Man Behind Rednex New Song "Poor Boy Pour" 2025
Man Behind Rednex New Song "Poor Boy Pour" 2025
Born into a family of North Carolina cotton mill workers, Charlie and
his family moved from Iredell County to Randolph County, finally
settling at Haw River in Alamance County around 1900. Poole acquired
a love of banjo music before he reached his teens learning to play on
gourd banjo that he made for himself. He was heavily influenced by his
older cousin, Daner Johnson, who finger picked the banjo in a
classical style on the model of such players as Fred Van Eps. As a
child laborer in the local cotton mill spinning room, Poole earned
enough money to buy a real banjo for $1.50. Poole's early marriage
ended in part due to his extreme wanderlust, which took him as far as
Canada and Montana. During a "ramble" to West Virginia he encountered
a crippled coal miner named Posey Rorer who was an exceeding fine
old-time fiddler. In 1920, Poole became Posey's brother-in-law after
marrying Posey's sister Lou Emma who worked in the cotton mills in
Spray( now Eden), North Carolina. From 1920 until his death in 1931,
Spray would be Poole's home. Apart from working from time to time in
the Spray Cotton Mills and making moonshine whiskey with Posey in
Franklin County, Virginia, Poole and Rorer spent more and more of
their time making music. Aside from playing for country dances, the
duo played at courthouses, train depots, mill gates, etc. busking for
coins.
In the winter of 1924-1925 they, along with Poole's childhood friend
and guitarist Clarence Foust, played a series of fiddle contests in
West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee organized by a traveling
preacher who eventually ran off with all of their money. Poole and
Rorer usually won the top prizes in their respective categories and
though they never received any money for their efforts, they did
establish reputations as outstanding musicians. In the summer of 1925
Poole along with Rorer and fellow musician from Spray, guitarist
Norman Woodlieff, quit their local jobs and headed to New York.
Poole, who was illiterate at this point in his life, boldly decided to
try to get an audition with a major record company in the city. His
courage paid off when Frank Walker, the recording director for
Columbia Records, decided to give the band, now dubbed the North
Carolina Ramblers, a chance to record. Though the band received only $
75 for their four songs recorded on July 27, 1925, the venture proved
very profitable for Columbia. The first release, DON'T LET YOUR DEAL
GO DOWN BLUES b/w CAN I SLEEP IN YOUR BARN TONIGHT MISTER? sold a
phenomenal 102,000 copies at a time when a hit record was considered
to be anything that sold over 20,000. The next release, THE GIRL I
LEFT IN SUNNY TENNESSEE b/w I'M THE MAN THAT RODE THE MULE 'ROUND THE
WORLD, sold another 65,000 copies. Poole's snappy singing style and
his sharp 3-finger banjo picking along with the tight fiddle work of
Rorer and Woodlieff's smooth guitar runs made the band's sound very
distinctive and catchy. The hit records put the North Carolina
Ramblers in great demand as they were now freed from the cotton mills
to pursue music full-time. Poole and the band returned to New York six
more time times to record. These sessions produced the very first
recorded versions on such songs as WHITE HOUSE BLUES and IF I LOSE
that are still sung and recorded by bluegrass musicians. Other Poole
recordings such as SWEET SUNNY SOUTH, GOODBYE MARY DEAR, BUDDED ROSE,
THERE'LL COME A TIME, MILWAUKEE BLUES, and LEAVIN' HOME among others
are still revered by fans of old-time music. Though the band
underwent personnel changes with Roy Harvey of West Virginia replacing
Norman Woodlieff and Lonnie Austin and then Odell Smith replacing
Posey Rorer, the band continued to maintain the same high quality of
musicianship. Spin off bands from the North Carolina Ramblers such as
those led by Roy Harvey and Posey Rorer also produced important
recordings including the very first recordings of FOOTPRINTS IN THE
SNOW and I'LL ROLL IN MY SWEET BABY'S ARMS in 1931. These bands had a
heavy Charlie Poole influence including 3 finger banjo picking and
long bow fiddle style.
In the spring on 1931 Poole received a contract from a Hollywood
studio to bring his band to California to play back-up in a movie.
During a prolonged celebration of what would have been a great
opportunity to bring Poole's sound to a wider audience, Poole suffered
a fatal heart attack at the age of 39. Poole in his short career had
won many new fans to rural traditional music. His colorful personality
and antics made him a legend in his own time and that legend continues
to this day. Tales are still told around the cotton mill towns and
mountain villages about the time that Charlie Poole came to their
town. He was and still is loved by his fans.
Rednex – Poor Boy Pour (From Moonshine to Dancefloor – A 100-Year-Old Drinking Song Reborn).
- August 5, 2025
- , 4:49 am
- , Home, News, Uncategorized
Rednex – Poor Boy Pour
From Moonshine to Dancefloor – A 100-Year-Old Drinking Song Reborn
Rednex — the band behind Cotton Eye Joe — returns with Poor Boy Pour, a high-energy drinking anthem rooted in a century-old folk tune and soaked in festival madness.
The song’s origins trace back to Charlie Poole, an early country music outlaw whose life was as wild as his music: he lost part of his hand in a baseball accident, played banjo with three fingers, and bought his first instrument with money earned from bootlegging. His 1920s classic Take a Drink on Me — the basis for Poor Boy Pour — was a massive hit in its time.
Now, Rednex has teamed up with Ulm-based producer Chris Diver and Pat Reiniz, the original producer of Cotton Eye Joe, to give the song new life. The result is a stomping, fiddle-fueled banger that turns vintage Americana into a 2020s dancefloor weapon.
And it doesn’t stop with the music. Rednex has launched a “Summer Pour” campaign across Europe — dousing festival crowds, wedding guests, and backyard partygoers with buckets of water mid-song. The footage? Unfiltered, unplanned, and absolutely drenched — soon to be part of a chaotic new video.
It might be the oldest cover on the dancefloor, but between bootlegging legends and soaked summer partiers, Poor Boy Pour is making a splash wherever it goes.
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