I came across this rather odd 1912 record featuring Fred Van Eps.

 

The record label credits  “Banjo effects by Van Eps”. 

I don’t really know what banjo effects were used apart from a little finger tremolo near the end though!

 

The singer is Arthur Francis Collins  (1864-1933) who was a prolific recording artist from the 1890s to the 1920s. Collins became known as “The King of the Ragtime Singers” as he recorded more ragtime records than any other singing artist.

He specialized in what were then called coon songs, popular African-American dialect numbers associated with vaudeville and minstrel shows. Collins also utilized a large array of vocal effects and caricature voices. This may explain the rather odd article attached to his photograph below:

 

 

Despite the rather non-PC performance from Collins, Fred Van Eps is worth listening to as this is a recording of him that I had not heard before.

IN BANJO LAND by Arthur Collins and Fred Van Eps

Views: 589

Reply to This

© 2024   Created by thereallyniceman.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service