Ranch Radio today will introduce you to Emmett Miller, a black-face minstrel singer. His career peaked in the mid-twenties and was for the most part over by the early thirties. He is of interest to us because of his hit songs and his influence on performers like Hank Williams, Bob Wills & Tommy Duncan and Eddy Arnold.
Miller first recorded Lovesick Blues in 1925. Three years later he recorded the song again and added the falsetto and yodeling which had such an influence on Hank Williams.
Here are Miller's 1928 version and Hank Williams version recorded 20 years later.
My version of Miller comes from a 1969 album that was issued for jazz collectors because of who was in Miller's band named the Georgia Crackers (Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey, Eddy Lang & Gene Krupa). Many of Miller's recordings are now available on a 20 track CD titled The Minstrel Man from Georgia.
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