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 Charlie
Poole & his North Carolina Ramblers were one of the most
popular string bands of the 1920s and had a great influence
on the development of bluegrass music. Poole is largely responsible
for popularizing the banjo and created a unique playing style
involving his thumb and two fingers.
He was born in Randolph County, North Carolina, and spent
much of his adult life working in textile mills. He learned
banjo as a youth and also played baseball. (It is believed
that his playing style stemmed from a baseball accident involving
his thumb.) When not working in mills, he would travel from
town to town across the country to play banjo and work. He
ended up settling in Spray, North Carolina in 1918 and married
two years later. His brother-in-law, fiddler Posey Rorer,
would often play together with other local musicians and these
became the North Carolina Ramblers. Poole and Rorer teamed
up with guitarist Norm Woodlief in 1925 and began recording
careers in New York for Columbia Records. There they cut four
songs; all were successful, including the bluesy "Don't
Let Your Deal Go Down," a country standard and Poole's
signature song. The Ramblers were suddenly a popular stringband.
Though the personnel changed frequently over the years, the
band's unusual sound remained consistent. As vocalist, Poole
sang with a plain, uninflected style that complemented his
complex banjo picking. The songs they sang were a mixture
of minstrel songs, Victorian ballads, and humorous burlesques
all delivered with Poole's straight-faced dry wit. Through
the rest of the decade, the Ramblers released close to 60
singles for Columbia. Like many country performers to follow,
Poole lived a fast life; he was a hard drinking man, rowdy
and reckless.
 When
the Depression hit in 1930, Poole's career had peaked and
his popularity began waning — as did his self-confidence.
As a result, he began drinking even more heavily. Scheduled
to appear in a film in 1931, he unfortunately went on a bender
and died of heart failure before he could get to Hollywood.
After his death, Rorer (who had left the band in 1929) and
guitarist Roy Harvey (who'd replaced Woodlief around the same
time), began leading the North Carolina Ramblers. (The group
continued to record and perform for a quite a few years afterward.)
Poole's music enjoyed renewed popularity during the folk revival
of the '60s and in 1993, a CD of his best songs was released.
Also, Kinney Rorrer wrote and published Ramblin' Blues, a
biography of the great banjo player.
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