Gid Tanner - Biography
By J Poet
James Gideon Tanner was born in Thomas Bridge, a small town near Macon GA in 1885. Tanner was a farmer who learned to play fiddle at 14 and was well known as a great musician. He competed in fiddling competitions throughout the state, vying with his only rival, Fiddlin' John Carson, for supremacy. Tanner said he could play over 2,000 songs by heart. He was a great showman, outrageous comedian, masterful musician and a singer with a three-octave range.
With his band, The Skillet Lickers, Tanner played dances all over the south and when OKey Records started having success with country music 78s, Columbia Records brought Tanner and Riley Puckett to New York City to record. Tanner and Puckett were the first country artists signed to Columbia and made six 78s as a duo in 1924. Tanner’s fiddling and Puckett’s extraordinary picking, marked by lightening fast bass runs and showers of high string single note embellishments made the records a sensation. Puckett’s high keening vocals and yodeling ornamentations made him one of the most original vocalists in the South at that time.
Tanner and all the Skillet Lickers went into an Atlanta studio in 1926 and made four more 78s. Their success soon made band members unhappy with the name Gid Tanner and his Skillet Lickers and led to billings like Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers with Clayton McMichen and Riley Puckett. Their hits included "Bully of the Town," "Pass Around the Bottle and We'll All Take a Drink," and "Soldier's Joy." Tanner also pioneered what he called rural drama records, comedy routines and humorous asides interspaced with familiar folk and fiddle tunes. His hit dramas included "A Corn Licker Still in Georgia," "The Medicine Show," and "Kickapoo Joy Juice."
Band members came and went, but from 1926 to 1931 the Skillet Lickers were the most popular country band in America and made a good living on the road. The band finally fell apart in 1931 with members going on to long careers, particularly Puckett who made solo records for Columbia, Decca and Bluebird including folk, pop, cowboy, and religious tunes.
In 1934 Tanner signed with Bluebird and put together a new batch of Skillet Lickers and cut 30 more songs. The sessions produced “Down Under” the band’s last big hit. Tanner continued playing music between his duties as a farmer until he died in 1960. He performed solo on stage and radio and won his last first-place fiddling trophy at the age of 71. He was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1988.
Tanner’s music has been collected and reissued, but still isn’t getting the attention it deserves. Best bets: Hear These New Southern Fiddle (& Guitar Records) (1990 Rounder), which includes some of his duets with Puckett, Old Time Fiddle Tunes & Songs from North Georgia (1996 County) remastered to bring out the frenzy of Tanner’s fiddle and the amazing flat-picking style of Puckett whose rhythm keeps the tracks rooted in the earth while the rest of the band takes off for the stratosphere, Kickapoo Medicine Show (1994 Rounder Select), and A Corn Licker Still in Georgia (1997 Voyager) which includes several of Tanner’s rural drama recordings.
