Leon ["Pappy"] Selph; J. D. Edwards; and Herman Standlee, [interviews]
name: label: Collection Collector
content: McCormick, Mack
setName: label: See more items in
content: Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection
label: See more items in
content: Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection / Series 15: Audio Cassette Tapes and Digital Files
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Cassette tape (Total Running Time: 90:52)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1977
container: label: Container
content: Box 165, Cassette OTC 1485.32
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Audio
label: Type
content: Cassette tapes
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Side A: Leon ["Pappy"] Selph, interview, part 1, 1977.

Side B: Leon Leon ["Pappy"] Selph, interview, part 2, 1977; J. D. Edwards, interview, August 24, 1977; and Herman [Wesley] Standlee, interview, September 19, 1977.

Side A: Leon ["Pappy"] Selph, interview, part 1, 1977.

McCormick interviews Leon ["Pappy"] Selph as part of his research for the Smithsonian Institution and an article that he is working on.  He is interested in Selph's recording sessions with Columbia Records in San Antonio and Dallas, Texas in the Blackstone, Savoy and Gunter hotels, and the warehouse on Park Street.  Leon Selph, born in Houston, Texas on April 7, 1914, began recording with the Blue Ridge Playboys in February 1936 for Columbia Records in the Gunter Hotel.  McCormick, who is looking at Columbia Records ledgers, states that the session is documented as November 20, 1936. Selph discusses his formal music training, members of the Blue Ridge Playboys, playing for the radio, recording for Decca Records, and his career with the Houston fire department.  He retired in 1942 as a captain with the fire department after thirty years of service while still maintaining his music career.

Side B: Leon ["Pappy"] Selph, interview, part 2, 1977.

Continued interview with Selph on the telephone about the first recording session for the Blue Ridge Playboys.

J. D. Edwards, interview, August 24, 1977.

McCormick briefly converses with Edwards on the telephone about his musical career and songs.  He played the guitar, starting as a young boy in a musical family of ten children, primarily in Houston's third ward. He would occasionally play with Lightin' Hopkins as an adult. Edwards states that he recorded two songs Cryin' Blues and Hobo on Washington Avenue.

Herman [Wesley] Standlee, interview, September 19, 1977.

McCormick conducts interview with Standlee, Western swing guitarist, on the telephone.  He is interested in the first recording session for the Blue Ridge Playboys.  Standlee, born April 16, 1917 in Humble, Texas), played for the group and was at the first recording session with Leon Selph. He states that the recording was with Brunswick for Paramount Studios in Dallas, Texas in 1936 or 1937. Standlee describes the studio and the recording process.  He notes that the songs recorded during that first session included The Convict and the Rose, Teardrops on My Pillow, Naturally, She's Gone Away, Keep Your Nose Out of Daddy's Business, I'm No Good on Earth, and Give Me My Dime Back.  He lists for McCormick the names of the other musicians and the instruments they played.  Standlee also states that the Blue Ridge Playboys made recordings for Bluebird in San Antonio, Texas.