Happy Birthday 'Cile Turner!

Remembering Virginia-born singer 'Cile Turner with her 1959 classic "Crap Shootin' Sinner." 

Here's the 'Cile Turner story from Rivermont Records:

For years, the name 'Cile Turner has been a curious mystery to rock 'n' roll record collectors around the globe. In the past three decades, her 1959 recording of "Crap Shootin' Sinner" has been reissued on several notable compilations of early rockabilly and rhythm 'n' blues records (one of them colorfully titled T-Bird Party: A Swangin' Slew O' Greasy R&B), leading some on the internet to speculate that she was an obscure African-American singer of "gritty blues" who lived hard and died young. Collectors as far away as Europe, South America, and Japan regularly snap up used copies of her records when they are offered for sale, occasionally at prices stretching into the triple digits. Many of them may not know much about the woman behind the records, but they recognize the quality and uniqueness of her music. One reviewer recently wrote of Turner's music: "I love listening to it and have never heard anything quite like it."

In a career that spanned from the 1920s to the 1970s, Turner established herself as versatile performer: she was a historian, storyteller, and consummate musician. She composed, sang, and played a number of instruments including piano, guitar, drums, pots, pans, and anything else she might find useful--and she did it all with exceptional skill. Throughout her life, she was particularly drawn to the folk music of African-Americans and for a time became nationally known as one of the music's foremost experts and performers, appearing on records, radio, television, and at the White House. As a white "Virginia lady" championing the music of African-Americans in the still-segregated South, Turner challenged conventional assumptions about women's roles in society in the early twentieth century to pursue her passion for black folk music. As a young woman, she frequently found herself at odds with her parents, who disapproved of her performing career, thinking that a woman's place was in the home. Still, Turner's passion for the music and love of performing drove her to continue her efforts.

Lucile ('Cile) Turner was born in Southside Virginia in 1895. As a child, she showed a strong affinity for music and the theater, so at the age of 13 her parents sent her north to study piano and voice at the New England Conservatory of Music. Within a short time, she attracted attention from outside the Conservatory for her singing of African-American folk songs and spirituals. In the 1920s, she began traveling, singing the songs she had learned as a child. By 1930, she was starring in her own popular coast-to-coast radio program on NBC (heard Friday evenings just after Amos 'n' Andy on the same network). She made regular tours of the country throughout the 1930s and into the 1940s. In 1947, she made her first commercial recordings, a set of three 78 rpm records called "Blue Jeans." Soon thereafter, she signed a contract with Colonial Records and cut a full length LP called 'Cile Sings (later retitled Songs of the American South) and a handful of 45 rpm records, many featuring Elvis Presley's back-up vocal group, The Jordanaires. Several of her records, including "Crap Shootin' Sinner" and "The Golden Rule" became minor hits in 1959 and 1960, reaching the Top 40 popular music charts in several major cities. Turner continued to travel and perform until the late 1960s. She died in 1979.

Listen to 'Cile Turner's "Crap Shootin' Sinner" below. Sadly, the excellent double-disc 'Cile Turner anthology Makin' Glory released by Rivermont Records is currently out of print.