Gid Tanner (1885 to 1960) was a Georgia fiddler, singer, and chicken farmer who led the Skillet Lickers, the most popular string band of the 1920s. The band recorded more than 100 sides for Columbia between 1926 and 1934, and its 1934 record of Down Yonder sold more than a million copies. Tanner won the Georgia state fiddle championship in 1928 and took his last first-place trophy at age 71.
Why Tanner matters
The Skillet Lickers put the sound of a full string band on record when most country records were a fiddler and a guitar. Two fiddles, banjo, and Riley Puckett’s bass-run guitar gave the band a drive that pointed toward bluegrass. Their versions of Soldier’s Joy, Bile Them Cabbage Down, Cripple Creek, and Down Yonder are the ones many jam players still learn, whether they know it or not. Tanner was the showman who held it together and the name on the label.
Life and career
James Gideon Tanner was born on June 6, 1885, at Thomas Bridge near Monroe, Georgia. He spent most of his adult life in Gwinnett County, where he farmed and raised chickens. He learned fiddle at 14 and soon had a name across the state. From 1913 he was a regular at the Georgia Old-Time Fiddlers’ Conventions in Atlanta, where he and Fiddlin’ John Carson traded wins for years. He won the state title in 1928. Crowds loved his comedy and his singing, which could jump from bass to falsetto on his favorite number, I’m Satisfied.
In March 1924 Tanner and blind guitarist Riley Puckett went to New York and recorded a run of duets for Columbia, the label’s first recordings of southern rural artists. In 1926 Columbia built a studio band around Tanner and called it the Skillet Lickers. On April 17, 1926, in Atlanta, Tanner, Puckett, Clayton McMichen, fiddler Bert Layne, and banjo player Fate Norris cut the band’s first eight sides, starting with Hand Me Down My Walking Cane backed with Watermelon on the Vine.
Over the next eight years the band recorded more than 100 songs with a shifting cast of Atlanta players. Hits included Bully of the Town, Pass Around the Bottle and We’ll All Take a Drink, and Soldier’s Joy. The band also cut comic skits that Columbia called rural drama records. A Corn Licker Still in Georgia ran to seven records, and A Fiddler’s Convention in Georgia was just as popular.
Tanner and Puckett re-formed the band in 1934 for Bluebird. That last session, with Tanner’s son Gordon on lead fiddle, produced Down Yonder, the band’s biggest seller. Tanner stopped recording in 1934 but kept playing radio, stage shows, and fiddle contests into his seventies. He died in Dacula, Georgia, on May 13, 1960, three weeks before his 75th birthday. His grandson Phil Tanner and great-grandson Russ Tanner still lead a band under the Skillet Lickers name.
Playing style
Tanner played the old Georgia dance style, with a short, rough, rhythmic bow built for square dances and noisy conventions. On the Skillet Lickers records he often plays beside a second fiddler. The New Georgia Encyclopedia credits much of the band’s polish to McMichen and Puckett, and on the 1934 Down Yonder the lead fiddle belongs to Gordon Tanner. Listen for Gid in the drive, the hollers, and the second fiddle part rather than the fanciest lead.
His voice was as much his instrument as the fiddle. He sang in a range that could drop to a low bass and leap into falsetto, and he filled the records with spoken comedy. The rural drama skits gave him room to act, and they sold as well as the tunes. He is said to have known more than 2,000 songs.
Influences and legacy
Tanner came up in the north Georgia convention scene beside Fiddlin’ John Carson. In the Skillet Lickers he worked with Clayton McMichen, Riley Puckett, Bert Layne, and Fate Norris, and later with his son Gordon.
The band’s records became a source for the folk revival and for bluegrass. Bob Dylan reworked Tanner’s Down on Tanner’s Farm as New York Town. The 1955 to 1991 recordings of Gid, Gordon, and Phil Tanner’s Skillet Lickers were collected on Skillet Licker Music: The Tanner Legacy in 1997. Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers entered the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1988.
Signature tunes and songs
Down Yonder Soldier’s Joy Boil Them Cabbage Down Cripple Creek Back Up and Push Bully of the Town Hand Me Down My Walking Cane I’m Satisfied A Corn Licker Still in Georgia.
Essential recordings
Hand Me Down My Walking Cane / Watermelon on the Vine (Columbia, 1926) Bully of the Town / Pass Around the Bottle and We’ll All Take a Drink (Columbia, 1926) Down Yonder / Back Up and Push (Bluebird, 1934) The Skillet Lickers: Old Time Tunes Recorded 1927 to 1931 (County, 1965) A Corn Licker Still in Georgia (Voyager, 1971)
Awards and honors
Georgia state fiddling champion (1928) Georgia Music Hall of Fame, with the Skillet Lickers (1988)
Watch and listen
The 1934 Bluebird record of Down Yonder, the band’s biggest seller, with Gordon Tanner on lead fiddle.
The 1929 Columbia record of Soldier’s Joy. Listen to the twin fiddles and Puckett’s bass runs under them.
What to learn from Tanner
Learn Soldier’s Joy from the 1929 Skillet Lickers record. It is the version most jam players half remember, and the record shows the tune at dance speed with a full band. The technique to steal is second fiddle. Tanner spent much of his recording career playing beside a flashier fiddler, and the band was better for it. Next time two fiddles show up at a jam, take the low harmony or a drone part and let the other player carry the lead. Two fiddles that listen to each other beat two fiddles fighting for the melody.
Sources
Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers, New Georgia Encyclopedia Gid Tanner, Wikipedia Georgia Music Hall of Fame, Wikipedia Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers with Riley Puckett, Hand Me Down My Walking Cane, Discogs Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers with Riley Puckett, Bully of the Town, Discogs Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers, Down Yonder / Back Up and Push, Discogs The Skillet Lickers, Old Time Tunes Recorded 1927-1931, Discogs Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers, A Corn Licker Still in Georgia, Discogs
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more early string band fiddlers. Tanner’s bandmate Clayton McMichen played much of the band’s lead fiddle, and Riley Puckett played its guitar. Fiddlin’ John Carson was his rival at the Atlanta conventions, and Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith was the radio fiddler who followed the Skillet Lickers’ era.