An exceptionally primitive hillbilly performer, Jenkins "Tex" Carman (1903-1968) dressed as a Native American (buckskin coats, feather head dresses, etc.) and wasn't above belting out a war-whoop yodel or two midway through his honkytonk tales of woe. He also wasn't that great of a musician, and seems to have made his way in show business largely through force of will alone, making him in some ways an avatar for the DIY ethos of the early rockabilly and punk rock of later decades. Born in Kentucky, Jenks Carman started working on the Vaudeville circuit during the Great Depression, and is said to have made some recordings in the late 1920s which this far have eluded documentation.
His rudimentary skills as a guitar player got a slight boost when he was introduced to the Hawaiian-style steel guitar, and while this addition to his repertoire didn't increase his talent level, it did add some novelty to his act, which helped boost his popularity. Carman made a surprisingly large number of recordings, considering his limited musical range. After migrating to Southern California and appearing on popular broadcast programs such as Cliffie Stone's Hometown Jamboree and Town Hall Party, he landed a couple of high-profile recording contracts, first with 4-Star Records and then with Capitol, where the label's top-flight studio pros struggled to synch up with the singer's uneven and inconsistent musical style.
Jenks Carman's personal life was equally erratic: he was a serious boozer and often missed or canceled recording sessions and gigs. Carman also professed to be a Native American and sometimes appeared in full feather headdress, undoubtedly another gimmick that helped him stand out in the crowd, although his claim to Cherokee heritage was apparently not borne out by any known genealogical records. (I'm personally not including him in my survey of first nations tribal country artists.) Despite his early successes in postwar country boom, Carman's career slowly contracted over the years. In the late 1950s he frequently appeared on the Los Angeles-based Cal's Corral TV show, and released a slew of albums on the independent Sage & Sand label, as well as smaller, budget-line imprints, with one final album coming out on the bluegrass-oriented REM Records, made after he returned to Kentucky in his final years. Many of his singles and albums overlapped, with Carman recycling (or reissuing) old songs, and unravelling his discography is a daunting task, perhaps left to folks better informed, or more patient, than myself. Here's a quick look at his work...
Texas Jenks Carman "Jenks 'Texas' Carman" (Sage Records, 1960-?) (LP)
Texas Jenks Carman "The Ole Indian" (Sage Records, 1962-?) (LP)
Texas Jenks Carman "Country Caravan" (Modern Records, 1963-?) (LP)
Texas Jenks Carman "Tex Carman Sings And Plays" (Sage Records, 1963-?) (LP)
Texas Jenks Carman "The Wreck Of Old No. 9" (REM Records, 1964-?) (LP)
Texas Jenks Carman "Hillbilly Hula" (Bear Family Records, 1991)
This generously-programmed reissue disc collects all of Carman's singles cut for Capitol Records between 1951-53, and also includes several previously unreleased outtakes. Famously, the A-list pickers lined up by producer Ken Nelson -- including West Coast heavy-hitters such as Jimmy Bryant, Harold Hensley, Joe Maphis, Cliffie Stone, and Eddie Kirk -- found Carman difficult to work with, since he either wouldn't or couldn't stay on beat and often played out of tune. Nonetheless, there's an undeniably wild quality to these recordings that has a certain appeal, and which some twangfans retroactively see as a prototype for the explosive energy of the mid-decade rockabilly scene. You can judge for yourself. I personally find it a little bit of a struggle to appreciate Jenks Carman's work, but he had his moments. These Capitol tracks are as close to "professional sounding" as he got, though.
Texas Jenks Carman "Sunny Tennessee" (Cowgirlboy Records, 1993) (LP)
Texas Jenks Carman "The Redskin Cowboy" (Cowgirlboy Records, 1993) (LP)
Texas Jenks Carman "Chippeha! The Essential Dixie Cowboy: 1947-1957" (Revenant Records, 1998)
This disc of oddball recordings collects about a dozen tracks from Carman's early stint on 4-Star Records, an influential West Coast indie, including a few outtakes, as well as a smattering of his Capitol recordings, and a few live radio airshots from rare radio transcription discs. Even with his various, oft-noted liabilities, this collection is pretty damn charming -- Carman was kind of a sloppy, chaotic singer, which may help explain his popularity with the rockabilly crowd, but his antics might make ya smile, even all these years later. If you like kooky, wild stuff, you may get a real kick out of this disc.
Texas Jenks Carman "The Old Guitar And Me" (Bear Family Records, 2003)
Turning their attention back towards Carman's idiosyncratic catalog, Bear Family devoted two generously-programmed discs to his late 'Fifties/early 'Sixties albums on the Sage & Sand label. Both discs offer nearly three dozens songs, with a repertoire that includes remakes of many Carman oldies (like "Hilo March," "Hillbilly Hula," etc.) and a fair number of "Indian"-themed novelty numbers which were, well, shall we say, of their time. At any rate, if you want to give Carman's later career a try, either of these discs should do the trick. Or both of them, if you're into it!
Texas Jenks Carman "Cow Punk" (Bear Family Records, 2003)
Well, gee, I guess if superstar hillbilly twang researcher Deke Dickerson is going to get involved in curating the Jenks Carman legacy, I might have to tone down my shade-casting criticisms. When I talk about people who are better qualified than me to assess Carman's career, this is exactly who I'm talking about. No disrespect intended.
