The Allen Brothers (Austin Allen, February 7, 1901 â January 5, 1959 and Lee Allen, June 1, 1906 â February 24, 1981) were an American country music duo popular in the 1920s and 1930s and played more upbeat tunes than some of their blues-playing peers. They were nicknamed "The Chattanooga Boys" since many of their songs mentioned Chattanooga. They were one of the most successful bluegrass/âÂÂhillbillyâ groups of their era, selling around a quarter million copies. The Morris Brothers reshaped their most popular song as "Salty Dog,â helping it became a bluegrass staple.
The brothers were born and raised in Sewanee, Tennessee and they both learned to sing and play musical instruments, Austin played the banjo while Lee concentrated on the guitar and kazoo. As they grew up they were influenced by local jazz and blues artists such as the guitarist and Mississippi river boat performer May Bell and the street singers the Two Poor Boys. By the early 1920s, they were performing in small coal-mining communities in the South doing medicine shows and Vaudeville onstage. They made a lot of their songs about what was happening in the news, such as in âÂÂJake Walk Blues,â or âÂÂPrice of Cotton Blues." They also supported F.D.R.âÂÂs New Deal in the âÂÂNew Deal Blues" and wrote "I've Got the Chain Store Bluesâ inspired by a populist campaign for independent shops by W.K. Henderson. Other songs of their that did well were lighthearted, funny and even suggestive.
They received a recording contract on Columbia Records and recorded for the first time on April 7, 1927. At this first session they recorded "Salty Dog Blues" which became their first hit selling around 18,000 copies. "Bow Wow Blues" was another notable recording of that time, as it was later placed by music historians in the dirty blues category. Columbia, by mistake, placed one of their recordings in the "race" series (reserved for black artists) instead of its "hillbilly" series. The brothers threatened to bring a lawsuit against Columbia but in the end they decided to move to Victor Records instead. Working with the A&R man Ralph Peer - who had been instrumental in bringing both Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family to fame - the Allen Brothers recorded their biggest hit "A New Salty Dog" in 1930. Due to the Great Depression, the brothers had to abandon their musical career in 1934. Although they were successful and sold more than other hillbilly groups - more than 250,000 copies altogether - they could not keep making a living from their music.
Austin moved to New York and both brothers went to work in the construction business. In the 1960s, when the Allen Brothers were rediscovered by folk revivalists, Austin had already died in South Carolina in 1959 but Lee appeared onstage a few times in Tennessee.