Singing with Dom Flemons: “One Steady Roll” [VIDEO]
Hey, friends! Jack here. A few years back my wife Kitty and I made a fun little documentary film called Jug Band Hokum. It’s kinda hard to find now, but we’re in the midst of planning a re-release so y’all can watch it.
During the making of that movie, we had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing the great folk singer Dom Flemons, one of the founding members of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. After we were done, Dom let me play his banjo (six strings, tuned just like a guitar) and I gave him my jug. We did the following in one take, just for fun.
This is an old tune called, “My Baby Rocks Me (With One Steady Roll)”, and it’s been done by all the blues greats of the 1920s and 1930s. It was written in 1922, and first recorded by Trixie Smith for Black Swan Records. Here’s a recording of it (and don’t be confused, that’s Bessie Smith pictured, not Miss. Trixie.
Folks say this is the first time the words “rock” and “roll” were used in a recorded song. Maybe that’s true, maybe not.
Either way, my favorite old recording of this was by a fella named Frankie “Half Pint” Jaxon. Frankie was a vaudeville comedian and blues singer that worked a lot with the great Tampa Red and his piano playing pal Georgia Tom Dorsey. Now, old Frankie was what was known as a “female impersonator”, meaning he dressed like a gal and behaved in what newspapers back in the day called “an outrageous manner”. There’s some reports that “Half Pint” – who was 5 feet 2 (but didn’t have eyes of blue) – liked to take his act off stage, and dressed like a gal for most of his life.
There’s something otherworldly about Jaxon’s recording of the tune. His backup band is Tampa Red’s Hokum Jug Band. It’s raw, strange, and a sound that can’t be reproduced today. Pure soul – strange soul – but soul nonetheless.
I’ve been singing this song for decades now, and don’t suppose I’m gonna stop singing it any time soon. In fact, here’s an old clip of me singing, picking the guitar and playing my trumpet (all at the same time). My pal Jed is picking the banjo, and buddy Paul is strumming that string bass. Filmed this up in Duluth, Minnesota at an old coffeehouse called Beaner’s Central.
Lemme know what you think of this tune. This is my first blog post on JackNortonMusic.com. Should be many more to come: if the good Lord’s willin’, and the creek don’t rise.
Cheers!
Jack Norton
Mullet River, Minnesota
PS: My recording of “One Steady Roll” with Dom Flemons is now on Spotify. Add it to your playlists and be sure to follow me. It would be fun to make $0.003 someday! Of course, Bandcamp is better.
