Rosa Lee Carson
Moonshine Kate (born Rosa Lee Carson, October 10, 1909, Atlanta, Georgia - 1992, Bainbridge, Georgia) was an American country and folk guitarist and banjo player who is best known for recording with her father Fiddlin' John Carson and his band, the Virginia Reelers. Kate was among the earliest recorded women in country music, and arguably her best remembered song was a rendition of her father's composition "Little Mary Phagan". Carson was born the youngest of nine children in Atlanta, Georgia. As early as the age of five, she appeared as a vocalist and dancer at stage shows and political rallies as an accompaniment to her father's musical act. By age 14, Carson proficiently performed with the guitar and banjo as she played alongside her father on Atlanta's flagship radio station, WSB, and toured with him and the Virginia Reelers throughout Georgia. When Carson graduated from high school, she became a permanent member of the band. In June 1925, Carson made her recording debut accompanying her father on guitar on four sides for OKeh Records. In the same session, she also recorded two solo efforts, "The Lonely Child", which was about a lonely wandering orphan, and "Little Mary Phagan". The somber ballad was composed by Fiddlin' Jon Carson in 1915, as a response to the notorious, and highly publicized murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan, which was allegedly perpetrated by her manager, Leo Frank. She played and recorded with the Virginia Reelers until 1934, adopting the stage name Moonshine Kate in 1928 at the suggestion of Okeh Records man Polk Brockman. Many of Kate's recordings for Okeh play up her name, consisting of short musical passages interspersed with quick-witted dialogues revolving around the moonshine trade. The Great Depression ended the Carsons' recording days, and she continued to perform intermittently, also working with Eugene Talmadge on his 1932 bid for Governor of Georgia and for the Atlanta Department of Recreation. She married in 1944 and retired in Georgia. In 1983, both she and her father were inducted into the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame. |
Birth and Death Data: Born October 10, 1909 (Atlanta), Died 1992 (Bainbridge)
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1925 - 1934
Roles Represented in DAHR: guitar, vocalist, speaker, banjo, songwriter, composer, lyricist, yodeling
Notes: Daughter of John Carson ("Fiddlin' John Carson"). Also known as "Moonshine Kate."
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings (Results 51-75 of 131 records)
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
OKeh | W80556 | 10-in. | 3/17/1927 | It's a shame to whip your wife on Sunday | Virginia Reelers | String band, with male vocal solo | instrumentalist, guitar | |
OKeh | W80557 | 10-in. | 3/17/1927 | Cotton eyed Joe | Virginia Reelers | String band, with male vocal solo | instrumentalist, guitar | |
OKeh | W80558 | 10-in. | 3/17/1927 | Jesse James | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Virginia Reelers | String band | instrumentalist, guitar | |
OKeh | W80559 | 10-in. | 3/17/1927 | Don't let your deal go down | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Virginia Reelers | String band, with male vocal solo | instrumentalist, guitar | |
OKeh | W80560 | 10-in. | 3/17/1927 | Swanee River | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Virginia Reelers | String band, with male vocal solo | instrumentalist, guitar | |
OKeh | W81726 | 10-in. | 10/10/1927 | Old Joe Clark | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Virginia Reelers | Male vocal trio, with string band | instrumentalist, guitar | |
OKeh | W81727 | 10-in. | 10/10/1927 | Gonna swing on the Golden Gate | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Virginia Reelers | Male vocal trio, with string band | instrumentalist, guitar | |
OKeh | W81728 | 10-in. | 10/10/1927 | Did he ever return? | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Virginia Reelers | Male vocal solo, with string band | instrumentalist, guitar | |
OKeh | W81729 | 10-in. | 10/10/1927 | If you can't get the stopper out, break off the neck | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Virginia Reelers | Male vocal trio, with string band | instrumentalist, guitar | |
OKeh | W81730 | 10-in. | 10/10/1927 | Engineer on the Mogull | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Virginia Reelers | Male vocal solo, with string band | instrumentalist, guitar, banjo | |
OKeh | W81731 | 10-in. | 10/10/1927 | Hell bound for Alabama | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Virginia Reelers | Male vocal solo, with string band | instrumentalist, guitar, banjo | |
OKeh | W81749 | 10-in. | 10/11/1927 | Turkey in the hay | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Virginia Reelers | Male vocal solo, with string band | instrumentalist, guitar | |
OKeh | W81750 | 10-in. | 10/11/1927 | The smoke goes out the chimney just the same | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Virginia Reelers | Male vocal trio, with string band | instrumentalist, guitar | |
OKeh | W81751 | 10-in. | 10/11/1927 | Going down to Cripple Creek | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Virginia Reelers | String band, with male vocal trio | instrumentalist, guitar | |
OKeh | W81752 | 10-in. | 10/11/1927 | Quit that ticklin' me | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Virginia Reelers | Male vocal trio, with string band | instrumentalist, guitar | |
OKeh | W81753 | 10-in. | 10/11/1927 | It won't happen again for a hundred years or more | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Virginia Reelers | Male vocal trio, with string band | instrumentalist, guitar | |
OKeh | W81754 | 10-in. | 10/11/1927 | The little log cabin by the stream | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Virginia Reelers | Male vocal solo, with string band | instrumentalist, guitar | |
OKeh | W81755 | 10-in. | 10/11/1927 | Christmas time will soon be over | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Virginia Reelers | Male vocal solo, with string band | instrumentalist, guitar | |
OKeh | W81756 | 10-in. | 10/11/1927 | Run along home, Sandy | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Virginia Reelers | Male vocal trio, with string band | instrumentalist, guitar | |
OKeh | W402337 | 10-in. | 3/16/1929 | Hawk and buzzard | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Moonshine Kate | Female-male vocal duet, with fiddle (violin) and guitar | vocalist, instrumentalist, guitar | |
OKeh | W402338 | 10-in. | 3/16/1929 | Down South where the sugar cane grows | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Moonshine Kate | Female-male vocal duet, with fiddle (violin) and guitar | vocalist, instrumentalist, guitar | |
OKeh | W402339 | 10-in. | 3/16/1929 | Meet her when the sun goes down | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Moonshine Kate | Fiddle (violin) and guitar duet, with female-male vocal duet | instrumentalist, guitar, vocalist | |
OKeh | W402340 | 10-in. | 3/16/1929 | My Ford sedan | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Moonshine Kate | Fiddle (violin) and guitar duet, with female-male vocal duet | instrumentalist, guitar, vocalist | |
OKeh | W402341 | 10-in. | 3/16/1929 | You can't get milk from a cow named Ben | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Moonshine Kate | Dialogue and fiddle (violin) and guitar duet | instrumentalist, guitar, speaker | |
OKeh | W402342 | 10-in. | 3/16/1929 | Going to the county fair | Fiddlin' John Carson ; Moonshine Kate | Dialogue and fiddle (violin) and guitar duet | instrumentalist, guitar, speaker |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Carson, Rosa Lee," accessed September 18, 2024, https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/201619.
Carson, Rosa Lee. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved September 18, 2024, from https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/201619.
"Carson, Rosa Lee." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 18 September 2024.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Moonshine Kate, 1911-1992 - http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n00067126
Wikidata: Moonshine Kate - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1946761
VIAF: http://viaf.org/viaf/62778869
MusicBrainz: Moonshine Kate - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/e97176e7-f1f8-47f3-8520-bfae90660296
Wikipedia content provided under the terms of the Creative Commons BY-SA license
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