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Sounding a bit like an early "rap" record in places, this was a Vaudeville "rube" sketch set to music using a tried-and-true formula: two country hicks visiting New York for the first time and being completely amazed. Called an "eccentric fox trot" in the original sheet music from 1914, it is more like a soft-shoe number and was probably staged that way when performed. The sheet music credits only S.R. Henry as the author (that was a pen-name for Henry R. Stern, who co-authored "Indianola" and "Down At the Huskin' Bee"), though later editions also give credit to L. Wolfe Gilbert (prolific songwriter who also co-wrote "Waitin' For the Robert E. Lee" and "Lily of the Valley"). It was recorded for Columbia in March of 1915. Byron G. Harlan had been making records for over a decade but Will Robbins, his singing partner on this record, was only active with Columbia for this one year: he was paired with Ada Jones on several records, made a few sides on his own, then two with Byron Harlan. The first few grooves of this record suffered heat damage, so there is some noise in the beginning, but that passes off within thirty seconds and the rest of the record has a quiet groove. Noise reduction helped. |
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