Curly Dan & Wilma Ann - South On 23

(Old Homestead OHS-90018) 1973

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In the liner notes to Curly Dan & Wilma Ann's first LP, Bill Napier isn't credited other than a mention of him teaching Curly Dan his style of playing guitar. However, the follow-up LP A Place On The Mountain says that Bill Napier played guitar and 12-string guitar on both LPs, and the guitar work / lead break on Bumble Bee Rock definitely sounds like him.

'Bluegrass Unlimited' reviewed the album in April 1974, and curiously credited Bill Napier with "12-string guitar, banjo and guitar". The review was a bit odd saying: ""Curly Dan and Wilma Ann are from another era, and depending on how one feels about early bluegrass and it's more apparent links with its musical antecedents, you will either write this album off as a relic, or cherish it as the very essence. Curly Dan sings in a style reminiscent of early Lester Flatt (complete with echo), and plays a very tasteful lead guitar. The trios are a bit uneven, but what they lack in polish, they more than compensate with voice character. All but one of the songs here are originals, and most quite good".

Densile 'Curly Dan' Holcomb was originally from Clay, West Virginia and Wilma Ann Holcomb (nee Lowers) from Charleston, West Virginia. They were married in 1942 and ten years later, like many southern folks, they headed north on route 23 towards Detroit, later settling in Hazel Park, Michigan. Curly Dan worked for Chrysler cars and formed the Danville Mountain Boys in 1955. Prior to the Old Homestead LP's they had recorded about a dozen 45s on different labels, with their first in 1957 also featuring Bill Napier on mandolin: Sleep Darling / My Little Rose (Fortune 197).

Their first album for Old Homestead includes re-recordings of a few of their earlier 45 tracks. The LP's title cut South on 23 which deals with an imaginary journey back home, was originally cut on a 45 in 1963:- South On 23 / Original Ballad Of Jessie James (Happy Hearts HH-134). The band then reissued the song in 1966 on their own 'Danville' label: South On 23 / Teenage Prayer "To Her Soldier Boy" (Danville 105). It must have been a popular number locally, as it subsequently picked up by the Starday subsidiary Nashville label circa 1969 and released on 45 as South On 23 / The Visit Back Home (Nashville NV-5498).

Two other tracks on the album - Mixed Up Life and Drink Up And Go had also previously been cut on a 45 on their own 'Danville' label in 1965: Mixed Up Life / I'd Better Drink Up And Go (Danville 102). Both songs revolve around the broken home life and ending up drinking in the tavern.

From the different line-ups, the album must have been recorded on at least two sessions, with Ford Nix appearing on 4 of the tracks. I suspect Up In Detroit City might be one of these, as the tasteful banjo work sounds a little different.

One 45 was released from the LP: Walter Webb / Tip Toe Up The Stairs (Old Homestead SO12190/1). Walter Webb is a modern day murder ballad, which appears to be a dramatisation of a feud-killing in 1954 from Clay County, Kentucky.^[1] Tip Toe Up The Stairs is a cheating song...

Other members of the band included: Carmon Flatt from Cookville, Tennessee who joined the band in 1965 becoming their manager and was also a 2nd-cousin of Lester Flatt. He can be heard singing lead on the version of Reno & Smiley's Family Altar; Bob Stanley who according to the liner notes "is the finest banjo player to come out of the hills of Kentucky... ...was featured on all their records for five years."; Dobro is played on the album by Wayne Honeycut from the Detroit, Michigan area, except for four cuts which feature Bill Carpenter from West Virginia.

Sound quality on the album is slightly muddy, some of the songs are thinly disguised re-writes of more well known material, and the vocals are a bit off in place... but it's still a lovely album of pure roots bluegrass.

A live recording of South On 23 circa 1979 can be heard on the Southeastern Michigan Bluegrass: Presents First Annual - Live And On Stage Vol. 1 LP

• Curly Dan Holcomb: guitar, vocals
• Wilma Ann Holcomb: bass, vocals
• Carmon Flatt: guitar, vocals
• Wayne Honeycut: dobro (a)
• Bill Carpenter: dobro (b)
• Bob Stanley: banjo (a)
• Cranford 'Ford' Nix: banjo (b)
• Bill Napier ?: guitar

NB: (a) on ten cuts. (b) on four cuts.

Other artwork / related images:

[1] 25 Oct 1954 Edition of TIME magazine. https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,823564,00.html