Doghouse Skiffle Group

Skiffle is a type of folk music with a jazz and blues influence, usually using homemade or improvised instruments such as the washboard, tea chest bass, kazoo, cigar-box fiddle, musical saw, comb and paper, and so forth, as well as more conventional instruments such as acoustic guitar and banjo. Skiffle and jug band music are closely related. Skiffle was particularly popular in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1345x722, 418 KB) Doghouse Skiffle Group. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1345x722, 418 KB) Doghouse Skiffle Group. ... Folk music can have a number of different meanings, including: Traditional music: The original meaning of the term folk music was synonymous with the term Traditional music, also often including World Music and Roots music; the term Traditional music was given its more specific meaning to distinguish it from the... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on the use of the blue notes and a repetitive pattern that most often follows a twelve-bar structure. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A tea chest bass is a home-made musical instrument that uses a wooden chest of the type once used to deliver tea as the resonator for an upright stringed bass. ... Two examples of the kazoo A metal kazoo The kazoo, also called Clegghorn, is a simple musical instrument (membranophone) that adds a buzzing timbral quality to a players voice when one hums into it. ... Playing a musical saw A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is the application of a hand saw as a musical instrument. ... A comb A comb for people with hair loss. ... A blank sheet of paper Paper is a commodity of thin material produced by the amalgamation of fibers, typically vegetable fibers composed of cellulose, which are subsequently held together by hydrogen bonding. ... A steel string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar descended from the classical guitar, but strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound. ... For other uses, see Banjo (disambiguation) A modern 5-string banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument of African American origin adapted from several African instruments. ... A jug band is a band employing a jug player and a mix of traditional and home-made instruments. ...

Skiffle first became popular in the early 1900s in the United States, starting in New Orleans. The Oxford English Dictionary states that skiffle was a slang term for "rent party." New Orleans is the largest city in the state of Louisiana, United States of America. ... The Oxford English Dictionary print set The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP), and is the most successful dictionary of the English language, (not to be confused with the one-volume Oxford Dictionary of English, formerly New Oxford Dictionary of English, of... Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speakers dialect or language. ... For a rent party (sometimes called a house party or house-rent party), tenants hire a musician or band to play for a party and pass the hat to raise money to pay their rent. ...

Originally, skiffle groups were referred to as spasm bands. By the 1920s and 1930s, a form of skiffle was being played in Louisville and Memphis. Skiffle's roots are also found in the jazz bands of the 1940s and 1950s. “Louisville” redirects here. ... For other uses, see Memphis (disambiguation). ...

The first use of the name on records was in 1925 by the otherwise unknown Jimmy O'Bryant and his Chicago Skifflers. In 1948 Dan Burley & His Skiffle Boys, led by barrelhouse piano player and journalist Burley, brought together New Orleans bassist Pops Foster, and guitar-playing brothers Brownie and Sticks McGhee. This does not cite any references or sources. ... New Orleans is the largest city in the state of Louisiana, United States of America. ... Side and front views of a modern double bass with a French bow. ... George Murphy Foster, almost always known as Pops Foster (18 May 1892 (?) - 30 October 1969) was a jazz musician, best known for his vigorous string bass playing. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Walter Brownie McGhee (November 30, 1915 - February 16, 1996) was a folk-blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaborations with the harmonica player Sonny Terry. ...

Revival in the United Kingdom

Skiffle was a novelty or happenstance musical form in the United States, in the 1920s through the 1940s. It had largely faded from view when, in the late 1950s, skiffle was reborn as a major musical movement in the United Kingdom. Skiffle was the British equivalent of rockabilly, a new form of music, loud and fast, with a direct communication between the band and the audience. Like American rockabilly, British skiffle is one of the direct ancestors of rock and roll. Also, like rockabilly, it provided new opportunities for the more adventurous professional musicians. Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock n’ roll music to emerge during the 1950s. ... Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ...

Lonnie Donegan, the father of British skiffle, had become a professional musician in 1953, and joined the Trad jazz band of Ken Colyer. Between sets, Donegan would entertain the crowd with folk and blues, backed by bass and washboard. Colyer termed it skiffle, and soon it was more popular than the jazz that was being played. When trombonist Chris Barber left to form his own band in 1954, he took Donegan with him, and featured him on the New Orleans Joys LP, recorded in July 1954. Thanks in large part to Donegan’s raucous cover versions of the songs "Rock Island Line" and "John Henry", the ten-inch LP sold an unprecedented 50,000 copies. With skiffle getting airplay, Decca put out "Rock Island Line" as a single in 1956. It spent an astonishing eight months in the Top 20, peaking at #6 (and #8 in the U.S., selling over a million copies worldwide). Donegan appeared on The Perry Como Show in America, alongside Ronald Reagan). Lonnie Donegan Lonnie Donegan MBE (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002) was a skiffle musician, possibly the most famous of them all, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. ... Trad jazz, short for traditional jazz is a music genre popular in Britain and Australia from the 1940s onward through the 1950s and which still has enthusiasts today. ... Kenneth Ken Colyer (April 18, 1928–March 8, 1988) was a British jazz trumpeter, specializing in New Orleans jazz. ... Administrators, remember to check if anything links here, the page history (last edit) and any revisions of CSD before deleting. ... See also: 1953 in music, other events of 1954, 1955 in music, 1950s in music and the list of years in music // Events Frank Sinatra wins the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in From Here To Eternity, 1953; resuscitating his singing career in the process Bing Crosby received a... Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Rock Island Line is an American blues/folk song, written and originally performed by Lead Belly in the 1930s. ... Statue of John Henry outside the town of Talcott in Summers County, WV. John Henry is an African-American folk hero, who has been the subject of numerous songs, stories, plays, and novels. ... Long Playing (LP), either 10 or 12-inch diameter, 33 rpm (actually 33â…“) vinyl gramophone records, first introduced in 1948, were the primary release format for recorded music for about 30 years, from the late 1950s until CDs effectively replaced them in the late 1980s. ... // January 1 - Blue Suede Shoes is released by Carl Perkins on the Sun Records label. ... Perry Como (born Pierino Ronald Como, May 18, 1912 - May 12, 2001) was an United States crooner during the last half of the 20th century. ... Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the fortieth President of the United States (1981 – 1989) and the thirty-third Governor of California (1967 – 1975). ...

Having been paid just a £50 session fee for the song, however, Donegan quickly signed with the young Pye-Nixa label, and rushed out "Lost John", which hit #2 in June 1956, and was the start of a series of UK hits – 34 of them - which lasted until 1962. Pye Records was a British record label. ... See also: 1960s in music. ...

While skiffle is often credited only as a simple forerunner to British rock and roll, a lot of the early skiffle was played by skilled trad jazz musicians. The Vipers Skiffle Group and Chas McDevitt & Nancy Whiskey were examples of this. The Vipers came to prominence around the same time Lonnie Donegan left the Chris Barber Jazz Band to start his lifetime of skiffle. The Vipers Skiffle Group – later known simply as The Vipers - were one of the leading British groups during the skiffle period of the mid to late 1950s, and were important in the careers of radio and TV presenter Wally Whyton, record producer George Martin, and several members of The Shadows. ... Chas McDevitt and Nancy Whiskey EP cover Chas McDevitt (b Charles James McDevitt, Glasgow, Scotland, 4 December 1934) is a British musician, one of the leading lights of the skiffle genre which was highly influential and popular in the UK in the mid to late 1950s. ... Nancy Whiskey (b Anne Alexandra Young Wilson, Glasgow, Scotland, 4 March 1935 – d 1 February 2003) was a Scottish folk singer, best known for the 1957 hit song Freight Train. While attending art school in Glasgow, Anne Wilson performed on the local folk club circuit where she met fellow singer... Administrators, remember to check if anything links here, the page history (last edit) and any revisions of CSD before deleting. ...

The Vipers held a residency at London's The 2i's Coffee Bar and during this time musicians such as Tommy Steele, Bruce Welch and Hank Marvin passed through the line-up. They had, however, a big problem: keeping their material away from Donegan. After Donegan had gained higher chart placings with the Vipers' first two hits, there was no love lost between them. (The Vipers' original version of "Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O" was produced by George Martin, and Donegan's version by Joe Meek.) This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The 2 I’s Coffee Bar was a coffee bar in the basement at 59 Old Compton Street, Soho, London, England, between 1956 and 1970. ... Young Love by Tommy Steele Tommy Steele OBE (born December 17, 1936 in London, England) is a English entertainer. ... Bruce Welch (born Bruce Cripps, 2 November 1941 in Bognor Regis, Sussex, England) is an English guitarist, songwriter, producer and singer, best known as a member of The Shadows. ... Brian Robson Rankin (born 28 October 1941), better known by the stage name Hank B. Marvin, is the English lead guitarist for the band The Shadows. ... Sir George Henry Martin CBE (born 3 January 1926 in Highbury, London, England) is sometimes referred to as the fifth Beatle—a title that he owes to his work as producer of almost all of The Beatles records. ... Template:For Joe Meek, mountain man Joe Meek (born Robert George Meek; April 5, 1929 in Newent, Gloucestershire — February 3, 1967 in London[1]) was a pioneering English record producer and songwriter acknowledged as one of the worlds first and most imaginative independent producers. ...

The Vipers, however, turned the tables once on Donegan. Donegan made the mistake of performing "Cumberland Gap" on live television, transmitted from a ballroom in Kilburn before he had recorded it. The Vipers went straight into the studio and got their version released before his, costing Donegan's record company 100,000 sales, although Donegan's version when released did eventually reach #1 on the UK chart remaining there for five weeks. By the end of 1957 however, the Vipers were in decline, while Donegan would go on to be acknowledged as "The King of Skiffle". A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated puprose of which is holding dances (balls). ... Kilburn is an area of North London on the border of the London Borough of Brent and the London Borough of Camden. ...

Chas McDevitt, with Nancy Whiskey on vocals, had a world wide hit with "Freight Train". In July 1957 six years before The Beatles (who had evolved from the unknown skiffle group The Quarrymen), McDevitt appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show the same day as the Everly Brothers first performed Bye Bye Love. The show was seen by an estimated audience of 45,000,000 people. This success was to take them on tour with acts such as Slim Whitman and Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers. They also replaced Jerry Lee Lewis on his ill-fated 1958 tour of the UK. Chas McDevitt and Nancy Whiskey EP cover Chas McDevitt (b Charles James McDevitt, Glasgow, Scotland, 4 December 1934) is a British musician, one of the leading lights of the skiffle genre which was highly influential and popular in the UK in the mid to late 1950s. ... Nancy Whiskey (b Anne Alexandra Young Wilson, Glasgow, Scotland, 4 March 1935 – d 1 February 2003) was a Scottish folk singer, best known for the 1957 hit song Freight Train. While attending art school in Glasgow, Anne Wilson performed on the local folk club circuit where she met fellow singer... The White Album, see The Beatles (album). ... The Quarry Men (sometimes Quarrymen) were a little-known skiffle group formed around Liverpool, England in March 1957 by John Lennon. ... The Ed Sullivan Show was an American television variety show that ran from June 20, 1948, to June 6, 1971, and was hosted by Ed Sullivan. ... Don (born February 1, 1937 in Brownie, a small coal-mining town (now defunct) near Central City, Muhlenberg County, Kentucky) and Phil Everly (born January 18, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois) are country-influenced rock and roll performers who had their greatest success in the 1950s. ... Bye Bye Love is a popular song. ... Slim Whitman (born January 20, 1924 in Tampa, Florida) is an American country music singer and songwriter. ... Frankie Lymon (September 30, 1942 - February 27, 1968) was the leader of a doo wop group called The Teenagers. ... Jerry Lee Lewis (born September 29, 1935), also known by the nickname The Killer, is an American rock and roll and country music singer, songwriter, and pianist. ...

As the British rock and roll scene was starting to take off, first with Tommy Steele then Marty Wilde and Cliff Richard and The Drifters (later renamed The Shadows), Donegan was still strumming on, oblivious to the fact that the Skiffle craze had long since gone. In the early 60's, Donegan described The Beatles first records as old-fashioned, archaic rock and roll that had stopped his cash flow. Young Love by Tommy Steele Tommy Steele OBE (born December 17, 1936 in London, England) is a English entertainer. ... Marty Wilde (born Reginald Leonard Smith, April 15, 1939, in Greenwich, South London) is an English singer and songwriter. ... Sir Cliff Richard OBE (born Harry Rodger Webb on 14 October 1940) is an English singer, actor and businessman. ... The Shadows were an English instrumental rock n roll group active from the 1950s to the 2000s. ...

In the 1984 mockumentary This is Spinal Tap, the fictitious rock group Spinal Tap had its beginnings in skiffle, as The Lovely Lads. This article or section cites very few or no references or sources. ... This Is Spin̈al Tap (which is officially spelled with a non-functional umlaut symbol over the N) is a 1984 mockumentary directed by Rob Reiner and starring members of the semi-fictional heavy-metal glam rock band Spinal Tap. ... Spinal Tap is a mostly fictitious heavy metal band, the subject of the 1984 rockumentary/mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap. ...

Mick Jagger was a member of the Barber-Colyer Skiffle Band but claims he did not really enjoy skiffle music. Nonetheless, it was the popularity of simple skiffle music that opened young Britons' eyes to the idea that they could play music and have hit records. Graham Nash and Alan Clarke of The Hollies began their musical careers in a skiffle band called the Two Teens. The result, several years later, was the musical explosion called the British Invasion (1964-66). Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page first appeared on British television [1] as a young teen in the late 1950's in a skiffle band. Van Morrison started in a skiffle band as well, known as the Sputniks and released a live-recording in 2000 of a two-night skiffle "session" from 1998. Sir Michael Phillip Mick Jagger CBE (born July 26, 1943) is an English rock musician, actor, songwriter, record and film producer and businessman. ... Graham Nash on cover of his recording, Wild Tales, 1973 Graham William Nash (born February 2, 1942) is an English-born singer-songwriter known for his light tenor vocals and songwriting contributions in pop group The Hollies and folk-rock band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and as a photography collector... Alan Clarke (28 October 1935 - 24 July 1990) was a television and film director, producer and writer, born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England. ... The Hollies are an English Beat group formed in the early 1960s. ... The appearance of The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, February 9, 1964, was the breakthrough moment of the burgeoning British Invasion. ... Led Zeppelin were an English rock band who formed in 1968. ... James Patrick Jimmy Page, OBE (born 9 January 1944) is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. ...

Skiffle had little impact in the United States beyond Donegan's hits, but some bands have imitated British accents. Only some would go as far as the Strapping Fieldhands and actually exhibit their skiffle roots (even going so far as to have a song named "Lonnie Donegan's Mum's Tea Chest").

External links

• Skiffle.net (in German)
• Skiffle Band Links from Skiffle.net
• Skifle revival