Ralph Peer's The Bristol Sessions An Illustrated Discography

Bristol, Tennessee July 25 - August 5, 1927 In 1925 Peer left OKEH records, and in 1926 he went over to talk with Victor records. He approached them with the idea that he would work for nothing - in return he would control the copyrights to the songs he recorded, VICTOR records agreed and in the summer of 1927 Ralph Peer went on his first recording trip for The Victor Talking Machine Company. His first stop was Bristol, Tennessee. Between July 25 and August 5 Peer would record what would become known as the "Big Bang" of "Country" Music. He didn't know at that time, but by recording so much quality material from unknown artists during July and August of 1927 in Bristol, Tennessee he (Ralph Peer) and all the artists would have an enormous impact on the future of "Country" Music. The Recording Artists Included - Ernest Stoneman, Jimmie Rodgers, The Carter Family, Ernest Phipps & His Holiness Quartet, Uncle Eck Dunford, Blue Ridge Corn Shuckers, Johnson Brothers, Blind Alfred Reed, El Watson, B. F. Shelton, The Shelor Family, Alfred G. Karnes, Bull Mountain Moonshiners, Henry Whitter, Dad Blackard's Moonshiners and others....