Annotation:Walburn Stomp
X:1 T: Walburn Stomp N:From fiddler George Walburn, accompanied by Emmett Hethcox (guitar) M:C| L:1/8 Q:"" R:Country Blues D:OKeh (78 RPM), Walburn & Hethcox (1929) D:https://www.slippery-hill.com/content/walburn-stomp Z:Andrew Kuntz K:G G2|[G2c2][G2c2]-[G2c2]e2|g4 e2 _B2-|=B2G2 G4-|G6_B2-|=B2d2-d2eg| =f4e4|+slide+d8-|d4 +slide+B-AG2|[G2c2][G2c2]-[G2c2]e2|g4 e2 _B2-| =B2G6-|G2D2G2(_B2|=B2)d2-d2 +slide+BA|E4+slide+B4|G8-|G2|| D2E2G2|BAB2 AB-B2|d4 B-A3|G2B2-BdB2|G6-G^d-| e2g2-g2e2|g>+slide+b-b2-a2 g-e|g8-|g4 z2d2|e2g2-g2e2| g2+slide+b2a2ge|g4 edBG- |G4D4|+slide+B2-d2-d2+slide+BG|E4 +slide+B4|G8-|G2|| |:=F2-FGF2|+slide+EGEC- C4-|C8|z2 B2-BGE2|G2-G-E DB,G,2-| G,2=F2-FGFD-|EC-C6-|C8|z2 B2-BGE2|G2-G-E DB,G,2-| G,4D4|+slide+B2-d2-d2 +slide+BG|E4 +slide+B4|G8-|1G2:||2G8||
WALBURN STOMP. American, Blues. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). "Walburn Stomp" was recorded for OKeh Records in Atlanta by fiddler George Walburn (1887-1940?) and guitarist Emmett Hethcox (1898-1968), both of Hogansville,Georgia. The duo recorded for OKeh in 1925, 1926 and 1927, usually country rag or blues based numbers such as "K.C. Railroad" and "Lee County Blues" (both recorded in 1925), however "Walburn Stomp" (recorded in 1927) was not originally issued by the label, who had it down as "Lee County Blues" on the matrix list. It was not until the 1970's that it was unearthed and included in a County Records anthology. A critic in Old Time Music magazine [1] (No. 29, Summer, 1978) believed he heard similarities between Walburn’s fiddling and that of recorded black fiddler Eddie Anthony. Walburn and Hethcox broadcast occasionally on WSB in the 1920's, and Walburn, with an unknown banjo and guitar player (possibly Hethcox), recorded "Halliawika March" and "Dixie Flyer" for Columbia Records in 1931; the group (with the addition of a banjo player) was called 'George Walburn's Footscorchers' on the label.
Researcher Joseph Scott uncovered some information about the duo [2]:
As of 1920, they were both cotton mill workers in LaGrange, Georgia. LaGrange is in Troup County, which
is next to Randolph County,Alabama, and is southwest of Atlanta. By 1930, Walburn had moved to Hurricane,
Georgia, and was working in a cotton mill there, whereas Hethcox was still in LaGrange, working as a waiter in a cafe. Walburn was born in Ohio on March 25, 1887. He was part of a large extended Walburn family who seem to have moved from Ohio to Alabama to LaGrange, passing (at least some of them) through the border town of Tallapoosa, Georgia on the way. George's father William died in Troup County in 1925; George's wife Mamie died in Troup County in 1934; and our George is probably the same George Walburn who, according to the Georgia Death Index, was 53 years old when he died in Troup County on June 13, 1940.
James Emmett Hethcox was born in Randolph County, AL on Jan. 9, 1898
and died in Troup County, GA on Jan. 16, 1968. According to one of his
grandsons, there is a family story that a band that included Emmett
once went up against a band that included Emmett's son Larry in a
competition in Atlanta connected with WSB. Larry's band won, and
Emmett wasn't very pleased with Larry for a while afterwards.
Emmett was a weaver, George was a carder. As of last year, many of
Emmett's nine children were reportedly still living, in Georgia and Arkansas.
According to Hethcox's daughter, her father not only denied being in a band competition (as described above by Scott) and said that he had "never been in a band in his life."
