| Seven
Foot Dilly & His Dill Pickles |
Read a great article
about this band from Charles Wolfe's The
Legend of John Dilleshaw used here with permission.
This article is included in his new book Classic
Country available at Amazon.
John Dilleshaw was from north Georgia,
an exceedingly fertile area for old time musicians in the 1920's and
a contemporary of the then famous Skillet Lickers and Georgia Yellow Hammers.
At 6'7" and a lefty, he was no doubt an imposing figure at the time.
He recruited some of the best fiddlers in the area such as Ahaz A. Gray,
Joe Brown, Lowe Stokes and Harry Kiker. Pink Lindsey and
Shorty Lindsey were the other members of the group. The combination
of bowed bass, tenor banjo, and powerful guitar runs made this group
one of the premier strings bands of the 1920's. As in most of
the north Georgia style groups, a great deal of humor is injected into
the renditions, with Dilly often talking right over the music.
Their skits are no doubt a take off on the wildy popular Skillet
Licker skits, but they still preserve the individualilty of these musicians.
They recorded several unusual pieces that had not been recorded elsewhere.
Thanks to Jim Burns for help in compiling and editing the information here.
The following is in part from Jane
Keefer's Folk Song Database.
Seven Foot Dilly and his Dill
Pickles
Appearance as principal performer
- Bad Lee Brown
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 2
- Bibb County Hoe Down
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 21
- Bibb County Breakdown
- That's My Rabbit, My Dog Caught It; Southern
Trad. Instrument Styles, New World NW 226 (1978),
cut # 21
- Bust Down Stomp
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 17
- Cotton Patch Rag
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 4
- Cotton Patch Rag
- Early Country Music, Historical HLP-8002
(197?), cut #B.02
- Farmer's Blues
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 18
- Fiddler's Tryout in Georgia
- parts 1 & 2
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 6
- Georgia Barbeque at Stone Mountain
- parts 1 & 2
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 7
- Georgia Bust Down
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 10
- Hell Amongst the Yearlings
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 13
- It'll Never Happen Again. Old Time String Bands,
Vol. 1 Marimac 9110 (198?), cut # 14
- Kennesaw Mountain Rag
- Folk Music in America, Vol. 3, Dance Music,
Breakdowns & Waltzes, Library of Congress LBC-03 (1976),
cut #A.01
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 20
- Lye Soap
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 12
- Nigger Baby
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 14
- Old Ark's A Moving
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 15
- Pickin' Off Peanuts
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 11
- Sand Mountain Drag
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 16
- Spanish Fandango
- Early Country Music, Historical HLP-8002
(197?), cut #B.01
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 3
- Square Dance Fight on Ball
Top Mountain - parts 1 & 2
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 5
- Streak O' Lean - Streak O'
Fat
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 9
- Tallapoosa Bound
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 8
- Walkin' Blues
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 19
- Where the River Shannon Flows
- John Dilleshaw 1929-1930, Document Doc-8002,
track # 1
John Dilleshaw & The String
Marvel
Appearance as principal performer
- Cotton Patch Rag
- String Ragtime, Yazoo L-1045 (197?), cut
# 6
- Spanish Fandango
- Old Time Mountain Guitar, County 523 (197?), cut # 9
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