Clarence Horton Greene

Clarence Horton Greene (June 26, 1894 – October 22, 1961) was an American musician and recording artist, noted for his fiddle and guitar work, and a pioneer in country music of the 1920s.

Greene was born in Cranberry Gap, North Carolina, United States. A naturally gifted musician, in his teens he played fiddle in the Greene Brothers String Band, which also featured his brother Baxter Greene on fiddle. Greene played with numerous musical ensembles in the mountains of Western North Carolina and Northeastern Tennessee, and once beat Jimmie Rodgers in a guitar-picking contest. According to Greene's fellow musician and musical contemporary, Walter Davis, both Greene and Davis advanced their prowess on guitar by observing itinerant country blues artist Blind Lemon Jefferson, who played on the streets of Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s.

From 1927 through 1931, Greene recorded 28 songs released by 11 different record companies. He participated in the 1928 and 1929 Columbia Records' field studio sessions in Johnson City conducted by Columbia producer Frank Walker and the 1928 Victor sessions hosted by Ralph Peer in Bristol, Tennessee. From the 1928 Columbia sessions emerged a regional hit song, "Johnson City Blues," in which Greene adapted Ida Cox's tune "Chattanooga Blues" to fit Johnson City. In that era, prior to copyrighting of songs, there was a "public domain" attitude toward songwriting with the artist's style of the song being considered the original feature and not the lyrics. Greene was also present at the 1927 recording session in Atlanta when The Allen Brothers recorded "Chattanooga Blues". Greene's interpretation is closer in vocal style and tempo to the Ida Cox version with the exception that he replaces piano accompaniment with guitar.

In 1929, Greene recorded again for Frank Walker in Johnson City with a group called Byrd Moore's Hot Shots. This trio featured Byrd Moore (guitar, baritone vocal), Clarence "Tom" Ashley (guitar, lead vocal), and Clarence Greene (fiddle, tenor vocal). The mountain ballad, "Frankie Silvers", is the best known tune recorded by the Hot Shots in 1929. Tom Ashley's recording, "Coo Coo Bird", was also recorded at this session at which Greene did no solo recordings.

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