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Floyd, Frank
Born 1908 in Toccopola, Miss. Died in 1984.

References:
Feature article and sessionography in issue 53 (1994) of Rockin' Fifties.



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Original Releases
Discography is intended to be complete through 1964

Date & Source Label & Number V Titles {& References to LP/CD List} As By Matrix Numbers

Chess 1475 Swamp Root
Goin' Away Walkin' {a} 1
1 U80


Chess 1475 Swamp Root {a,g,h,i}
Step It Up And Go {a,m} 1
1 U80
U81

Chess 1494 She's Done Moved {a}
Howlin' Tomcat {a,j} 1
1 1504B
1504A
1954/July 17
Bb c&w rev. Sun 205 Rockin' Chair Daddy {a,b,d,e,l,n}
The Great Medical Menagerist {a,c} 1
1 U-125
U-124
1958/Mar.
BMI clear. F&L F-100 Rock A Little Baby {a,f,k}
Monkey Love {a,f,k} 2
3 F-304
F-303

References in "As By" Column:

as by Harmonica Frank
as by Frank Floyd With Musical Accom.
by Larry Kennon With Musical Accom.

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Collector-Oriented Compilation LPs and CDs Containing Tracks

1973


a. Puritan 3003 (lp) Great Original Recordings / Frank Floyd
b. Sun (England) 6467 025 (lp) Sun Rockabillys: Put Your Cat Clothes On

1974


c. Sun (England) = 6641 180 (lp) The Sun Story

1977


d. Charly CR 30123 (lp) The Best Of Sun Rockabilly, Vol. 1

1980


e. Charly Box 100 (lp) The Sun Box

1986


f. Redita [2nd series] RLP 130 (lp) Step It Up And Go-Memphis Rockabilly

1990


g. Bark Log 1 (lp) Country Hicks

1994


h. Rhino DRC3- 1211 (cd) The Sun Records Collection

1995


i. Bark Log CD 1 (cd) Country Hicks

2002


j. Charly SNAJ 713 (cd) The Sun Records Story
k. Stomper Time STCD 15 (cd) Memphis Rockabillies, Hillbillies, & Honky Tonkers, Vol. 2

2005


l. Emusic/Sun 11590166 (mp3) Sun Spots, Vol. 1: The Story of Sun

2008


m. Proper PROPERBOX 143 (cd) Rockin' Memphis

Year Unknown


n. Bellaphon 220 13 023 (lp) Sun Rockabillies: Put Your Cat Clothes On



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Acknowledgments: Udo Frank, Bernd Hermoneit, Tom Krajina, Tom Lincoln, Bob Phillips, R&B Indies, Mike Stewart


Compilation & presentation © 2009, Terry E. Gordon This page generated on 09/27/2009


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ROCKABILLY/ EARLY BLUES ... this track is recorded off a maxi ep no label, but green plastick....

J'adore ( de memoire ??? ) je crois a voir lu qu'il jouait de l'harmonica en s'accompagnant a la guitare sans toucher son harmonica, se servant juste de sa bouches en jonglant avec ses levres ( d'ou ce son particulier : quel gymnastique )...

OUI c'est bien lui qui jouait de l'harmonica sans les mains ni autre support(comme indiqué dans l'article ci dessous. bien vu UGLY !!!
il pouvait aussi jouer de l'harmonica et chanter en meme temps.....
jouer de l'harmonica avec son nez
et aussi jouer de 2 harmonicas en meme temps



Biography
[edit] Early life, performing technique
Harmonica Frank Floyd was the son of itinerant parents who separated without giving him a name.[2] He was raised by his sharecropping grandparents, who died while he was a teenager. Frank taught himself to play harmonica when he was 10 years old, and he eventually learned guitar as well. He gave himself the name Frank Floyd[2] and began performing in the 1920s for traveling carnivals and medicine shows.

He learned many types of folk music and became an extraordinary mimic, effortlessly switching from humorous hillbilly ballads to deep country blues.

With his self-taught harmonica technique, he was a one-man band, able to play the instrument without his hands or the need for a neck brace. While also playing guitar, he perfected a technique of manipulating the harmonica with his mouth while he sang out of the other side. He could also play harmonica with his nose and thus play two harmonicas at once, a skill he shared with blues harp players Walter Horton and Gus Cannon's partner Noah Lewis.

[edit] Early recordings
After years of performing on the medicine-show circuit, Harmonica Frank began working in radio in 1932.[2] His first records were made in 1951, engineered by Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee.[2] The songs, "Swamp Root", "Goin’ Away Walkin'", "Step It Up and Go", "Howlin’ Tomcat", and "She Done Moved", were licensed to Chess Records. Phillips put out another single on Sun Records, "Rockin Chair Daddy"/"The Great Medical Menagerist" in 1954. Harmonica Frank thus became the first white musician to record at that studio.[2] Floyd and Larry Kennon released a shared single, "Rock-A-Little Baby"/"Monkey Love" in 1958, on their own record label, F&L.

The experience gave Phillips the idea that a white man playing and singing black-oriented music would be a smash sensation, so he was excited to record and produce Harmonica Frank.[citation needed] It was ultimately a failure because Floyd was so old and played music that was archaic and old-fashioned.[citation needed] Phillips went on to utilize his initial idea to great effect with Elvis Presley; thus Floyd is considered by many to be an important precursor to rock and roll and rockabilly.

[edit] Rediscovery, legacy and death
Harmonica Frank's songs appeared on many all-black blues compilations in the 1960s and 1970s, collectors being unable to distinguish his race. Thus he earned the nickname, "The Missing Link", (i.e., the missing link between white folk and black blues, though he represents no such music).

In 1972 he was "rediscovered" by Stephen C. LaVere and in the following years recorded two albums for the Adelphi and Barrelhouse labels, including a compilation of the early material. Additional full albums were recorded before his death in 1984, many of which have become available on CD, though his vintage recordings (1951-59) remain mostly out of print and unavailable aside from occasional tracks on compilations.

In his 1975 book Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music, author Greil Marcus presented a unique vision of America and music and how they relate by using (as metaphors) six musicians, one of which is Harmonica Frank Floyd.

Frank Floyd died in Blanchester, OH on August 7, 1984, due to complications from Type II Diabetes (which had previously cost him his leg) and lung cancer. He was survived by his late-life spouse, Frances Kincaide-Pierce-Floyd, who died in June 2008, in Georgetown, OH from natural causes.

SUN 205

Sorti le 17 juillet 1954(15 jours avant "that's allright mama)

ROCKIN CHAIR DADDY/THE GREAT MENEGERIST

Bel article, belle bio !!!! ( On en apprend encore sur lui ?! ).....Jouer avec le nez ??? Dingue !!! ( lol )

Merci a toi

on trouve tres peu d'info sur lui sur le net(a part youtube)aussi si certains ont des archives ou on plus de chance que quoi sur internet..thanks d'avance!

Page 62 du superbe livre ENCYCLOPÉDIE DE LA COUNTRY ET DU ROCKABILLY de MICLEL ROSE.

merci EDDIE

meme pas pensé a allez consulter ce livre.