01. Rocky Pallet
02. Rock That Cradle Lucy
03. Soldier's Joy
04. Sal's Gone to the Cider Mill
05. Ride Old Buck to Water
06. Molly Put the Kettle On
07. Hell Broke Loose in Georgia
08. Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss
09. Liberty
10. Devilish Mary
11. Cackling Hen and Rooster Too
12. Miss McLeod's Reel
13. Pretty Little Widow
14. Dixie
15. Broken Down Gambler
16. Leather Breeches
Recordings: Atlanta, GA [10/22/1928 - 10/29/1931]
Personnel: Gid Tanner [vocals, banjo, fiddle, Jew's harp]; Riley Puckett [vocals, guitar]; Fate Norris [vocals, banjo]; Clayton McMichen, Lowe Stokes [vocals, fiddle]; Ted Hawkins [banjo]; Bert Layne [fiddle]
'Decades before rock & roll, the Skillet Lickers blasted through raucous old-time romps that still sound as fresh and edgy as they must've sounded back in the 1920s, when they emerged as hillbilly music's leading artist. Fiddles endlessly blaze and soar over dance calls and raw, down-home hollers while Riley Puckett's guitar work keeps it all anchored. Puckett was probably the first star guitarist of old-time music and his unique, single-string style of rhythm guitar [harmonically fluid but rhythmically adventurous] proved essential to the development of bluegrass, not only for early rhythm guitarists, but later on for lead flat-pickers like Doc Watson, who enhanced it and moved it to the foreground. The songs, from 'Soldier's Joy' to 'Cackling Hen' to 'Dixie' to 'Leather Breeches,' fiddlers' standards even then, remain so today thanks in large part to these historic recordings.
The original members were Gid Tanner, Riley Puckett, Clayton McMichen and Fate Norris. The members had been performing in various combinations around Atlanta before 1924, but it was in that year that Tanner [a fiddle-playing chicken farmer] & the blind guitarist Puckett recorded to become Columbia Records' first hillbilly talent. In 1926 with McMichen and Norris, they recorded for the first time as Gid Tanner And The Skillet Lickers. Over the years there were significant line-up variations & other important members included Lowe Stokes, Bert Layne [both outstanding fiddlers], Hoke Rice [guitar], Gid's brother Arthur [banjo, guitar] & teenage son Gordon [fiddle]. By 1931, in some combination or other, they had cut 88 sides for Columbia - all but six being released. Their material included fiddle tunes, traditional ballads and pop songs, plus little comedy skits such as their noted 'A Corn Licker Still In Georgia'. Quite possibly the greatest stringband of all time.
The compilation contains 16 tracks that the hillbilly musical comedy group recorded between 1926 and 1931. The Skillet Lickers were one of the most popular groups of their time, and although their music and humor has dated considerably in the decades since, the musical talents of fiddler Gid Tanner remain impressive, and this compilation is the best way to hear him and his group.' ~ Marc Greilsamer
cracked-out madness from these insane visionaries. they recorded so many sides it's dizzying, but this comp remains a worthy distillation of their scope. another goodun lives hear. without the skillet lickers, there would be no holy modal rounders. gid tanner & riley puckett are the forefathers of this swirling brand of methylated mayhem & these whoops & warbles are as authentique as it gets. sounds like home
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