Laughing Rag by Sam Moore & Horace Davis (1921)
CD 2, track 26
About “Laughing Rag” by Sam Moore and Horace Davis (1921), Allan Sutton of Mainspring Press writes that it “is an astonishing record for the period, blending Southern folk, Hawaiian, and ragtime influences in a way unlike anything that had been heard on records up to that time” (78records.wordpress.com). Moore plays the octa-chorda, an eight-string steel guitar invented by Harry Skinner, while Davis plays the harp-guitar, which Sutton describes as “an odd hybrid instrument with six primary strings plus an additional set of strings that resonated sympathetically.”
