I just love Tarrant Bailey's playing... don't you?

[thereallyniceman]

Tarrant Bailey Jnr. aka. Gus Phillips.  It is such a shame that his compositions are crumbling into obscurity!

[nick Kelly]

sure is fine playing, why Gus Phillips ? I dont get it.

[thereallyniceman]

It seems that it was a big thing at the time for performers to record under pseudonyms. Some say that it was fool the record buying public into buying more of their records!  Someone who bought "banjo" records may buy the same recording by "several" artists... all being the same.  But this is only speculation.

Olly Oakley was famous for it too. Maybe it was a banjo thing???

WIKI:

"James Sharpe (1877–1943), also known as Olly Oakley, was a British banjo player and composer. He was considered a prominent zither-banjo player in England. His music made up a part of early banjo recordings on the phonograph, and during his life, he became "the most widely recorded English banjoist". Other than his performing name of Olly Oakley, he alternately recorded under the pseudonyms Fred Turner, Signor Cetra, Jack Sherwood, Mr F Curtis, Frank Forrester, and Tim Holes."

[Jody Stecher]

In the world of performing and recording artists the two main reasons for pseudonyms are a) choosing a name that is thought to have greater appeal to the public than the given name, and b) as a way around being under exclusive contract to a specific record company,   So for example the Blues musician whose given name was McKinley Morganfield took the stage name Muddy Waters. He was under contract to Chess Records.  But when his harmonica player James Cotton made a record for Prestige Records, his boss played guitar as a support musician in his band under the name "Dirty Rivers".  Usually the pseudonym is not so obvious.

Another reason is when a recording artist who is well-known in the religious music field makes a recording of secular music. This has happened from time to time in the early days of recording. 

Another reason for a pseudonym is when the same musician plays several instruments on the same song. Nowadays multi-tracking is common and widely accepted and not considered to be unusual. But in the 1960s and 70s I recorded under several pseudonyms on records where my real name is credited for one instrument and a fanciful name is credited for another. Three I recall are Mississippi Blind Driveways, Crunchy Granola, and  Arthur Acidophilus (Sydney Bulgaricus  was the name another multi-tracked musician took on the same session. We were the imaginary Yoghurt Brothers. The joke went deeper: Sydney and Arthur was the name of a Barbecue restaurant in Oakland, California.)

thereallyniceman said:

It seems that it was a big thing at the time for performers to record under pseudonyms. Some say that it was fool the record buying public into buying more of their records!  Someone who bought "banjo" records may buy the same recording by "several" artists... all being the same.  But this is only speculation.

Olly Oakley was famous for it too. Maybe it was a banjo thing???

WIKI:

"James Sharpe (1877–1943), also known as Olly Oakley, was a British banjo player and composer. He was considered a prominent zither-banjo player in England. His music made up a part of early banjo recordings on the phonograph, and during his life, he became "the most widely recorded English banjoist". Other than his performing name of Olly Oakley, he alternately recorded under the pseudonyms Fred Turner, Signor Cetra, Jack Sherwood, Mr F Curtis, Frank Forrester, and Tim Holes."

[Jake Glanville]

I'm very interested in Tarrant Bailey as I have a couple of his 78's somewhere, and possibly one of his banjos -his name is inside and the date 31/1/48.  The banjo ia an English 5-string Zither Banjo made by William Temlett Senior of London circa 1890, with all the typical Temlett Senior Mother-of-Pearl inlay, and I'm about to have it restored.  If anyone knows anything about it, I would love to hear from you.  He was certainly a Master of the instrument.

Black Jake of Norwich.