THE EARLY COUNTRY
GUITAR ARCHIVE
Commercial Vocal Accompaniments, 1920s to the Postwar Years
ABOUT THE PROJECT
This website is the result of many years spent listening to early commercial recordings of American country, hillbilly and folk music. It grew out of a simple desire: to learn how these musicians actually accompanied themselves.
I have never been interested in collecting old records for their own sake. What fascinates me is the music itself—and the guitar hidden beneath the voice. Over time, listening became studying, and studying naturally led to transcription.
Every transcription on this site is made directly from the original recording. I do not rely on published songbooks, simplified chord charts, or later interpretations. My goal is always to hear the performance as it was played, preserving not only the notes, but also the small details that give each musician a distinctive voice: the alternating bass, the chord connections, the rhythmic feel, the occasional hesitation—and even the mistakes.
This is not an attempt to create definitive transcriptions. It is an attempt to understand a musical language.
Most of the recordings found here were made between the 1920s and the early 1940s, a period when country guitar accompaniment was still evolving through individual musicians rather than formal instruction. Many of these performances have never been transcribed. Some survive only on worn 78 rpm records or obscure reissues. Each one offers another glimpse into a remarkably rich tradition of self-accompanied singing.
Ultimately, this project is not about preserving old recordings behind glass. It is about bringing them back to life. My hope is that these transcriptions will encourage others to listen closely, pick up a guitar, and discover this extraordinary music for themselves.
THE GUITAR IN EARLY HILLBILLY MUSIC
When commercial hillbilly recording began in the early 1920s, the guitar was rarely the star of the performance. It was primarily a supporting instrument, providing rhythm, harmony and structure for the singer. Fiddles, banjos and, later, string bands often attracted more attention, while the guitarist remained in the background.
Yet this accompaniment formed the musical foundation of countless recordings. Simple alternating bass patterns, bass runs between chords, rhythmic strumming and carefully placed passing notes gave shape and momentum to the songs. These techniques were seldom written down. They were learned by listening, imitation and experience.
As recording technology evolved and solo performers became more common, the guitar gradually assumed a larger role. Artists such as Riley Puckett, Jimmie Rodgers, Gene Autry, Frank Hutchison and many others demonstrated that a single voice accompanied by one guitar could produce a complete and compelling musical performance. By the late 1930s and early 1940s, this style had become one of the defining sounds of American country music.
Although these accompaniments may seem simple today, they represent a remarkably rich musical vocabulary. Every player developed subtle variations in rhythm, bass movement and chord connections that contributed to a distinctive personal style.
This project focuses on preserving that language. Rather than reducing these performances to chord symbols or simplified arrangements, the transcriptions attempt to document the guitar accompaniment exactly as it was played on the original recordings.
READING THE TRANSCRIPTIONS
I am a self-taught musician. I do not read standard notation well enough to transcribe performances in the traditional way. Instead, over many years of listening and playing, I gradually developed a notation system that made sense to me as a guitarist. My objective has always been practical rather than academic: to capture how these performances are actually played, rather than how they might be described theoretically.
The whole system began years ago while I was trying to understand Jimmie Rodgers' guitar playing. I could hear the alternating bass and the chord connections clearly, but I struggled to translate what I was hearing into an accompaniment that I could actually play while singing. Eventually, one simple idea solved the problem.
Rather than treating the alternating bass as something separate from the chord, I decided to write it directly beside the chord name, enclosed in parentheses. For example, C(5) means a C chord with the fifth string played as the alternating bass. To me, this reflects exactly what the guitarist is doing: the chord establishes the harmony, while the number identifies the bass string beneath it.
This approach allows the accompaniment to be read almost as it is played, without interrupting the visual flow of the music.
The next challenge was finding a practical way to represent chord connectors, bass runs, and the countless little details that give each performance its character. Once again, I chose the most visual solution, assigning symbols to the most common movements instead of writing every note in tablature.
Early country accompaniment is built from a surprisingly small vocabulary of recurring patterns. Once these symbols become familiar, the eye recognizes them instantly, making the music easier to read while remaining faithful to the original performance.
These symbols are not intended to replace tablature. They simply act as a form of musical shorthand, reducing visual clutter while preserving the characteristic vocabulary of the guitarist.
This notation is certainly unconventional, and it may not suit every guitarist. It was simply developed to help me hear these old recordings more clearly through the guitar. If it helps others hear and play these old recordings more easily, then it has served its purpose.
These transcriptions reflect my best understanding of the original performances. Every effort has been made to remain faithful to the recordings, but they are ultimately my interpretation of what I hear. Listening is, by nature, a subjective process, and another guitarist may hear a different key, a different chord, or even a different way of playing the same passage. That is part of the beauty, and the challenge, of transcribing performances by ear. My goal has never been to produce a definitive or "authentic" transcription, but rather one that is faithful to the spirit of the performance, practical to play, and useful to anyone who wishes to explore this remarkable repertoire.
These transcriptions are an invitation to listen closely. I encourage you to listen to the original recordings whenever possible and draw your own conclusions. If, after careful listening, you hear something differently, trust your ears. That's exactly how this project began.
THE ARCHIVE
This archive is a work in progress and will continue to grow over time. New transcriptions will be added regularly as they are completed.
The selection is intentionally personal. It is not meant to be a comprehensive survey of early country, hillbilly or folk recordings, nor does it attempt to document every artist or every session.
I naturally gravitate toward performances that feature particularly interesting guitar accompaniment, but just as importantly, songs that I genuinely enjoy singing and playing. If a recording inspires me to pick up a guitar, it will probably find its way into this archive.
Some artists may eventually be represented by their complete recorded output, while others may appear only once or twice. The archive reflects my own musical interests rather than any attempt at historical completeness. I hope that, over time, this growing collection will encourage others to discover, play and enjoy this extraordinary music.
I do not host the original recordings on this site for copyright reasons, and providing individual listening links for such a large and growing archive would require more maintenance than I can realistically manage. Fortunately, most of these recordings can now be found somewhere online. I strongly encourage you to seek them out and listen for yourself.
BILL CARLISLE (2)
BILLY VEST (2)
BOB NICHOLS (1)
BRADLEY KINCAID (4)
THE CALGARY KID (1)
HOMER CALLAHAN (1)
BUD BILLINGS (1)
HOKE RICE
CARL T. SPRAGUE (1)
CHRIS BOUCHILLON (1)
CLARENCE GANUS (1)
CLAYTON MCMICHEN (1)
GENE AUTRY (12)
BIG SLIM ALIFF (1)
DADDY JOHN LOVE (1)
DAN HORNBY (1)
DAVE MCCARN (1)
EDWARD L. CRAIN (2)
ELTON BRITT (1)
EMRY ARTHUR (1)
ERNEST ROGERS (2)
ERNEST TUBB (12)
FRANK HUTCHISON
FRED KIRBY (2)
GOEBEL REEVES (2)
GREEN BAILEY (1)
HANK SNOW (5)
HANK WILLIAMS (9)
JESSE RODGERS (1)
JIMMIE RODGERS (7)
JOHNNY BARFIELD (4)
KENNETH HOUCHINS (2)
LEFTY FRIZZELL (6)
LEON CHAPPELEAR (1)
LEON PAYNE (1)
MOONSHINE KATE (1)
NEWTON GAINES (2)
PETE CASSELL (1)
PAUL HAMBLIN (1)
RED FOLEY (1)
REX GRIFFIN (7)
RILEY PUCKETT (12)
ROY SHAFFER (3)
TEX MORTON (7)
ROY MARTIN (1)
WILF CARTER (6)
TEX RITTER (1)
WANTED
Some recordings remain frustratingly out of reach.
The titles listed here (more to come!) are recordings I have been unable to locate despite years of searching. Some were commercially issued, while others may survive only as rare 78s, test pressings or transfers in private collections.
If you have a copy, a digital transfer, or simply know where one of these recordings can be heard, I would be very grateful to hear from you.
I am looking for the music, not the record itself. A good-quality digital transfer is all I need.
Johnny Barfield
071026-1 - The numbers Blues
071027-1 - It’s All Over Now I’m Glad We’re Through
Jerry Behrens
403504-B - Lonesome For Mother And Home
403505-A - Drifting Along
405038-1 - Pal Of Pals
405039-1 My Ohio Shore
405040- - You Were Glad You Had Broken My Hear
405041- - 1 Sweetheart Of The Valley
Bill Bruner
403424-B - My Pal Of Yesterday
403425-B - That’s Why I’m All Alone
Bob Calen (Internat' Rodeo Ace)
402754-A - Down On The Banks Of The Yazoo
402755-A - Carolina Rolling Stone
Capt. Appleblossom
402746-A - When Father Put The Paper On The Wall
402747-A - Carolina Rolling Stone
402748-A - The Cowboy's Lament
