Humphrey Bate
Humphrey Bate | |
---|---|
Birth name | Humphrey Bate |
Born | (1875-05-25)May 25, 1875 Castalian Springs, Tennessee |
Died | June 12, 1936(1936-06-12) (aged 61) Castalian Springs, Tennessee |
Genres | Old-time music |
Instrument(s) | Harmonica, vocals |
Years active | 1925–1936 |
Labels | Brunswick |
Humphrey Bate (May 25, 1875 – June 12, 1936) was an American harmonica player and string band leader. He was the first musician to play old-time music on Nashville-area radio. Bate and his band, which had been given the name "Dr. Humphrey Bate & His Possum Hunters" by Opry founder George D. Hay, were regulars on the Grand Ole Opry until Bate's death in 1936. The band's recordings, while scant, are considered some of the most distinctive and complex string band compositions in the old-time genre.[1]
Early life
Humphrey Bate was born in Castalian Springs, Tennessee on May 25, 1875, to a prominent Middle Tennessee family. Several of Bate's relatives had served as Confederate officers in the American Civil War, including a captain— also named Humphrey Bate— who was killed at the Battle of Shiloh. Bate's cousin, William Brimage Bate, served as Governor of Tennessee in the 1880s.[2][3] The Bate family owned several plantations throughout the southeast, and Humphrey probably learned to play dance tunes from freed slaves living on his father's plantation in Castalian Springs.[4]
Throughout his teen years, Bate collected pocket change by playing harmonica on steamboats travelling up and down the Cumberland River. He eventually attended medical school at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and served as a surgeon in the Spanish–American War (1898).[5] While Bate worked primarily as a physician for most of his life, he never lost his passion for playing music. He likely formed his first string band sometime around 1900, and subsequently acquired a reputation in the Nashville area by playing at various rallies and silent movie theaters.[6]
The Opry years, 1925–1936
In September 1925, Bate and his band became the first musicians to play old-time music on Nashville radio when they performed on the small local station WDAD.[7] A month later, William Craig, a purchasing agent for the National Life and Accident Insurance Company, invited Bate to play on the company's new radio station, WSM, which could reach a much wider audience than WDAD. Bate happily accepted, and over the following weeks, he and his band— which was typically called "Dr. Bate's Band" or some similar variation— played on WDAD in the afternoon and WSM in the evening.[8]
In November 1925, WSM hired announcer George Hay, who had developed a popular program called National Barn Dance for Chicago radio station WLS. Hay kept the barn dance format for WSM, and sought rural musicians from the Nashville area to play on the program.[9] WSM's Barn Dance first aired on November 28, 1925, with legendary fiddler Uncle Jimmy Thompson as its first performer. Bate made his appearance on this particular program three weeks later. The band was first introduced as "Dr. Humphrey Bate and His Augmented String Orchestra," but Hay eventually changed the name to the more rural-sounding "Dr. Humphrey Bate and His Possum Hunters."[10]
In 1927, Hay changed the name of WSM's Barn Dance to the "Grand Ole Opry." Over the next several years, Bate— dubbed the "Dean of the Opry" by Hay— performed regularly on the program.[11] Bate's band was unusually large for a string band, typically consisting of two fiddles, two guitars, a banjo, a cello, and a bowed bass. Regular bandmates included guitarists Burt Hutcherson and Staley Walton, fiddlers Oscar Stone and Bill Barrett, banjo player Walter Liggett, and bassist Oscar Albright. Bate's daughter Alcyone Bate Beasley often performed with the band as a ukulele player. The band's set usually opened with the song, "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight," and the band's repertoire included "Old Joe," "Greenback Dollar," "Going Uptown," and "Eighth of January."[12][13]
Dr. Humphrey Bate and His Possum Hunters held their only major recording session on March 3, 1928, in Atlanta, when they recorded twelve sides for Brunswick Records.[14] In 1931, the band became the first Opry band to go on tour.[15] Bate was also instrumental in introducing Hay to various Nashville-area musicians, including the Crook Brothers and DeFord Bailey.[16] On June 12, 1936, Bate died of a heart attack at his home in Castalian Springs.[17] The Possum Hunters continued playing with various line-ups (some of which included Bate's son, Humphrey, Jr.) until the 1960s.[18]
Bate's home in Castalian Springs, Hawthorn Hill, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built c. 1805, it is a Tennessee State Historic Site that will open to the public in 2016.[19]
Discography
- Harmonica Masters (Yazoo, 1996) — contains the track, "Take Your Foot Out of the Mud & Put it in the Sand"
- Nashville - Early String Bands, Vol. 1 (County, 2000) — contains the tracks "Green Backed Dollar Bill," "Eighth of January," "Throw the Old Cow Over the Fence," and "My Wife Died Saturday Night"
References
- ^ Charles Wolfe, "Dr. Humphrey Bate," The Encyclopedia of Country Music: The Ultimate Guide to the Music (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 30.
- ^ Jay Guy Cisco, Historic Sumner County, Tennessee (Nashville, Tenn.: Charles Elder, 1971), 223.
- ^ Wolfe, Encyclopedia of Country Music, 30.
- ^ Charles Wolfe, "Notes to Volume 1." In Nashville - The Early String Bands Vol. 1 (pp. 3–5) [CD liner notes]. County Records, 2000.
- ^ Jack Hurst, Nashville's Grand Ole Opry (New York: H.N. Abrams, 1975), 78.
- ^ Wolfe, "Notes," 5.
- ^ Wolfe, "Notes," 3.
- ^ Hurst, 78.
- ^ Wolfe, "Notes," 3.
- ^ Hurst, 81–83.
- ^ Arthur Butterfield, Encyclopedia of Country Music (New York: Gallery Books, 1985), 29, 174.
- ^ Wolfe, Encyclopedia of Country Music, 30.
- ^ Wolfe, "Notes," 5.
- ^ Wolfe, Encyclopedia of Country Music, 30.
- ^ Wolfe, "Notes," 5.
- ^ Hurst, 87.
- ^ Hurst, 82.
- ^ Wolfe, "Notes," 5.
- ^ Jessica Lauren White, National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form for Hawthorne Hill, September 2012.
External links
- Grand Ole Opry — Timeline
- Juneberry78s Old-time Music Sampler— contains mp3s of three tracks recorded by Dr. Humphrey Bate and His Possum Hunters
- v
- t
- e
- Trace Adkins
- Lauren Alaina
- Bill Anderson
- Kelsea Ballerini
- Bobby Bare
- Mandy Barnett
- Dierks Bentley
- Clint Black
- Garth Brooks
- T. Graham Brown
- Henry Cho
- Terri Clark
- Luke Combs
- John Conlee
- Dailey & Vincent
- Diamond Rio
- Sara Evans
- Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers
- Crystal Gayle
- Vince Gill
- Emmylou Harris
- The Isaacs
- Alan Jackson
- Chris Janson
- Jamey Johnson
- Alison Krauss
- Lady A
- Little Big Town
- Patty Loveless
- Dustin Lynch
- Barbara Mandrell
- Martina McBride
- Ashley McBryde
- Del McCoury
- Charlie McCoy
- Scotty McCreery
- Reba McEntire
- Ronnie Milsap
- Eddie Montgomery
- Craig Morgan
- Lorrie Morgan
- Gary Mule Deer
- The Oak Ridge Boys
- Old Crow Medicine Show
- Brad Paisley
- Jon Pardi
- Dolly Parton
- Carly Pearce
- Stu Phillips
- Jeanne Pruett
- Rascal Flatts
- Riders in the Sky
- Darius Rucker
- Don Schlitz
- Jeannie Seely
- Blake Shelton
- Ricky Van Shelton
- Ricky Skaggs
- Connie Smith
- Mike Snider
- Marty Stuart
- Pam Tillis
- Randy Travis
- Travis Tritt
- Josh Turner
- Carrie Underwood
- Keith Urban
- Rhonda Vincent
- Steve Wariner
- Gene Watson
- The Whites
- Mark Wills
- Trisha Yearwood
- Chris Young
- Roy Acuff
- David "Stringbean" Akeman
- Jack Anglin
- Eddy Arnold
- Ernest Ashworth
- Chet Atkins
- DeFord Bailey
- Bashful Brother Oswald
- Humphrey Bate
- Binkley Brothers' Dixie Clodhoppers
- Margie Bowes
- Rod Brasfield
- Jim Ed Brown
- The Browns
- Carl Butler and Pearl
- Archie Campbell
- Bill Carlisle
- Martha Carson
- The Carter Sisters
- Maybelle Carter
- Johnny Cash
- June Carter Cash
- Roy Clark
- Zeke Clements
- Patsy Cline
- Jerry Clower
- Stoney Cooper
- Wilma Lee Cooper
- Cowboy Copas
- Charlie Daniels
- Skeeter Davis
- The Delmore Brothers
- The DeZurik Sisters
- Little Jimmy Dickens
- Joe Diffie
- Danny Dill
- Jimmy Driftwood
- Roy Drusky
- The Duke of Paducah
- Holly Dunn
- The Everly Brothers
- Lester Flatt
- Red Foley
- Curly Fox
- Lefty Frizzell
- Troy Gentry
- Don Gibson
- Billy Grammer
- Jack Greene
- The Gully Jumpers
- Theron Hale
- Tom T. Hall
- George Hamilton IV
- Sid Harkreader
- Hawkshaw Hawkins
- George D. Hay
- Hoot Hester
- Goldie Hill
- David Houston
- Jan Howard
- Ferlin Husky
- Stonewall Jackson
- Sonny James
- Norma Jean
- Jim & Jesse
- Johnnie & Jack
- George Jones
- Grandpa Jones
- The Jordanaires
- Doug Kershaw
- Hal Ketchum
- Bradley Kincaid
- Pee Wee King
- Hank Locklin
- Lonzo and Oscar
- Bobby Lord
- The Louvin Brothers
- Charlie Louvin
- Ira Louvin
- Bob Luman
- Loretta Lynn
- Uncle Dave Macon
- Rose Maddox
- Mel McDaniel
- Jesse McReynolds
- McGee Brothers
- Bill Monroe
- George Morgan
- Moon Mullican
- Willie Nelson
- Jimmy C. Newman
- Bobby Osborne
- Sonny Osborne
- Johnny Paycheck
- Minnie Pearl
- Webb Pierce
- Ray Pillow
- Ray Price
- Charley Pride
- Del Reeves
- Jim Reeves
- Leon Rhodes
- Tex Ritter
- Marty Robbins
- Johnny Russell
- Rusty and Doug
- Earl Scruggs
- Jean Shepard
- Mississippi Slim
- Carl Smith
- Fiddlin' Arthur Smith
- Hank Snow
- Red Sovine
- Ralph Stanley
- Texas Ruby
- B. J. Thomas
- Uncle Jimmy Thompson
- Mel Tillis
- Tompall & the Glaser Brothers
- Ernest Tubb
- Justin Tubb
- Leroy Van Dyke
- Porter Wagoner
- Billy Walker
- Charlie Walker
- Kitty Wells
- Dottie West
- Keith Whitley†
- Slim Whitman
- The Wilburn Brothers
- Don Williams
- Hank Williams
- Boxcar Willie
- The Willis Brothers
- Chubby Wise
- Del Wood
- Marion Worth
- Johnnie Wright
- Tammy Wynette
- Faron Young
†Honorary former member; was scheduled to be invited, but died before the invitation was extended