I'll Be All Smiles Tonight: Deacon Brumfield

Gregg McKenna · Post by **Gregg McKenna** » 18 Oct 2012 9:20 pm

Remembering Deacon Brumfield. If you like old time Dobro, you'll like this. I believe it was recorded in the early 1960's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4whT3Em8yBY

HowardR · Post by **HowardR** » 19 Oct 2012 7:08 am

Good one Greg!.........haven't heard that name in long, long time....but Deacon Brumfield (along with Bashful Brother Oswald Kirby) were some of my early influences when learning this dang instrument....there's something to be said of the old timey style of playing coupled with the thinner Dobros of the day for "that tone".....it brings back simpler times and while the playing (on the surface) may seem simple.....it's no simple matter to do it right......the late Gene Wooten was the smooth contemporary of old timey.....

Great stuff......thanks.....

Bill Hampton · Post by **Bill Hampton** » 19 Oct 2012 8:15 am

Way cool. Nothing against the modern style of playing, I just prefer to listen to this kind of music.
Howard you're right, it sounds simple until you start trying to duplicate it and keep everything in tune!

HowardR · Post by **HowardR** » 19 Oct 2012 10:43 am

Trying to keep a smooth and fluent tremelo going while you're slanting, sliding, and ascending is an art form.....I'm still at the level of...."I'll Be All Thumbs Tonight"........

Gregg McKenna · Post by **Gregg McKenna** » 19 Oct 2012 1:15 pm

New Englander Sky Travis with his version on an old model 45 (using the whole neck).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETQlH3WFDq8

Robert Allen · Post by **Robert Allen** » 20 Oct 2012 8:02 am

I still have that Deacon Brumfield LP, lots of good songs on it. Around that same time Deacon was playing with Alex Campbell, Olabelle Reed and the New River Boys. I remember driving around in my new 1960 Ford Falcon listening to them on WWVA out of Wheeling West Virginia. Much of their material was bluegrass gospel. At the time WWVA rivaled the Opry so there was good coverage of their songs. A little side note here, The Osborne Brothers were on WWVA at the time with dobro player Ricky Russell. The Osbornes released an LP at that time but chose to use Shot Jackson for the dobro on those recordings.

Terry Miller · Post by **Terry Miller** » 28 Oct 2012 4:21 pm

Shot never got the recognition that he deserved as a dobro player. Shot player on a lot of recordings and never got credit in those days. Terry

Ric Nelson · Post by **Ric Nelson** » 1 Nov 2012 2:00 pm

I am always amazed to come across another recoding with Shot on the dobro and of course, with no credit.

The ones that got away, were the ones when he did session work.

One popped up with Rex and Eleanor Parker on the radio one day. I was able to find out the title and finally get in touch with Eleanor who confirmed it was indeed Shot at their session in Nashville.

Fortunately, his style is unique and sticks out and it doesn't take but a few notes to figure out it is him.

But I'm afraid we'll never know all that he recorded.

Ric Nelson

Ric Nelson · Post by **Ric Nelson** » 4 Nov 2012 9:27 am

I neglected to mention Shot Jackson on the Osborne Brothers' session. Even though the brothers lived in Dayton, OH and were members of the WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling, WVA, they recorded in Nashville.

For one session, October 17, 1957, they recruited the talents of Shot Jackson on the dobro which Sonny Osborne later said was a reaction to Flatt & Scruggs having Josh Graves on the dobro in their band.

Shot had joined Roy Acuff's Smokey Mountain Boys by that time, playing a steel guitar (most of the time).
But even so, for the Osbornes, playing the dobro, he was on one of their sessions: She's No Angel/My Destiny/Once More/Two Lonely Hearts.

By the time the Osbornes were back in Nashville to do four more tracks on February 13, 1958, Shot had a scheduling conflict so, at his recommendation, they got the steel player, Jimmy Crawford, to play dobro: Lost Highway/Love Pains/It Hurts To Know/If You Don't Somebody Else Will.

Both Shot and Jimmy later interdependently said that they played a little bit more "bluegrassy" than usual for the sessions. Shot added, "But when you are in Rome, you do as the Romans do."

Sonny said that, "Ricky Russell just showed up one day from nowhere and wanted to play dobro with us and later on, he just disappeared."

He was on their personal appearances during that time period and of course on WWVA Jamboree with them as well.

It would be several years before the Osborne Brothers had another dobro in their band, this time with Gene Wooten. Gene always said that he was "Shot trained" and for a time worked a day job at ShoBud.

Ric

Gregg McKenna · Post by **Gregg McKenna** » 16 Nov 2013 1:09 pm

Bump. Some really nice traditional Dobro on here.

Bob Stone · Post by **Bob Stone** » 23 Nov 2013 7:32 pm

Stacy Phillips recorded a beautiful version of All Smiles--in A on G tuning dobro.

You can get it her for 99 cents. Such a deal!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0012D ... B0012DCY62

Enjoy!

Tom Keller · Post by **Tom Keller** » 23 Nov 2013 9:05 pm

Greg thank you for mentioning Deacon. This thread brings back lots of memories. Deacon was a very good traditional style player. As a 12 year old I listened to WWVA a lot not only for Deacon but Shot Jackson and Lee Moore the coffee drinking night hawk who also played some dobro.In the late 50's early 60's about the only players I could hear on radio were Oswald,Josh,Shot and occasionally Deacon or Lee. That is if you were blessed with a clear winter night with no fading in out. Alas, the beauties of AM radio.
Tom