Thursday, March 30, 2006

A-WHOOPIN', A-HOLLERIN' AND A-EEPHIN'

A reader asked if I had any "eefing" records after becoming intrigued by this wonderful NPR story that aired a couple of weeks ago. 'Deed I do, from an old vinyl album I got out of the library 10 years or so ago and taped called "I'm On My Journey Home." It's one of the strangest folk music collections I've ever encountered, and eephing, a vocal style that vaguely resembles a hillbilly form of human-beatboxing, is only part of it.

Has anyone made an eephing record in last 40 years? It may be, as the NPR story suggests, a lost art.

Jimmy Riddle: Eephing
Joe Perkins with Jimmy Riddle: Little Eephin' Annie - taken from the NPR story; this record actually charted in 1963

These other oddities from "I'm On My Journey Home" are vocal pieces that fall into the may-not-actually-be-music category, but are delightful nonethless:

Leonard Emanuel/"Red" Buck Estes -
"Hollerin'" & "Whoopin'"
Lindy Clear/Ben Rice - "Ringing The Pig"/"Spelling From The Old Blue-Back Speller"

6 comments:

J.R. Kinnard said...

This is really good stuff. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

'Has anyone made an eephing record in last 40 years?' I know Rolf Harris was eephing in the songs he was recording during the '70s. He's possibly eephed since then as well. I'm surprised to find out that the noise has a name - I thought it was just an odd thing Rolf Harris did because he was Rolf Harris.

Mr Fab said...

Man, I have got to check out more Rolf. All I really know of his stuff is "Tie Me Kangaroo Down," his biggest American hit. Not enough wobble-board records around, say I.

Dyslexic Mystic said...

The Leonard Emanuel/"Red" Buck Estes - "Hollerin'" & "Whoopin'" sounds much like a cd i have of recordings of Baka Pygmys.
:)

Anonymous said...

You have to check out The Dave & Deke Combo. They are a modern rockabilly and hillbilly band that love to Eeph and never miss a chance to. They even grab someone from the audience and teach them to eeph. Absolutely hilarious!!!

Anonymous said...

You should also check out Harmonica Frank Swamp Root. A little bit different style of eephin but well worth the little bit that's in the song. It's on a few Sun Records comps. But for sure was the king eepher Jimmy Riddle.