Ralph Peer
| Ralph Peer | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Ralph Sylvester Peer |
| Born | May 22, 1892 |
| Origin | Independence, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | January 19, 1960 (aged 67) |
| Genres | Country, folk, old-time |
| Occupation(s) | Record producer, recording engineer, talent scout, music publisher |
| Years active | 1920s–1930s |
| Labels | Columbia, OKeh, Victor |
| Associated acts | Carter Family, Mamie Smith, Jimmie Rodgers |
Ralph Sylvester Peer (May 22, 1892 – January 19, 1960) was an American talent scout, recording engineer and record producer in the field of music in the 1920s and 1930s. Peer pioneered field recording of music when in June 1923 he took remote recording equipment south to Atlanta, Georgia to record regional music outside the recording studio in such places as hotel rooms, ballrooms, or empty warehouses.
Peer, born in Independence, Missouri, spent some years working for Columbia Records, in Kansas City, Missouri, until 1920 when he was hired as recording director of General Phonograph's OKeh Records label in New York. In the same year he supervised the recording of Mamie Smith's "Crazy Blues", the first blues recording specifically aimed at the African-American market. In 1924 he supervised the first commercial recording session in New Orleans, Louisiana, recording jazz, blues, and gospel music groups there.
He is also credited with what is often called the first country music recording, Fiddlin' John Carson's disc "Little Old Log Cabin In The Lane"/"That Old Hen Cackled and The Rooster's Goin' To Crow". In August 1927, while talent hunting in the southern states with Victor Records he recorded both Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family in the same session at a makeshift studio in Bristol, Tennessee, known as the Bristol sessions. This momentous event could be described as the genesis of country music as we know it today. Rodgers, who later became known as the Father Of Country Music, cut "The Soldier's Sweetheart" and "Sleep, Baby, Sleep", while the Carters' first sides included "Single Girl, Married Girl". In July 1929, he recorded the first female country singer, Billie Maxwell.
...
Wikipedia