Need to know about old bluegrass/country group

United States
May 22, 2009 10:36am CST
This is a tough one but I need to know if anyone has ever heard of a oldtime group called Yodeling Barb and the Georgia Wildcats. Yodeling Barb whose real name was Barb Thorton was my late cousin and she was pretty famous back in the day and sang with the Georgia Wildcats. I am writing a story but haven't been able to find out any info about her and those who know are dead. Can anyone help?
1 response
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
22 May 09
I see that the Georgia Wildcats were founded by Clayton McMichen, the fiddler with Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers. I found a notice of a recording of the group (but no mention of your cousin): CLAYTON MCMICHEN B.A.C.M. 081 The Legendary Fiddler ? CD $13.98 24 tracks, recommended Until the end of his life, the great fiddler Clayton McMichen was at odds between the music his audiences wanted to hear and the music he loved to play. During the late '20s, McMichen had few peers as a breakdown fiddler; he was the driving force and de facto leader of Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers. But he really wanted to play smart, swinging pop tunes with a tight rhythm ensemble, just like his fellow Atlantian Perry Bechtel was doing. In 1931 he broke with the Skillet Lickers set to form the Georgia Wildcats. His guitarist, Slim Bryant, was a Bechtel disciple who could play closed chords or mimic Riley Puckett's powerful bass runs. Though this reissue includes a half-dozen '20s tracks with Puckett and Skillet Lickers spin-offs, it emphasizes McMichen's '30s output. The Wildcats' sound is reminiscent of the Prairie Ramblers, although the band's recording debut predates the Ramblers' first sessions by two years. McMichen was never truly a swing fiddler; Ken Newton actually plays the hot second break on Frankie & Johnny; Gene Autry's longbow fiddler Carl Cotner participated in later Wildcat sessions. The set - and McMichen's recording career - concludes with five of the six superb breakdown medleys he recorded for Decca in June 1939. As with other B.A.C.M. issues, the sound quality is dull in spots, but generally good. Brian Golbey provides brief notes. (DS) CLAYTON MCMICHEN: Arkansas Traveller/ Bummin' On The I. C. Line/ Cumberland Valley Waltz/ Devil's Dream/Ricket's' Hornpipe/Fisher's Hornpipe/ Fire On The Mountain/Ida Red/Sally Goodin/ Frankie & Johnny/ Georgia Wildcat Breakdown/ Honolulu Moon/ I Don't Love Nobody/ Little Darling I'll Be Yours/ Little Old Log Cabin In The Lane/ McMichen's Reel/ Mississippi Sawyer/ Missouri Waltz/ My Carolina Home/ Please Don't Sell My Pappy No More Rum/ Rose Of Shenandoah Valley/ Smoky Mountain Home/ Soldier's Joy/Arkansas Traveller/ Sourwood Mnt./Peter went a-fishin'/Sugar In The Gourd/ Sweet Bunch Of Daisies/ The Dying Hobo/ Turkey In The Straw/Hen Cackle/Dance All Night/ WildCat Rag/ Yum Yum Blues http://www.rootsandrhythm.com/roots/NEWSLETTER_135/newsletter135_country_1.htm It occurs to me that Roots & Rhythm and similar Old Timey enthusiast sites and forums might be a good place to start asking for more information.