Charles Cleveland Poole (March 22, 1892 – May 21, 1931)[7] was an American old-time musician and leader of the North Carolina Ramblers, a string band that recorded many popular hillbilly songs between 1925 and 1930.
[citation needed] Poole and his brother-in-law, fiddle player Posey Rorer, whom he had met in West Virginia in 1917 and whose sister he married, formed a trio with guitarist Norman Woodlief[7] called the North Carolina Ramblers.
[7] This song was successful, selling over 106,000 copies at a time when there were estimated to be only 6,000 phonographs in the southern United States[citation needed], according to Poole's biographer and great-nephew, Kinney Rorrer.
No string band in early country music equaled the Ramblers' controlled, clean, well-patterned sound.
Poole developed a unique fingerpicking style, a blend of melody, arpeggio, and rhythm (distinct from clawhammer/ frailing and Scruggs' variations).
Poole's music saw a revival in the 1960s, most likely due to his inclusion on the 1952 Anthology of American Folk Music, and his renditions have been re-recorded by numerous artists, such as John Mellencamp with "White House Blues", The Chieftains, New Lost City Ramblers, Holy Modal Rounders and Hot Tuna with "Hesitation Blues", and Joan Baez with "Sweet Sunny South".
Bob Dylan in his Nobel Lecture acknowledged Poole and several lyrics of his song "You Ain't Talkin To Me".
It chronicles the music made for Columbia by Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers between 1925 and 1931, including such important songs as "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down", "Can I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight, Mister?
In addition to 43 of Poole's original recordings, the package features performances by other early roots music players and singers, including Fred Van Eps, Arthur Collins, Billy Murray, Floyd Country Ramblers, Uncle Dave Macon and The Red Fox Chasers.
The original liner notes, by Peter Stampfel, state, "Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers recorded an incredible number of songs that are personal favorites of mine.