Ralph Peer knew when he had a good thing going. Following his successful field recordings in Bristol in 1927, when he used his successful drawing card of Ernest Stoneman to draw the Carter Family, Jimmy Rodgers, Alfred Karnes and others into the recording studio, he returned in October, 1928 to conduct another recording session. For nine days, from Oct. 27 through Nov. 3, Peer set up in a building about a block west from the original recording site, on the second floor of a bank building at the corner of the alley which now runs beside the Paramount Center For The Arts.

This time, Peer scheduled several acts from the previous year, including Stoneman, Karnes, A.L. Phipps, and members of the West Virginia Coon Hunters (Meadows and Pendleton). Though the sales figures of the artists who were recorded are unavailable, the lives of many of the artists have been documented, while others are lost to recorded history. Perhaps some who know of these musicians and read this can recall and add to the history of these 1928 sessions.

Ernest Stoneman, who along with Uncle Eck Dunford was recorded in the 1927 sessions, recorded 14 songs and Dunford recorded 2. Alfred Karnes, whose 1927 sessions songs were some of the most successful, returned to record 7 songs. Phipps brought a larger accompanying group, dubbed “The Congregation,” and recorded 8 songs. Meadows and Pendleton recorded on song, but it was unissued. Jack Pierce, who along with Claude and Jack Grant had recorded as the Tenneva Ramblers in 1927, combined with Weldon Reedy, Malcolm Worley and Carol Cruise to record as the Smyth County Ramblers and recorded two songs.

Among the new artists to record were Stephen Tarter and Harry Gay. Tarter was from near Knoxville and Gay was from Gate City. They had met and played in the Johnson City area before this first recording, which was followed by other recordings in other locations. Recording two songs, their music exemplified the African American string band tradition. James Howard, from Harlan, Kentucky, and Charles Peak, from Norton, Virginia, were chronicled in the Victor files as “The Blind Musicians. They recorded two songs. Clarence Greene, from Ashe County, North Carolina, who played and recorded with regional string band musicians in the following years, recorded two songs.

Also recording was the Stamps Quartet, recording 6 songs, the Carolina Twins, recording 6 songs, the Smith Brothers (William and Roosevelt) recording 3 songs, the Palmer Sisters recording 4 songs, 'Shortbuckle' Roark and Family recorded 4 songs and soloing under his given name, George Roark, recorded two more songs.