In the evening, on this day, August 1, in 1927, Alvin Pleasant Carter, his wife Sara Dougherty Carter and Sara’s younger cousin, Maybelle Addington Carter sat around a microphone in a make-shift recording studio on the second floor of an old furniture store at 408 State Street in Bristol, Tennessee.

Earlier in the day, they had auditioned for the man who had set up the recording studio, Mr. Ralph Peer, a traveling talent scout for Victor Records up in New York City. Ralph liked what he heard and invited The Carter Family, as they were known, to “come back that evening at 6:30, after supper, and they would try some recordings.”

With Sara playing the autoharp, Maybelle playing guitar and all three of them singing, the first song they recorded was “Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow.”

Give a listen.

On this day in 1931, Elliott Charles Adnopoz was born in Brooklyn, New York.

At a young age, Elliott developed a love of cowboy songs. Around 1948 or 1949, he learned to play guitar to accompany his singing. Not long after, Elliott moved to Greenwich Village in New York City and somewhere along the way, while performing in the Village’s many coffeehouses, he became known as Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.

My favorite song by Ramblin’ Jack is “912 Greens” from his 1968 LP Young Brigham.

Give this one a listen, too. It’s a bit long, but well worth your time.

Happy Birthday, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. I hope you’re doing well.