Cowan Powers and his Family Band was a Virginia string band from the 1920s, considered pioneers in early country music. They were the first family string band to make a commercial record (1924). The band consisted of Cowan Powers (Scott County, Virginia, October 3, 1879 - August 22, 1953) and his children, Charles, Orpha, Carrie and Ada. Cowan also played with his wife, Matilda, until her death in 1916.

Record companies of the time were trying to get "old time" or "hill country" music to sell, and tried using professional musicians such as Vernon Dalhart to imitate the sound. When it became clear the customers wanted the "real thing" the companies sought musicians to travel from the south to the recording studios in New York and Chicago.
The Powers family made records with Victor Talking Machine Company, Edison Records and Okeh Records. They recorded at least 26 songs, of which 15 were issued. Their recording of Old Joe Clark in 1924 was the third best selling album for that year.
They performed live in "the Carolinas, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and perhaps a dozen other states". They played dances. At the time of the Bristol Sessions they were performing live over the radio, WOPI in Bristol, Virginia, and were among the first country acts to do so.

The daughters restarted the band in the 1970s, with Orpha's husband Eugene D. Ireson.

Recording history:

Victor 1924
The Powers family did a trial recording with Victor Recordings in New York City, August 8, 1924, recording Way Down to Georgia".
They started recording records for Victor, doing six records 10 days later on August 18. Of those recordings, three records were issued, The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane, Old Joe Clark, and Sour Wood Mountains.
They continued recording the next day, August 19. They recorded eleven songs of which five were issued, Patty on the Turnpike, Callahan's Reel, Sugar in the Gourd, Cripple Creek, and Ida Red.

Edison 1925
The family recorded with Edison in 1925, October 2, 3, 6 and 7 in New York City.[1] Seven of the nine that they recorded were issued, Old Joe Clark, Sour Wood Mountains, Ida Red, Cripple Creek, Cluck Old Hen, Rocky Road to Dinah's House, and Sugar in the Gourd.
Charlie Powers, Cowan's son, also recorded a song on his own with Edison, Wild and Reckless Hobo.

Okeh 1927
The last recording session was for Okeh records in Winston–Salem, North Carolina, September 28, 1927. Within three years the band would be no more, as the girls married and began families. They recorded six songs, of which four were issued, Did You Ever See the Devil, Uncle Joe?, Old Molly Hair, Old Virginia Reel — Part 1, and Old Virginia Reel — Part 2.

Ukulele in old-time music
There has been some speculation as to the origin of the ukulele in old time music. Those who are fans have pointed out stars who used the instrument, including Fiddlin' Powers and Family, Da Costa Woltz's Southern Broadcasters, Ernest V. Stoneman, Walter Smith and Friends, The Blankenship Family, The Hillbillies, The Hilltop Singers, and Jimmie Rodgers.
When Ada Powers took up the ukulele in the 20s, there was a craze for Hawaiian music on the national scene, which had young people taking up the instrument. Also there was sheet music being produced for the ukulele, which has been speculatively called a reason that many rural people took up the instrument.
Ada Powers was the Ukulele player in Fiddlin' Powers and Family. Her playing can be heard on their music, especially The Virginia Reel, part 1 in which all the family members had solos.


Cowan Powers was born October 1879, and lived his entire life in what is called the Lower Castlewoods area of Russell County. He married Matilda Lambert, who was a talented banjo picker, so, it was only natural that their children be musicians. Matilda was born and reared on Cowan's Creek in Scott County near Dungannon. With all the talent in the family, it was therefore no big undertaking for the patriarch to organize the Fiddlin' Powers and Family Band. Matilda died in February 1916, at the age of 35. At her death, son, Charles became the banjo picker. As a small boy Charles got a job as water-boy with a country road crew in order to earn money to purchase his first banjo. In addition to playing the banjo, Charles also did a comedy dance routine with his younger sister, Ada.

Ada, the youngest girl played the ukulele and did a clog and buck dance. Orpha, the oldest played the "taterbug" mandolin, and Carrie played the guitar. The father played the fiddle, (I do mean "fiddle"- the word violin was never used when speaking of mountain music).

For their concerts, the Powers Family traveled from town to town mostly by train automobiles were few at that time. It was a familiar sight to see them boarding the train, either at Dungannon or St. Paul, depending on the section of the country in which the concert was held. At the time, Ada was only seven or eight years old and the brakeman would have to lift her up the steps of the coach. She was too small to make the steps alone, but from all reports she was a great entertainer even at that tender age.

Their "big break" came while taking part in a concert in Johnson City, Tennessee, in the early twenties. They were chosen by an executive of The Victor Talking Machine Company and sent to Winston-Salem, North Carolina for testing, thence to Camden, New Jersey, to cut their first recordings. Whereby, The Fiddlin' Powers and Family became the very first Southern Appalachian string band to make commercial records. They were paid one hundred dollars for each side of a disc, plus a fraction of a cent royalty for each record sold. Their housing and travel expenses to the recording sessions were paid by the record companies.

After a number of recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company, the group returned to New York and recorded for Edison. Some of their Edison recordings were of the old cylinder type.

Their last recordings were for Okeh Phonograph Corporation in New York in about the mid-twenties.

The Powers Family was also among the first local country musicians to broadcast over WOPI radio station in Bristol, Virginia. They were much in demand throughout the eastern United States for concerts and dances, and their popularity continued for a number of years until the girls were married and temporarily gave up their music in order to devote more time raising their families.

Afterwards, the father played some shows with other groups, and while playing in Saltville, Virginia, he suffered an apparent heart attack and died in an Abington, Virginia hospital, August 22, 1953. He was 74 years old and was laid to rest in his native soil at Castlewood, Virginia, just a few yards west of Milton's Store.

In 1970, the Band reorganized with the daughters, Ada, Carrie, Orpha and Orpha's husband, Eugene D. Ireson. Ada was now playing the autoharp instead of the ukulele. They performed on radio and television shows in the area, and in 1971, Ada was named Southern Highlands Champion Autoharpist at the Folk Festival of the Smokies in Tennessee, and was presented a walnut plaque in honor of her achievement on the autoharp.

Cowan Powers and his Family Band were true pioneers in the field of ole-time country music, they were our own local folks, born and reared amongst us, and their music was so good its sound spanned the miles to reach the ears of the big recording firms of the large metropolitan centers, who readily recognized their talents and summoned them to record their music, in order that the, masses and future generations could enjoy it for all time.


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