In 1907 Jack Daniel, founder and owner of the distillery bearing his name, was childless and in failing health. He gave the distillery to two of his nephews, one of which, Lem Motlow, bought out his partner and ran the company for 40 years. They survived the Temperance movement, state prohibition, nationwide prohibition, and a complete production shutdown from 1942 to 1946 when the war precipitated a corn shortage. When Lem died in 1947, ownership of the company went to his children Robert, Reagor, Dan, Conner, and Mary. The Brown-Forman Corporation bought Jack Daniel's in 1956, and the same year they created the Tennessee Squire Association, an invitation-only club whose members would be sent periodic J.D. souvenirs in the mail—a deed to a one-square-foot plot of land on distillery property, a twist of tobacco, rubbing stones, leather luggage tags, sassafras root, black-eyed peas, etc.
Over decades they produced several private-press records for their members, including three albums of folk songs sung by Winifred Smith, two albums by the "Jack Daniel's Original Silver Cornet Band", a single by Louis Lunley, and this spoken word album featuring recordings of residents of Lynchburg, Tennessee, where the distillery is headquartered. The interviewees are a small clique of relatives and friends, including three Motlow family members, and it would be hard to get the classification "documentary" to stick here (their chat about bootlegging, fishing, and whittling puts it firmly in the category of "guys sitting around bullshitting"); but Tom Motlow, 91-year-old former president of the local bank, tells a charming oral history.
The date of the record is uncertain, but it was released after the death of Tom Motlow in March 1969.
Around the Square
Moonshine—and Other Natural Phenomena...
Goin' Fishing
Whittlin'
A Country Banker
Album audio & artwork
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