Stanton Littlejohn
Musician, Music Preservationist & Amateur Sound Engineer
As read by Shawn Pitts, Arts in McNairy Founder
June 8, 2013
Born and raised in Eastview Tennessee, Stanton Littlejohn probably didn’t show much early promise as a music industry professional or future Hall of Famer. It is true that he came from a musical family. Sister Eunice Littlejohn-Smith was a talented pianist and accordion player. Cousin Arlis Littlejohn was known as one of the area’s best banjo players in the claw-hammer style. Uncle Lee Littlejohn—actually another cousin—was born before the civil war and preserved in his memory a few antebellum fiddle tunes which certainly would have influenced the young Stanton’s musical tastes.
When it came to the fiddle, Stanton was no slouch, himself. He mastered the instrument early and a family group, the Littlejohn String Band, was known to play a few events around south McNairy County in the 1930s and 40s—Stanton’s young bride, Minnie Bell, throwing in on the mandolin. The truth is, Mr. Littlejohn could play just about anything with a string on it and his door was always open to likeminded individuals. Making music with others was both pastime and passion for the Littlejohn family. Their home was the site of countless musical jams and informal picking sessions over the years. The musical gene was fortunately passed along to Stanton and Minnie Bell Littlejohn’s only daughter, Marjorie, who is herself a talented multi-instrumentalist and a lover of traditional music styles.
This abiding interest and lifelong involvement in local music might be enough to honor Stanton Littlejohn with this induction but it is only the foundation for Littlejohn’s most significant contribution to McNairy County’s musical heritage. Sometime around 1947, Littlejohn acquired a device which allowed him to make single source recordings from his Eastview home. Always something of a technophile and tinkerer by nature, the acetate disc recorder piqued his interest on two levels. First, it was a new gadget which appealed to his sense of curiosity and gave him something to play with, as boys will do. Second, and more importantly, it allowed him to record the music he so loved. And record it he did.
He certainly had a rich resource from which to draw. Beginning with the family and close friends from the area, Littlejohn recorded everything from vocal performances, to instrumentalists, to neighborhood kids doing recitations and telling what they wanted for Christmas. Word soon got out and the floodgates opened. The recording technology he provided was uncommon in rural communities, and certainly new to this area. It didn’t take long for strings bands, gospel groups, individual musicians and vocalists to find their way to Stanton Littlejohn’s door. In fact, they virtually beat a path to Eastview Tennessee for many years just to see what they sounded like on a real record.
Always a gracious host, Mrs. Minne Bell would have something cold to drink and perhaps a few sweets for the artists while Stanton made sure everyone was comfortable and ready to play. Some of the recording sessions were intentional and sometimes he just flipped the microphone on when a good jam was already underway. There are even a few interviews conducted by Littlejohn with the recordings artists which are a dream come true for those of us who have worked on documenting these recordings. His engineering skills also improved the more he fiddled with the recorder, and it is a testament to his ear and his ingenuity that he got such a decent sound out of such crude recording technology. He didn’t have much to work with, but boy did he make the most of it.
Littlejohn reportedly charged nothing for his services but he had one rule: you had to make at least two recordings. The artists were free to keep the recording of their choice but Mr. Littlejohn kept the second disc for his own archive. We are exceedingly fortunate that the bulk of that collection remained in the capable hands, first of Minnie Bell Littlejohn and after her passing, Marjorie and Don Rayburn Richard, who have preserved them to the best of their abilities. Similarly, several of the artists and their families held on to their Littlejohn recordings over the years providing yet another resource for recovering this material. We are truly indebted to men like David Killingsworth and Billy Wagoner who were among the first, outside of the Littlejohn-Richard family, to recognize the significance of Stanton Littlejohn’s work. Their passion for the preservation of local music is infections and, apparently, I did not receive the appropriate vaccinations to prevent catching a pretty bad case of it myself. That said, it has been the privilege of a lifetime to have the opportunity to work on the preservation of this incredible material.
Littlejohn continued recording on the acetate discs through the mid to late 1950s until magnetic tape became more convenient and affordable. He made reel to reel and later cassette recordings for many more years but it is the older acetates that provide a snap shot of a unique moment in time when music of the postwar era, was beginning to experience the effects of a seismic cultural shift. Consider this: The terms Bluegrass and Rockabilly didn’t exist when Stanton Littlejohn first started recording. Country was still called Hillbilly Music by most people and nobody had yet heard of Rock and Roll. Yet the roots of all these later forms of music are clearly in evidence on the recordings Littlejohn made. I suspect if you had asked him, “Stanton, what kind of music are you recording down there at Eastview?” his reply might have been something like, “Well…good music mostly.”
And it was good—very good. Some of the area’s finest musicians and vocalists are captured on the Littlejohn sessions. Influential fiddlers such as Waldo Davis, Elvis Black, Ernest Whitten, Con Crotts, Arnold English and many others are all there. Other names familiar to local music enthusiasts are instantly recognizable: George E. Knight, Rob Richard, Tom McCormick, Paul Taylor, Charlie Cox, Peck and Troy Boggs, Virgil Murray and the boys, Milton Banks, Ray Presley, Everett Walker, Clyde Sargent and Ocie Humphries, among others. Gospel groups like, The Doc Whittaker Quarter, The Hometown Quartet, The Harmony Four and The Eastview Quartet are also represented. Of course, Stanton, Minnie Bell, Marjorie, Eunice, Arlis and Uncle Lee Littlejohn also make frequent appearances.
A couple of particularly poignant tracks from 1948 involve Uncle Lee Littlejohn. On the one he discusses his fiddle playing and laments how it has declined from neglect and lack of use over the years. On the other, he plays a rousing version of “Wolves a Howlin.” You can clearly hear him stomping out the rhythm with his right foot as if he can just see the dancers in his minds eye. He is 88 years old at the time of the recording. Maybe he was right in saying that his musical skills had declined with age, but you can’t prove it by that track. It makes you wonder how good he really was in his prime.
It was long rumored that even the legendary Carl Perkins recorded with Mr. Littlejohn. I can confirm for you that the first group of recordings we were able to transfer to digital media contain three tracks dating back as early as 1951 which have been authenticated as the young Carl Perkins. A fourth song—an instrumental—very likely has Perkins sitting in on guitar. He would have been just 19 years old at the time. Let me remind you that this would have been three full years before he recorded at Sun Studios in Memphis. Almost certainly, Stanton Littlejohn was the first to capture the future King of Rockabilly on record just as he was finding his own authentic musical voice. Indeed, two of Littlejohn tracks could easily be mistaken for something Perkins recorded at the height of his musical powers. They lend indisputable credibility to Perkins claim that his sound was developed on the music circuit of southwest Tennessee long before he ever went to Sun Records in search of a contract.
From the standpoint of documenting local culture these recordings are precious beyond description. The presence of an international figure such as Carl Perkins lends them yet another dimension of cultural significance. They are a gift to our generation, given to us by Stanton Littlejohn, his family, and the talented men and women participating in those impromptu recording sessions. To date almost two hundred tracks of music have been recovered with more on the way—a gift that keeps on giving. Contained herein are the voices and songs of a bygone but—thanks to Littlejohn—not forgotten, era. This little archive has become the envy of other communities who value their local culture. Many of them would give anything to have such a rare opportunity to preserve their musical heritage. We can only humbly say thank you to Mr. Littlejohn.
Just how important are these recordings? They are important enough that the Arts in McNairy has spent almost four years compiling, preserving and researching the remaining materials. They are important enough to have attracted the attention of the Tennessee Arts Commission who was willing to invest heavily in their preservation. They are important enough that an overworked and backlogged, Center for Popular Music at Middle Tennessee State University was willing to lend technical assistance just be involved in the project. They are important enough that the Library of Congress jumped on the opportunity to add the entire archive to their collection on the strength of just a few samples.
And so, I am proud to report that later this year copies of the entire Stanton Littlejohn collection will become part of the Folklife Collection at the Library of Congress where they will be preserved in perpetuity for future generations of Americans to study and enjoy. They are just that important.
Earlier I speculated what Mr. Littlejohn might say if you asked him what kind of music he was recording. In fact, we know what he thought about a few of the tracks because he sometimes made editorial notes on the labels. Usually they had the simple notation, “good” or “no good” as the case might be. He had a great ear and I suspect he knew he was engaged in something important but I also believe he was too humble to ever dream just how important his work really was. I often wonder what he would think if he knew we were here tonight still talking about something he started in 1947 and preparing to place it all in the Library of Congress. I like to think he would be thrilled, proud, maybe a little anxious or even a bit shocked. One thing I know for sure, we owe Stanton Littlejohn a debt of gratitude that can never be fully repaid.
It is with grateful acknowledgment of that debt that I induct Stanton Littlejohn, in the inaugural class of 2013, to the McNairy County Music Hall of Fame.
June 8, 2013
Born and raised in Eastview Tennessee, Stanton Littlejohn probably didn’t show much early promise as a music industry professional or future Hall of Famer. It is true that he came from a musical family. Sister Eunice Littlejohn-Smith was a talented pianist and accordion player. Cousin Arlis Littlejohn was known as one of the area’s best banjo players in the claw-hammer style. Uncle Lee Littlejohn—actually another cousin—was born before the civil war and preserved in his memory a few antebellum fiddle tunes which certainly would have influenced the young Stanton’s musical tastes.
When it came to the fiddle, Stanton was no slouch, himself. He mastered the instrument early and a family group, the Littlejohn String Band, was known to play a few events around south McNairy County in the 1930s and 40s—Stanton’s young bride, Minnie Bell, throwing in on the mandolin. The truth is, Mr. Littlejohn could play just about anything with a string on it and his door was always open to likeminded individuals. Making music with others was both pastime and passion for the Littlejohn family. Their home was the site of countless musical jams and informal picking sessions over the years. The musical gene was fortunately passed along to Stanton and Minnie Bell Littlejohn’s only daughter, Marjorie, who is herself a talented multi-instrumentalist and a lover of traditional music styles.
This abiding interest and lifelong involvement in local music might be enough to honor Stanton Littlejohn with this induction but it is only the foundation for Littlejohn’s most significant contribution to McNairy County’s musical heritage. Sometime around 1947, Littlejohn acquired a device which allowed him to make single source recordings from his Eastview home. Always something of a technophile and tinkerer by nature, the acetate disc recorder piqued his interest on two levels. First, it was a new gadget which appealed to his sense of curiosity and gave him something to play with, as boys will do. Second, and more importantly, it allowed him to record the music he so loved. And record it he did.
He certainly had a rich resource from which to draw. Beginning with the family and close friends from the area, Littlejohn recorded everything from vocal performances, to instrumentalists, to neighborhood kids doing recitations and telling what they wanted for Christmas. Word soon got out and the floodgates opened. The recording technology he provided was uncommon in rural communities, and certainly new to this area. It didn’t take long for strings bands, gospel groups, individual musicians and vocalists to find their way to Stanton Littlejohn’s door. In fact, they virtually beat a path to Eastview Tennessee for many years just to see what they sounded like on a real record.
Always a gracious host, Mrs. Minne Bell would have something cold to drink and perhaps a few sweets for the artists while Stanton made sure everyone was comfortable and ready to play. Some of the recording sessions were intentional and sometimes he just flipped the microphone on when a good jam was already underway. There are even a few interviews conducted by Littlejohn with the recordings artists which are a dream come true for those of us who have worked on documenting these recordings. His engineering skills also improved the more he fiddled with the recorder, and it is a testament to his ear and his ingenuity that he got such a decent sound out of such crude recording technology. He didn’t have much to work with, but boy did he make the most of it.
Littlejohn reportedly charged nothing for his services but he had one rule: you had to make at least two recordings. The artists were free to keep the recording of their choice but Mr. Littlejohn kept the second disc for his own archive. We are exceedingly fortunate that the bulk of that collection remained in the capable hands, first of Minnie Bell Littlejohn and after her passing, Marjorie and Don Rayburn Richard, who have preserved them to the best of their abilities. Similarly, several of the artists and their families held on to their Littlejohn recordings over the years providing yet another resource for recovering this material. We are truly indebted to men like David Killingsworth and Billy Wagoner who were among the first, outside of the Littlejohn-Richard family, to recognize the significance of Stanton Littlejohn’s work. Their passion for the preservation of local music is infections and, apparently, I did not receive the appropriate vaccinations to prevent catching a pretty bad case of it myself. That said, it has been the privilege of a lifetime to have the opportunity to work on the preservation of this incredible material.
Littlejohn continued recording on the acetate discs through the mid to late 1950s until magnetic tape became more convenient and affordable. He made reel to reel and later cassette recordings for many more years but it is the older acetates that provide a snap shot of a unique moment in time when music of the postwar era, was beginning to experience the effects of a seismic cultural shift. Consider this: The terms Bluegrass and Rockabilly didn’t exist when Stanton Littlejohn first started recording. Country was still called Hillbilly Music by most people and nobody had yet heard of Rock and Roll. Yet the roots of all these later forms of music are clearly in evidence on the recordings Littlejohn made. I suspect if you had asked him, “Stanton, what kind of music are you recording down there at Eastview?” his reply might have been something like, “Well…good music mostly.”
And it was good—very good. Some of the area’s finest musicians and vocalists are captured on the Littlejohn sessions. Influential fiddlers such as Waldo Davis, Elvis Black, Ernest Whitten, Con Crotts, Arnold English and many others are all there. Other names familiar to local music enthusiasts are instantly recognizable: George E. Knight, Rob Richard, Tom McCormick, Paul Taylor, Charlie Cox, Peck and Troy Boggs, Virgil Murray and the boys, Milton Banks, Ray Presley, Everett Walker, Clyde Sargent and Ocie Humphries, among others. Gospel groups like, The Doc Whittaker Quarter, The Hometown Quartet, The Harmony Four and The Eastview Quartet are also represented. Of course, Stanton, Minnie Bell, Marjorie, Eunice, Arlis and Uncle Lee Littlejohn also make frequent appearances.
A couple of particularly poignant tracks from 1948 involve Uncle Lee Littlejohn. On the one he discusses his fiddle playing and laments how it has declined from neglect and lack of use over the years. On the other, he plays a rousing version of “Wolves a Howlin.” You can clearly hear him stomping out the rhythm with his right foot as if he can just see the dancers in his minds eye. He is 88 years old at the time of the recording. Maybe he was right in saying that his musical skills had declined with age, but you can’t prove it by that track. It makes you wonder how good he really was in his prime.
It was long rumored that even the legendary Carl Perkins recorded with Mr. Littlejohn. I can confirm for you that the first group of recordings we were able to transfer to digital media contain three tracks dating back as early as 1951 which have been authenticated as the young Carl Perkins. A fourth song—an instrumental—very likely has Perkins sitting in on guitar. He would have been just 19 years old at the time. Let me remind you that this would have been three full years before he recorded at Sun Studios in Memphis. Almost certainly, Stanton Littlejohn was the first to capture the future King of Rockabilly on record just as he was finding his own authentic musical voice. Indeed, two of Littlejohn tracks could easily be mistaken for something Perkins recorded at the height of his musical powers. They lend indisputable credibility to Perkins claim that his sound was developed on the music circuit of southwest Tennessee long before he ever went to Sun Records in search of a contract.
From the standpoint of documenting local culture these recordings are precious beyond description. The presence of an international figure such as Carl Perkins lends them yet another dimension of cultural significance. They are a gift to our generation, given to us by Stanton Littlejohn, his family, and the talented men and women participating in those impromptu recording sessions. To date almost two hundred tracks of music have been recovered with more on the way—a gift that keeps on giving. Contained herein are the voices and songs of a bygone but—thanks to Littlejohn—not forgotten, era. This little archive has become the envy of other communities who value their local culture. Many of them would give anything to have such a rare opportunity to preserve their musical heritage. We can only humbly say thank you to Mr. Littlejohn.
Just how important are these recordings? They are important enough that the Arts in McNairy has spent almost four years compiling, preserving and researching the remaining materials. They are important enough to have attracted the attention of the Tennessee Arts Commission who was willing to invest heavily in their preservation. They are important enough that an overworked and backlogged, Center for Popular Music at Middle Tennessee State University was willing to lend technical assistance just be involved in the project. They are important enough that the Library of Congress jumped on the opportunity to add the entire archive to their collection on the strength of just a few samples.
And so, I am proud to report that later this year copies of the entire Stanton Littlejohn collection will become part of the Folklife Collection at the Library of Congress where they will be preserved in perpetuity for future generations of Americans to study and enjoy. They are just that important.
Earlier I speculated what Mr. Littlejohn might say if you asked him what kind of music he was recording. In fact, we know what he thought about a few of the tracks because he sometimes made editorial notes on the labels. Usually they had the simple notation, “good” or “no good” as the case might be. He had a great ear and I suspect he knew he was engaged in something important but I also believe he was too humble to ever dream just how important his work really was. I often wonder what he would think if he knew we were here tonight still talking about something he started in 1947 and preparing to place it all in the Library of Congress. I like to think he would be thrilled, proud, maybe a little anxious or even a bit shocked. One thing I know for sure, we owe Stanton Littlejohn a debt of gratitude that can never be fully repaid.
It is with grateful acknowledgment of that debt that I induct Stanton Littlejohn, in the inaugural class of 2013, to the McNairy County Music Hall of Fame.
