# Gid Tanner > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Gid_Tanner > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Gid_Tanner.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gid_Tanner > Source revision: 1350546424 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American musician (1885–1960)}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Gid Tanner | image = Gid Tanner.jpg | caption = | image_size = | background = non_vocal_instrumentalist | birth_name = James Gideon Tanner | birth_place = | birth_date = June 6, 1885 | death_date = {{death date and age|1960|5|13|1885|6|6}} | death_place = [Dacula, Georgia](/source/Dacula%2C_Georgia), United States | origin = Thomas Bridge, near [Monroe, Georgia](/source/Monroe%2C_Georgia), United States | instruments = [Fiddle](/source/Fiddle), [banjo](/source/banjo) | genre = [Old-time music](/source/Old_time_music) | occupation = [Country music](/source/Country_music)ian, chicken farmer | years_active = 1899-1957 | label = | website = }} '''James Gideon Tanner''' (June 6, 1885 – May 13, 1960) was an American musician and [old-time](/source/old_time_music) fiddler, regarding as one of the earliest stars and pioneers of [country music](/source/country_music).{{Cite web|url=https://api.discogs.com/artists/1197622|title=Gid Tanner|website=Discogs|language=en|access-date=2019-08-20}} His band, the [Skillet Lickers](/source/Skillet_Lickers), was one of the most innovative and influential [string band](/source/string_band)s of the 1920s and 1930s. Its most notable members were [Clayton McMichen](/source/Clayton_McMichen) (fiddle and vocal), [Dan Hornsby](/source/Dan_Hornsby) (vocals), [Riley Puckett](/source/Riley_Puckett) (guitar and vocal) and Robert Lee Sweat (guitar). ==Biography== Tanner was born in Thomas Bridge, near [Monroe, Georgia](/source/Monroe%2C_Georgia). He made a living as a chicken farmer for most of his life.{{Cite journal |last=Cohen |first=Norman |date=1965 |title=The Skillet Lickers: A Study of a Hillbilly String Band and Its Repertoire |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/538357 |journal=The Journal of American Folklore |volume=78 |issue=309 |pages=229–244 |doi=10.2307/538357 |jstor=538357 |issn=0021-8715|url-access=subscription }} He learned to play the [fiddle](/source/Musical_styles_(violin)) at the age of 14 and quickly established a reputation as one of the finest musicians in Georgia. Early on, he participated in several fiddle conventions together with his rival [Fiddlin' John Carson](/source/Fiddlin'_John_Carson); what one of them did not win, the other would.{{Cite web |title=GID TANNER AND THE SKILLET LICKERS |url=https://southernmusic.net/gidtanner.htm |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=southernmusic.net}} Tanner reportedly had a repertoire of more than 2000 songs.{{Cite web |title=Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers |url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/gid-tanner-and-his-skillet-lickers/ |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=New Georgia Encyclopedia |language=en-US}} Tanner and Puckett traveled to [New York City](/source/New_York_City) in March 1924 to make the first of a series of duet recordings for [Columbia Records](/source/Columbia_Records), establishing the Skillet Lickers as Columbia's first recorded southern rural artist.{{Cite web |title=GID TANNER AND THE SKILLET LICKERS |url=https://southernmusic.net/gidtanner.htm |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=southernmusic.net}} In 1926, the Skillet Lickers were formed around Tanner as a studio band.{{Cite web |title=Tanner, Gid |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002276641 |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=Grove Music Online |year=2015 |language=en |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2276641|isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 |last1=Huber |first1=Patrick }} The first recording made with the Skillet Lickers was "[Hand Me Down My Walking Cane](/source/Hand_Me_Down_My_Walking_Cane)," recorded in [Atlanta](/source/Atlanta) on April 17, 1926, when the [country music scene in Atlanta](/source/Country_music_in_Atlanta) rivaled Nashville's. It was released by Columbia on a [78-rpm](/source/78rpm) disc, backed with "Watermelon on the Vine". In the next eight years, the group recorded more than 100 songs. In 1934, Tanner and Puckett re-formed the Skillet Lickers, and several of their recordings were released by [Bluebird Records](/source/Bluebird_Records). Tanner stopped making records in 1934 but continued performing into his seventies. At the age of 71, Tanner won his last first-place trophy. He died in [Dacula, Georgia](/source/Dacula%2C_Georgia) in 1960.{{Cite web |title=Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers |url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/gid-tanner-and-his-skillet-lickers/ |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=New Georgia Encyclopedia |language=en-US}} ==Legacy and influence== Many of the songs recorded by the Skillet Lickers were traditional American fiddle tunes that remain popular with [bluegrass](/source/Bluegrass_music) and country musicians to this day. Among them are "[Alabama Jubilee](/source/Alabama_Jubilee_(song))", "[Shortnin' Bread](/source/Shortnin'_Bread)", "[Old Joe Clark](/source/Old_Joe_Clark)", "[John Henry](/source/John_Henry_(song))", "Bully of the Town", "[Bile Them Cabbage Down](/source/Bile_Them_Cabbage_Down)", "[Cotton-Eyed Joe](/source/Cotton-Eyed_Joe)", "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss", "[Soldier's Joy](/source/Soldier's_Joy_(fiddle_tune))", "[Bonaparte's Retreat](/source/Bonaparte's_Retreat_(disambiguation))", "Leather Breeches", "Four Cent Cotton", "[Knoxville Girl](/source/The_Knoxville_Girl)", and their biggest seller, "[Down Yonder](/source/Down_Yonder)".{{Cite web |title=Tanner, Gid |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002276641 |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=Grove Music Online |year=2015 |language=en |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2276641|isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 |last1=Huber |first1=Patrick }} It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a [gold disc](/source/Music_recording_sales_certification) by the [RIAA](/source/Recording_Industry_Association_of_America).{{cite book| first= Joseph| last= Murrells| year= 1978| title= The Book of Golden Discs| edition= 2nd| publisher= Barrie and Jenkins Ltd| location= London| page= [https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/19 19]| isbn= 0-214-20512-6| url-access= registration | url= https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/19}} Their comedy recordings, called "rural drama records", including the saga "A Corn Licker Still in Georgia" (Issued over the course of 7 records) and "A Fiddler's Convention in Georgia", were equally popular.{{Cite web |title=Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers |url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/gid-tanner-and-his-skillet-lickers/ |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=New Georgia Encyclopedia |language=en-US}} Gid Tanner & the Skillet Lickers were inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1988.{{Cite web |title=Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers |url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/gid-tanner-and-his-skillet-lickers/ |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=New Georgia Encyclopedia |language=en-US}} Following Tanner's death in 1960, his grandson Phil Tanner and great-grandson Russ Tanner continued performing as the Skillet Lickers. Phil Tanner hosts an open [jam session](/source/jam_session) on Friday nights in a refurbished chicken house on his father's old farm in [Dacula, Georgia](/source/Dacula%2C_Georgia). Levi Lowrey, Gid's great-great grandson also continues in his footsteps as a country music artist, songwriting for [Zac Brown](/source/Zac_Brown) and featured on Southern Ground Records in a multi-album record deal.{{Cite web |date=2019-08-28 |title=Dacula Musician Levi Lowrey's Roots Go Deep |url=https://gwinnettmagazine.com/dacula-musician-levi-lowreys-roots-go-deep/ |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=Gwinnett Magazine |language=en-US}} [Bob Dylan](/source/Bob_Dylan) wrote and performed a version of Gid Tanner's "Down on Tanner's Farm", retitled and reset as "New York Town". It can be heard in [Martin Scorsese](/source/Martin_Scorsese)'s 2005 documentary on Dylan, ''[No Direction Home](/source/No_Direction_Home)''. {{listen |filename = CrippleCreek.ogg |title = "Cripple Creek", Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers |description = |format = [Ogg](/source/Ogg) }} ==Discography== ===78 rpm=== In various prewar lineups Tanner recorded singles for [Columbia](/source/Columbia_Records) and later rival labels [Bluebird](/source/Bluebird_Records), [Victor](/source/Victor_Talking_Machine_Company), [His Master's Voice](/source/Saregama) (India), [Regal](/source/Regal_Recordings) (England), [Regal Zonophone](/source/Regal_Zonophone_Records) (Australia), Montgomery Ward, and [Vocalion](/source/Vocalion_Records). Postwar, at least one Tanner 45-rpm reissue single is known on [RCA Victor](/source/RCA_Records). ===Postwar recordings=== * Gid Tanner, Gordon Tanner, Phil Tanner's Skillet Lickers, ''Skillet Licker Music 1955–1991: The Tanner Legacy'', Global Village CD-310 (1997) ===Reissued recordings=== * ''Gid Tanner & the Skillet Lickers'', RCA Victor EPA-5069 (1958) * ''Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers'', Folk Song Society of Minnesota 15001-D (1962) * ''The Skillet Lickers: Vol. 1'', [County](/source/County_Records) 506 (196?) * ''The Skillet Lickers: Vol. 2'', [County](/source/County_Records) 526 (1973) * Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers, ''Hear These New Southern Fiddle and Guitar Records'' Rounder 1005 (1973) * Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers. ''The Kickapoo Medicine Show'', Rounder 1023 (197?) * ''Gid Tanner & the Skillet Lickers'', Vetco LP-107 (197?) * The Skillet Lickers, ''A Day at the Country Fair: Early Country Comedy'', Old Homestead OHCS-145 (1985) * Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers, ''Early Classic String Bands Vol. 3'', Old Homestead OHCS-193 (1990) * Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers, ''A Corn Licker Still in Georgia'', Voyager VRLP-303 (197?), reissued as VRCD-303 (1997) * The Skillet Lickers, ''Old-Time Fiddle Tunes and Songs from North Georgia'', [County](/source/County_Records) CD-3509 (1996) * The Skillet Lickers, ''Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order Volume 1: 1926–1927'', Document DOCD-8056 (2000) * The Skillet Lickers, ''Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order Volume 2: 1927–1928'', Document DOCD-8057 (2000) * The Skillet Lickers, ''Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order Volume 3: 1928–1929'', Document DOCD-8058 (2000) * The Skillet Lickers, ''Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order Volume 4: 1929–1930'', Document DOCD-8059 (2000) * The Skillet Lickers, ''Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order Volume 5: 1930–1934'', Document DOCD-8060 (2000) * The Skillet Lickers, ''Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order Volume 6: 1934'', Document DOCD-8061 (2000) * Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers, ''Old Timey's Favorite Band'' (4 CDs), JSP JSPCD 77155 (2012) ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== {{Commons}} *[http://www.southernmusic.net/gidtanner.htm Southernmusic.net] *Cohen, Norm. Liner Notes for the CD ''Old Time Fiddle Tunes and Songs from North Georgia'' (County Records, 1996) *Russell, Tony. ''Country Music Records: A Discography, 1921–1942'' (Oxford University Press, 2004) *[http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-917 The New Georgia Encyclopedia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060109024908/http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-917 |date=2006-01-09 }} *''Stars of Country Music'', (University of Illinois Press, 1975) * [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/106154 Gid Tanner recordings] at the [Discography of American Historical Recordings](/source/Discography_of_American_Historical_Recordings). {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, Gid}} Category:1885 births Category:1960 deaths Category:20th-century American fiddlers Category:American country fiddlers Category:American country banjoists Category:American bandleaders Category:Country bandleaders Category:Southern old-time fiddlers Category:People from Walton County, Georgia Category:People from Dacula, Georgia Category:Country musicians from Georgia (U.S. state) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Gid Tanner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gid_Tanner) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gid_Tanner?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.