Lil McClintock (June 5, 1883 – 1930s or 1940) was an American

country blues Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in t ...

songster who accompanied himself on

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

. Not much is known about McClintock's personal life, before or after he recorded four sides for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. Interest in his recordings has been revived over the years, and they are prized by collectors. McClintock worked as a

street performer Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pr ...

Clinton, South Carolina Clinton is a city in Laurens County, South Carolina, Laurens County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 8,490 as of the United States Census, 2010, 2010 census. It is part of the Greenville, South Carolina, Greenville–Mauldin ...

, before he was tasked by a manager of Cooper's Furniture Store, Burm Lessie, with accompanying another local musician, Blind Gussie Nesbitt, to record for Columbia Records. Unbeknownst to Lessie, he first encountered McClintock in 1923 when he wrote a

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

about Delia Holmes, an individual who gained some media attention for being

murdered Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excu ...

in a

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

in Georgia. McClintock was commonly referred to as "Lil"; it has been speculated that this was either an abbreviation of ''little'' or a reference to his tall, thin figure. After traveling by train, McClintock recorded two

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

numbers and two "

coon songs Coon songs were a genre of music that presented a Stereotypes of African Americans, stereotype of black people. They were popular in the United States and Australia from around 1880 to 1920, though the earliest such songs date from minstrel shows ...

" on December 4, 1930. The latter two compositions are in a musical subgenre that is seldom republished, because of its blatantly racist representations of black people. First among the pair was "Don't Think I'm Santa Claus", which has a refrain derived from

minstrel shows The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of theater developed in the early 19th century. The shows were performed by mostly white actors wearing blackface makeup for the purpose of portraying racial stereotypes of Afr ...

and a rudimentary

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

-inspired accompaniment. Another song, "Furniture Man", played in a similar style, refers to black people as '' coons'' and advertises Cooper's Furniture Store in the process. In keeping with the minstrel-influenced qualities, McClintock addresses himself as "Mr. Brown" throughout the song. Both McClintock's and Nesbitt's recordings were issued in pressings of 750 copies in June 1931; McClintock fared better, as all four of his sides were released. Following the recording session, McClintock completely disappeared from any documentation. His records have become some of the rarest and sought after items among collectors, with any surviving issues being in pristine condition. In 1986, all of his recordings were issued on the

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

''Atlanta Blues 1927–30: The Complete Recordings in Chronological Order of Julius Daniels and Lil McClintock'', which includes McClintock's material with that of the

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

Julius Daniels Julius Daniels (November 20, 1901 – October 18, 1947) was an American Piedmont blues musician. His song "99 Year Blues" appeared on the box set ''Anthology of American Folk Music'' and has been covered by Jim Kweskin, Chris Smither, Johnny Win ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McClintock, Lil American country singer-songwriters American country guitarists American male guitarists American blues guitarists People from Clinton, South Carolina American male singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from South Carolina 1883 births 20th-century deaths Date of death missing