when’s me washboard?
10 skiffle records that get the joint jumping.
By Billy Bragg.
Lonnie Donegan
Rock Island Line (Decca, 1955)
The song that started it all. To appreciate the impactthatthisepochal recording hadon British youth, you'd have to spend a decade listening to nothing but Burl Ives, Bing Crosby and Mantovani via the soothing tones of the BBC Home Service.
Ken Colyer’s Skiffle Group
Take This Hammer (Decca, 1955)
Colyer was the Moses of trad jazz, travelling to New Orleans as a merchant seaman and finding theold timers still playing.On hisreturn headded breakdown sessions into his gigs. Revered by trad fans for his trumpet playing, his laid-back singing stylecould never compete with Donegan, buthe wastheoriginator.