Graves Brothers

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Blind Roosevelt Graves and his brother Uaroy Graves, who was also nearly blind, were a guitar and tambourine duo from Mississippi who recorded both sacred and secular music.

Theirs is the earliest version recorded of the famous tune "Guitar Boogie" and they exemplified the very best in gospel singing with the classic "I'll Be Rested". Their first recordings were made in 1929 for Paramount Records.

In 1936 the Graves Brothers, along with piano player Cooney Vaughn, recorded two songs that, according to the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll, "...featured fully formed rock & roll guitar riffs and a stomping rock & roll beat." The Graves Brothers and Vaughn—performing as the Mississippi Jook Band—recorded the songs 'Barbecue Bust' and 'Dangerous Woman' for the American Record Company, reportedly at the Hattiesburg, Mississippi train station.

For a number of years, the subject of Uaroy's identity was disputed, as the pair's songs were released under the name "Blind Roosevelt Graves and Brother." In several books, magazine articles, and album liner notes that mentioned the Graves Brothers, the name "Aaron" was substituted for Uaroy, on the assumption that the otherwise unknown name Uaroy must have arisen due to the poor penmanship of a recording company employee whose handwritten notes were misinterpreted. This controversy was put to rest in 2004, when photographic copies of the Paramount files were posted to the internet and it could clearly be seen that the person who wrote up the recording session notes had written in a careful, almost printed hand, "Uaroy Graves."

[edit] External links

• The Graves Brothers – The University of Southern Mississippi McCain Library and Archives
• Paramount Records files, September, 1929, showing the name "Uaroy"