Cleve Chaffin: Difference between revisions

American musician (1885–1959)

Cleve Chafin (March 4, 1885 – December 10, 1959) was a carnival musician who recorded old-time music during the 1920s.

Chafin was from Wayne County, West Virginia, the son of Alice Adkins and Bob Chafin.^[1] He first recorded a solo session in Richmond, Indiana, for Gennett Records on November 16, 1927,^[2] but the recordings were never issued. He may also have recorded a session for Paramount Records in 1928 with two men named Stevens and Bolar as Fruit Jar Guzzlers. In Chicago, Illinois, Chaffin recorded six songs with John & Emery McClung for Paramount Records. These records were released as by Cleve Chaffin and The McClung Brothers. Chaffin continued his professional music career, but never recorded again.^[3] He died on December 10, 1959, in Huntington, West Virginia, at the age of 74.^[1]

Chafin died in Huntington, West Virginia, at the age of 74. He was never married.

According to the Thirteenth Census of the United States in 1910, a Cleve Chafin, who was born in Kentucky and aged 22, was a prisoner at the city jail in Cabell County, West Virginia at the time of the census.

• Babylon Is Falling Down/I Got A Home In The Beulah Land (Paramount #3160) (3/1929)
• Trail Blazer’s Favorites/Alabama Jubilee (Paramount #3161) (3/1929)
• Rock House Gamblers/Curtains Of Night (Paramount #3170) (3/1929)

• My Rough And Rowdy Ways Volume One (Yazoo #2039) (1998)
• Old Time Music Of West Virginia Volume Two (County #CD-3519) (1999)
• The Half Ain’t Never Been Told Volume Two (Yazoo #2050) (1999)
• Country Music Classic (Vintage78 #C-53) (cassette)
• Paramount Old Time Recordings (JSP) (3-CD set) (2006)