453 Memphis Jug Band “Stealin’ Stealin’” 1928

A number of jug bands performed in Memphis and other cities. The Memphis Jug Band was “the firs of the bands” in Memphis, “organized by a man named Will [“Son”] Shade and his wife, Jennie Mae Clayton Shade, who sang with the band.” They once traveled to Chicago with an act featuring jungle costumes and a defanged rattlesnake, but the show closed soon after the snake tried to escape, scattering the audience. The “heart of the band was the musicianship and the enthusiasm of Son and Charlie Burse. They drank hard together , played hard together, and created a new musical style” (Samuel Charters, The Country Blues, 1975). 

Memphis Jug Band “Stealin’ Stealin’”