Browse by Artist: JAY, ABNER

Artist:	JAY, ABNER
Title:	Folk Song Stylist
Label:	MISSISSIPPI RECORDS
Format:	LP
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	MR 068LP

Repressed, originally released in 2010. "Long awaited follow up to the True Story of Abner Jay LP. Abner Jay was a man who had a grand sweeping vision of what folk music was. In his lifetime his expression of what folk music could be encompassed some serious stylistic variations. Sometimes he was a one man band traveling troubadour playing an electric banjo, harmonica, & drums who tried to hoodwink audiences into believing that he was 150 years old & the standard bearer for authentic Americana. Sometimes he played in electric straight up R&B bands such as 'Koko Joe & the Jobhunters'. Sometimes he claimed to be the 'black Bob Dylan' strumming an acoustic guitar & singing socially conscious urban folk. On this LP we find Abner in all of these modes & more. (He also does a pop song about a submarine disaster & a beautiful gospel song). Culled from a mix of Abners' 45's & LPs spanning the period 1964-1973, including Abner's first long lost LP, which we reproduced the cover image for this LP from. We hope that this release will help to further the current wave of understanding that Abner Jay is an important artist who deserves a wider audience than he ever received during his lifetime. Comes with a self promotional pamphlet penned by Abner & a color photo of Abner. Housed in an old school tip on sleeve. We are very proud to get this incredibly hard to find material out into the world."

Artist:	JAY, ABNER
Title:	One Man Band
Label:	SUBLIMINAL SOUNDS (SWEDEN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	SUBL 007CD

2012 repress, originally released in 2003. "The ultimate one-man-band wild man from the 1960s of whom some have said 'the southern Hasil 'Haze' Adkins'. Anyways Abner Jay was the most unusual music talent the world has ever seen and a true southerner. His original LPs are now sought after and very rare making this CD reissue very welcome. Abner played the long-necked, plucked string instrument we nowadays call the banjo. Its possible antecedents have existed in many forms and under many names. The commercially-manufactured, standardized form has emerged from vernacular instruments, including what 18th-century European travellers to the West Indian colonies reported as 'strum-strums': long, flat-necked, skin-covered gourd bodies strung with catgut, resorted to by plantation slaves for intimate diversion as well as larger occasions of social excitement arousal. Coming from whatever precursors, the banjo occupied an important place in late-19th century black and white minstrelsy and vaudeville. There is a long line of social and musical experience which constitutes Jay's tradition: blacks' domestic entertainment inspiring white imitations; in turn stimulating composed, sheet-music idioms for middle-class and professional performance, which then animated younger generations of black musicians. For forty two years Jay worked as a unique one man band where he played banjo, guitar, drums, harmonica, and sang at the same time. Abner Jay was the first of the original black musicians and played the only electric six string banjo you'll ever hear. Jay was a native of Fitzgerald, Georgia and was once a travelling performer with the Silas Green Show, one of the last multifaceted road shows on record. Tastes and tolerances of what constitutes acceptable public entertainment are always changing and Jay was part of making idioms which may not in fact have received too much exposure in the daily pressure to captivate audiences by extrovert mannerisms. Singing song on subjects ranging from LSD to 'what's six inches long and has two nuts on the end' -- you got to hear it to believe it. A true glimpse at some real Americana compiling the best tracks from Abner's original LPs."

Previous Page Index of Artists Next Page