The Original Washboard Band

Artist: The Original Washboard Band

LP: Scrubbin' & Pickin'
Song: "Who Threw the Whiskey In the Well"
[ listen ]

Song: "The Glory of Love" 
[ listen ]

Oh shit. This reminds me I need to do laundry. The Original Washboard Band, from Brunswick, Georgia, used to entertain the stuffy 'old money' families that would occasionally retreat to a nearby Paradise Island off the Georgia coast to get away from all the horrible regular people who only had average incomes. While there, the families would sometimes amuse themselves by listening to local music being played on a variety of outdated household appliances still being used by the poor and needy—like the common washboard, for example (which simply can't be beat for getting tough stains out of trousers and shirts). The Original Washboard Band were reportedly a favorite of both the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts and thus were allowed to record a record for RCA in 1958. And here it is. Sadly, fame proved elusive (I found no evidence of a second LP), though the group did appear on the Garry Moore TV show in 1959, according to Jet Magazine.

[ Norman "Shorty" Feimster; Nathan Jones; Robert "Washboard" Ivory; Charles Ernest Jones ]
[ The Original Washboard Band ]