Skiffle

Listen to Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band

Also Known As
'Jug Band Music'

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Early Afro-American Skiffle,
although name not used
then.

Captain Matchbox Whoopie Band - Who Walks In When I Walk Out

Much later British Skiffle
(1950s).

Van Morrison - Skiffle Sessions

Van Morrison - Skiffle - Midnight Special

Skiffle is a relatively obscure but interesting mix of music, a type John Lennon used to

play with The Quarrymen - the forerunner to the Beatles at the Cavern Club in

Liverpool. Its stylistic origins are thought to stem from the early African-Americans and

includes a mix of Jazz, Blues and Folk.

Huge in the US in the early Twentieth

Century, Skiffle became very popular in the

UK in the 1950s, and later in Australia, and

as mentioned is sometimes known as 'Jug

Band Music''. Skiffle's typical instruments

could see it labelled as 'poor men’s music'

as they included such as things as

washboards, jugs, tea chest bass, kazoo,

guitar, banjo, comb and paper, and fiddles

among others.

Liverpool skiffle group The Quarrymen
played their first full show in 1957.

John Lennon (centre) and The Quarrymen

Meet And Listen To Lonnie Donegan The King Of UK Skiffle

Lonnie Donegan

Lonnie Donegan - My Dixie Darling

Skiffle was big in the US in the early 20th

century where its name originated. The

name was thought to be one of many slang

phrases for a 'rent party', a social event with

a small rent charge designed to pay rent on

a house.

This music was first recorded in Chicago in

the 1920s and may have been brought there

as part of the African-American migration to

the northern US industrial cities.

Big in the UK in the 1950s, British Skiffle

grew out of the developing post-war

British Jazz scene, which saw a move away

from Swing music towards authentic 'Trad

Jazz'. Skiffle grew into British Blues and

Rock, Folk and Beat music. Skiffle was

made huge by Lonnie Donegan and his band

as you can hear above and below. It

became a major part in beginning the

careers of later eminent Jazz, Pop, Blues,

Folk and Rock musicians.

Jimmy Page - Mama Don't Allow Skiffle

More On Lonnie Donegan

According to the Experts 'The Lonnie Donegan Skiffle Group' transformed the fortunes

of Skiffle late in 1955. Donegan's high-tempo version of Leadbelly's 'Rock Island

Line', featuring a washboard was a major hit in 1956.

It was the success of this single, and the lack

of a need for expensive instruments, or high

levels of musicianship, that set off the

British skiffle craze. A few bands enjoyed

chart success in the Skiffle craze, including

The Chas McDevitt Group, and John

Duncan among others. But the main impact

of Skiffle, according to Wikipedia, was as a

grassroots amateur movement, particularly

popular among working class males, such as

John Lennon.

Lonnie Donegan - Rock Island Line

These guys could cheaply buy, improvise or build their own instruments, and who, its

thought, might have been reacting against the drab austerity of post-war Britain. It's

thought the craze reached its zenith with the broadcasting of the BBC TV programme

Six-Five Special from 1957. It was the first British youth music programme, using a

Skiffle song as its title music and showcasing many Skiffle acts.

It has been estimated that in the late 1950s there were 30-50,000 skiffle groups in

Britain. Sales of guitars grew rapidly and other musicians were able to perform on

improvised bass and percussion in venues such as church halls and cafes, and in the

flourishing coffee bars of London and other cities, without having to 'aspire' to musical

perfection or virtuosity. A large number of British musicians began their careers playing

Skiffle in this period, some becoming famous. These included Van Morrison, British

blues pioneer Alexis Korner as well as Ronnie Wood, and Mick Jagger; also musicians

Roger Daltrey, Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore, Robin Trower and David Gilmour; as

well as Graham Nash and Allan Clarke of The Hollies, and also the Shadows. Finally

The Beatles who evolved from John Lennon's Skiffle group The Quarrymen.

The huge appeal of the Skiffle craze was largely over by 1958 as its fans either

abandoned music for more 'real' employment, or moved into Folk, the Blues and Rock

n Roll. As a result, Skiffle is generally regarded as a critical stepping stone to the

second British Folk revival, Blues boom and the British 'Rock Invasion' of the United

States.

Let's Finish By Hearing The Great Aussie Jug

(Skiffle) Band -

The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band