The Melody Web what each genre heard, and what it passed on

heard passed on Click or tap a node to recenter. Use a connecting line, or Influence, for the story.

Heard

Blues genre · 1860–

The jug band’s songbook is blues: 12-bar and comic blues, AAB, guitar-and-harp language, with a jug as bass.

Influence
Ragtime genre · 1890–1920

Jug bands keep rag and parlor strains beside blues: banjo, multi-strain dance sides, comic song.

Influence

Jug band

genre · 1915–1940

Also called Memphis jug band

Early-twentieth-century African American street and party band: blues songs on homemade and parlor instruments, the jug as bass (Louisville, Memphis; Cannon, Memphis Jug Band). It hears Blues for the song and the 12-bar job. Ragtime supplies parlor strains. Medicine-show is a circuit, not a node. Old-time is a parallel street school, not a parent. 1960s revival jug bands are reception (Folk revival); British homemade-kit transfer is Skiffle. New Orleans jazz leftover as a parallel street band, not a parent.

Listen

  1. Stealin' Stealin' Memphis Jug Band (1928) YouTube · Spotify
  2. Walk Right In Cannon's Jug Stompers (1929) YouTube · Spotify
  3. K.C. Moan Memphis Jug Band (1929) YouTube · Spotify
  4. Viola Lee Blues Cannon's Jug Stompers (1928) YouTube · Spotify
  5. On the Road Again Memphis Jug Band (1928) YouTube · Spotify

Passed on

Folk revival movement · 1958–1966

1960s folk-revival jug bands recut the 1920s street-band book as campus and club entertainment.

Influence
Skiffle genre · 1956–1959

Skiffle takes jug band’s homemade kit and street-song book as a British youth style.

Influence

Blues → Jug band

harmonyform and structuremelodystrength: highscholarly consensus1915–1930oralrecording

Mechanism

The jug band’s songbook is blues: 12-bar and comic blues, AAB, guitar-and-harp language, with a jug as bass. Strength high. Medicine-show and ragtime color wait on the jug-band node.

Evidence

Memphis Jug Band and Cannon sides that are named blues; shared repertory with country-blues songsters.

Debate

How much is ragtime or breakdown. Those are additional strains, not the identity of the recorded book.

Mediators

artist: Memphis Jug Band; artist: Gus Cannon

Ragtime → Jug band

form and structuremelodyinstrumentationstrength: lowwell documented1915–1930oralnotationrecording

Mechanism

Jug bands keep rag and parlor strains beside blues: banjo, multi-strain dance sides, comic song. Strength low. Blues is the definitional parent; this hop is the strain songbook.

Evidence

Memphis Jug Band sides that are not 12-bar; Southern on that mixed book.

Debate

Whether popular song already covers it. Ragtime is the named strain school in the street-band kit.

Mediators

community: Memphis and Louisville street bands

Jug band → Folk revival

instrumentationmelodyperformance practicestrength: mediumwell documented1958–1964recordingoralpedagogy

Mechanism

1960s folk-revival jug bands recut the 1920s street-band book as campus and club entertainment. Strength medium. This is reception, not a second origin of jug band.

Evidence

Kweskin, Even Dozen, and related recuts; Starr on the revival string-band wave.

Debate

Whether this is only old-time revival. The jug and the Memphis/Louisville book are a distinct crate.

Mediators

artist: The Even Dozen Jug Band; artist: Jim Kweskin

Jug band → Skiffle

instrumentationmelodyperformance practicestrength: highwell documented1955–1958recordingoral

Mechanism

Skiffle takes jug band’s homemade kit and street-song book as a British youth style. Strength high. Donegan is the hinge. Lead Belly is a related crate, not a second jug-band node.

Evidence

Washboard and tea-chest as jug-band transfers; Gillett on Donegan’s American book.

Debate

Whether Lead Belly is the real parent. He is a named singer in the same crate; the kit and the comic street song are the jug-band hop.

Mediators

artist: Lonnie Donegan