Abner Jay - I'm So Depressed
Abner Jay - Cocaine Blues
Abner Jay - Bring It When You Come
Abner Jay - Reason Young People Use Drugs
Abner Jay - The Backbone of America is a Mule and Cotton
Abner Jay - Amazing Grace
Abner Jay is a musical oddity. No doubt about it, a one of a kind. He's the kind of performer who inspires you to share his music with anyone and everyone you feel has an open enough mind, and skewed enough taste, to appreciate it. It's like there is a cosmic imbalance in the universe because not enough folk know about Abner and his one-man-blues-band-minstrel-show. I was inspired to blog about Abner within two weeks of starting Diddy Wah and between then and now he's been mp3 blogged about many times on some great sites (see links below). When first blogging the praises of Abner I posted just a single 128kbps mp3 file, but now the mp3 blogosphere has a different, and far more generous, landscape, so for this Abner Jay redux I'm offering six 192kbps files from three different sources.
Basically there's not much I can tell you about Abner that you can't get out of just listening to his music. He's a one man band, so he plays a simple drum kit with his feet while strumming an electric six string banjo and singing or playing harmonica. Hailing from Georgia, Abner spent many years working as a travelling minstrel and musician. His music is raw blues, his lyrics heartfelt and his voice a strong conveyor of emotion.
I really enjoyed reading this personal testimony left by Punky Burwinkle as a comment on the always superb Waxidermy site:
"I’ve been blown away by the Terrible Comedy Blues for almost 40 years. I first met Abner Jay in 1967. I was working at a little hippie hole in the wall bar in Athens, GA, hustling beer and roasted peanuts. We had live music on the weekends, and Abner Jay did a gig there. We had parties after closing, and he came with us. He of course pulled out his git-tar and regaled us young white folks with more of his turrible jokes and gut-wrenching blues. He was truly one of a kind and those who missed his live performances should envy those of us who have experienced him. We took him back to our house to spend the night (which got us thrown out of the house — Athens in the 60’s was a little more shall we say un-cool than it is now).
We ran into him a few years later in Underground Atlanta and had a marvelous evening listening to him and chatting over old times. He had recently returned from a tour up north and was still on a high from playing for people who did not talk while he was performing. It saddens me to think of how little respect some of our most treasured troubadours have been given.
I have two of his albums: Terrible Comedy Blues on Poison Apple Records, Album No. 3420, and The Story of Dixie put out by Brandie Records. They are autographed and are greatly treasured.
I was dismayed to hear he is gone. It’s awful how time slips away; I had always meant to get back to Atlanta to hear him again, and now I cannot. But I can play his records and see him in my mind. I am glad you have discovered him."
Of the tracks I've posted, the first three, 'I'm So Depressed', 'Cocaine Blues' and 'Bring It When You Come', are taken from a CD called 'One Man Band' -- a collection of Abner's original material recorded in the sixties -- released on a Swedish label, Subliminal Sounds. 'Reason Young People Use Drugs' is from 'Swaunee Water and Cocaine Blues' an album released on Abner's own label, Brandie Records. 'The Backbone of America is a Mule and Cotton', also release on Brandie, probably around 1976, is an album of mainly covers of classic American tunes, like 'Amazing Grace', however, the title track is an Abner Jay original.
More Abner Jay blog action:
Diddy Wah's first Abner Jay post'Buked & ScornedWFMU's Beware of the BlogCrud CrudWaxidermySpread The Good WordLabels: blues, political, traditional