Cora Is Gone: A Song History

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"Cora Is Gone" is a composed country song rather than an anonymous folk piece, and its recordings credit Odell McLeod as the writer.[1] McLeod (1916–2003) is entered in the Library of Congress name authority file under his stage name, Mac Odell.[2] The Discography of American Historical Recordings lists him as the writer of songs cut for Columbia in the late 1940s, among them Roy Acuff's "That Glory Bound Train" (1946) and the Clinch Mountain Clan's "Thirty Pieces of Silver" (1949).[3]

Five-string banjo with a pale calfskin head, a dark inlaid neck and an ornate peghead

Fairbanks & Cole, 5-string Banjo, calfskin head, various woods and metal, American, ca. 1880–1890. An older banjo shown for its subject; it has no connection to the song.

The SecondHandSongs database names Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs with the Foggy Mountain Boys as the original performers and dates their recording to 20 October 1950.[4] Praguefrank's country discography places that session at the studio of radio station WDAE in Tampa, Florida, and lists the song on Mercury 6302, issued at the start of 1951 with a Masters Family recording of "That Little Old Country Church House" on the other side.[5] The track was reissued on The Complete Mercury Sessions (1992), a CD of the band's 1948–1950 recordings for the label.[1] The song stayed in the bluegrass repertoire: the Bluegrass Album Band, with J. D. Crowe, Tony Rice, Doyle Lawson, Bobby Hicks and Todd Phillips, recorded it for Bluegrass Album, Vol. 4 on Rounder.[6] Sources differ on the date: AllMusic gives 1984, while Praguefrank's discography lists a spring 1985 session and a September 1985 release.[6][7]

Neal Walters and Heidi Cerrigione include it in The Doofus: Occasional Number 3, a book of 18 waltzes and old-time songs in 3/4 time for mountain dulcimer, notated from the repertoire of the Doofus, an ensemble they headline.[8]

Our book that contains the song "Cora Is Gone"

Sources

  1. AllMusic: "Flatt & Scruggs, The Complete Mercury Sessions".
  2. Library of Congress Name Authority File: "Odell, Mac".
  3. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Odell McLeod".
  4. SecondHandSongs: "Cora Is Gone by Lester Flatt - Earl Scruggs with The Foggy Mountain Boys".
  5. Praguefrank's Country Discography: "Flatt and Scruggs".
  6. AllMusic: "The Bluegrass Album Band, Bluegrass Album, Vol. 4".
  7. Praguefrank's Country Discography: "Bluegrass Album Band".
  8. Neal Walters: "The Doofus, Occasional Number 3".
  9. Image: Fairbanks & Cole, 5-string Banjo, calfskin head, various woods and metal, American, ca. 1880–1890. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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