Papa Lemon

I wanted to post a little something about what I think is a fairly new release from Arhoolie :”Papa Lemon Nash – New Orleans Ukulele Maestro & Tent Show Troubadour”. I’m not sure, but I may have actually seen this fellow on a trip to Jackson Square as a young boy. It was a very bohemian place then, with lots of characters, but as I had a new Ukulele, the memory of an elderly Ukulele player on that day is one that stands out in particular. I was probably easily impressed, but hearing this music again, I think anyone would be.

The songs and playing are great; the stories are wonderful – really entertaining insight into the early days of Jazz. Lemon was roughly a contemporary of Cliff Edwards (check out “I’m Blue Every Monday”, Jon), but the selections here are mainly typical New Orleans songbook. You can hear Danny Barker’s wonderful solo guitar album and find some of the same songs with very similar arrangements. Lemon's influence on Danny is obvious (Danny started out hustling in the Quarter on a Banjo-Uke), and Danny influenced countless numbers of players here today, so Lemon had a lot more impact on our scene than a lot of folks realize.

There have been only a very few releases of Lemon’s work up to this point (thank you, Brits!), but this CD, besides being a blast to listen to, to me is monumental. Like Cliff Edwards’ late 40s session (on the Jazzology label here in New Orleans), it’s a rare late career recording of a great early period player in a solo setting with excellent sound.

You can hear the whole CD here:

http://www.airplaydirect.com/music/LemonNash/

If you like it as much as I do, I’d encourage you to buy it direct from Arhoolie, a great little independent label for 50 years:

http://www.arhoolie.com/jazz/lemon-nash-papa-lemon.html

Their prices are good, they get a bigger cut that way, and during checkout you get to write them a message. Supposedly there are four hours of these Papa Lemon recordings. I encouraged them to get on the stick and release some more.

Hep’ me out, here, folks!

I just got this CD this afternoon! I've only had a chance to listen to about half of it, but it is fantastic stuff.

Had seen an ad somewhere, but didn't check it out till now. Thanks, love it. Have to get me one.

Thanks for the tip! This is great stuff!

Cheers!

I love this. Thank you for posting it.

Right on. Thanks Dirk.

This is great, thanks for posting. I think I'm going with buying it from iTunes though as I already have too many CDs laying around. Arhoolie is one of my favorite labels. I had blues radio show back in the 90s and was able to subscribe to their catalog for $50 a year to get all of the new releases. I think I have everything they put out up through 98 or 99. They do a great job of finding obscure talent and lovingly create detailed liner notes. Hmm, maybe I should buy the physical disc instead.

Just listened to the Papa Lemon Nash album on Spotify , and really enjoyed it.
If you like blues and ukuleles you'll enjoy it too.

Well, it may not come as a surprise, but I absolutely LOVE this music from the very bottom of my heart. Wonder what kind of uke he's playing..

This guy sounds great, I like the little back story on one of the tracks as a bit of history.

drbekken said:

Well, it may not come as a surprise, but I absolutely LOVE this music from the very bottom of my heart. Wonder what kind of uke he's playing..

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Well, I've ordered the disc, after listening to it on spotify all night. I have been exploring New Orleans music since I was about twelve or thirteen years old and saw The Preservation Hall Jazz Band live. Why I never stumbled across this guy's music is beyond me. It brings tears to my eyes and a grand groove to my feet. Heart and soul personified.

Now...we need to direct Chris (Mister Arhoolie) to this thread. It is my understanding that there are FOUR hours of music in existence, and we only have 52 minutes.
Also- six more songs are out there and out of print-
I am on the case.
Great stuff here for sure

What great music!

Am happy to see people finding and enjoying the CD. Arhoolie, BTW, just celebrated its 50th anniversary this past 4th of July with a big concert - you can hear it here:

http://americanroutes.wwno.org/archives/show/753/

If you liked Lemon, I mentioned Danny Barker. Even though on this album he's playing some kind of giant 6-string Ukulele, the music is much the same. You can hear it here (though I'm not getting it to play tonight):

http://orleansrecords.com/save-the-bones/

And our own inimitable Eugene Ukulele didn't waste any time with an interpretation of one of Lemon's songs:

Now Jon, take a deep breath and take a shot at "Nobody Knows..". I know you can relate. Here's another local fellow doing his version:

eugene ukulele said:

Ha! That was gorgeous. Mine is uh... a little more raw. Always up for a challenge mate.

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Oh, Jon - what a great way to start the day! Thanks so much! And you're getting to be quite the instrumentalist as well.

At the risk of turning this into a Video & Link thread, can the Doctor (or even The Cloverdale Kid) be far behind. There's another song on this "rekkid" after all, that's also called "Nobody Knows".

One of the best uke albums ever. Good to see it getting so much love here!

Thanks Dirk, I just ordered the CD and saved the site for future exploration. Your advice is every bit as good as your uke strings!

Thanks! I just bought one too.

I can't believe I've had this disc since 2014. I have turned probably 50 people on to it. I think it's the "must have ukulele album." I have friends who say they put the cd into the player, have never taken it out and don't listen to anything else. That might be a stretch, but the songs are wonderful and the stories he tells are priceless, especially to a ukulele person.

It's my all-time favorite album. The first couple songs give you the feel of the whole album. It's worth a listen.