Zonophone recorded a series of sides with Bob Roberts in 1905, and this is one of them - a song written by a pair of active black composers. Harry Brown (co-author of "Baltimore Buck" and "Missouri Blues", toured with his own travelling company "The Coontown
400" in 1904) and Chris Smith (co-wrote the evergreen "Ballin' The Jack" as well as "He's a Cousin of Mine") wrote this tune together in 1904. Bob Roberts recorded it for both Victor and Zonophone the following year. Bob sings it with his usual halting bombast,
which was perfectly appropriate for the material. The surface of this record, though somewhat abused, was better than visual inspection might indicate so a once-over with noise reduction (and a little EQ) was all that was necessary. (Further info about Bob
Roberts can be found at Tim Gracyk's web site.)
