter from Jackson, Mississippi, heard them playing at the Choctaw Indian Fair in Philadelphia, Mississippi. He got them a recording contract with RCA Victor, who recorded a number of songs in Dallas, October 14, 1929.[2]

Discography[]

Original recording date October 14, 1929, Dallas.[3]
Session Title Recording
BVE 56382-2 Blue Bird Waltz V-40225
BVE 56383-2 Choctaw Waltz V-40225
BVE 56384-2 Indian Tom-Tom V-40281
BVE 56385-2 The Indian's Dream V-40281
BVE 56386-2 Cherokee Rag V-40195
BVE 56387-2 On The Banks Of The Kaney V-40195

References[]

  1. ^ Sisson, The American Midwest, p. 385: "Big Chief Henry Hall of Wichita, Kansas, recorded commercially in Dallas in 1929, ..."
  2. ^ Wardlow, Chasin' That Devil Music, pp. 146-147: "He [HC Speir] loved white fiddle music. He found a Choctaw Indian fiddle band from Oklahoma that was at the Philadelphia Choctaw Festival in the summertime and got them on Victor. Big Chief Henry was his name."
  3. ^ Spottswod, Ethnic Music on Records, p. 2928.

Bibliography[]

  • Sisson, Richard; Christian K. Zacher; Andrew Robert Lee Cayton (eds.). The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia. Indiana University Press, 2007. ISBN 0-253-34886-2
  • Spottswood, Richard K. Ethnic Music on Records: A Discography of Ethnic Recordings Produced in the United States, 1893-1942 & etc. (Vol. 5). University of Illinois Press. 1990. ISBN 0-252-01723-4
  • Wardlow, Gayle Dean. Chasin' That Devil Music: Searching for the Blues. Backbeat Books, 1998. ISBN 0-87930-552-5

External links[]

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