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William B. Shires (Billy Golden) (June 9, 1858 – January 29, 1926)He performed and recorded as Billy Golden and was an American blackface comic and singer.
Golden was a popular recording artist between the 1890s and the 1910s.
In 1891, he recorded "Turkey in the Straw" for Columbia
Records; it became one of the best-selling recordings of the year.
He re-recorded the piece many times for Berliner (as well as their successor
company Victor), Zonophone, Edison and many others.
In 1907 he formed a new duo act
with Joe Hughes, and they recorded together for several labels.
Golden and Hughes were among the first two-man teams to record blackface
minstrel humor in black dialect.
After Hughes retired from performing, Golden began working with Jim
Marlowe.
After Marlowe's death in 1917, Golden performed with Billy Heins.
In 1919, Golden reunited with Hughes for several more recordings.
After 1920, Golden continued to perform and record as a solo act.
He died in New York City in 1926.
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Presented in this CD release are several of their minstrel vaudeville
routines.
They were recorded for Edison on 4 minute cylinders.
Each cylinder contains lots of hilarious minstrel jokes and ends with a
song.
These two 2 comedians were precursors to “Moran and Mack” and “Amos and
Andy”
of later years.
During their time period, these recordings sold extremely well.
Some may find these routines offensive, but many more will
just laugh at their outrageous jokes.
All selections were digitally restored by Vintage Recordings
Several Items will have a
symbol next to a song.You can listen to a sound clip with the windows media player.