Frequently Asked Questions
 

1.  Why did you start this site?  I started this site because I firmly believe that Annette Hanshaw is one of the great female vocalists of this century and that history has passed her by. I believe that art will endure, that great artists will stand the “test of time”.  I think Annette’s work is just as relevant and entertaining today as it was when it was first produced.  I think historically that Bing Crosby was the greatest male singer of this century and that Annette Hanshaw was the greatest female singer of this century.  The work that was produced by Annette includes some of the greatest jazzmen to ever come along.  Whether by sheer luck or happenstance it came to be.  The work she produced is a collected work, with each great musician contributing his or her part to make the final recorded piece.

2.  What are your goals for the site?  My main goal with the site is to get the word out about Annette and her work.  I envision the site to be similar to the Bing Crosby society wherein collectors from all around the world can contribute to the site.  Anyone with an old magazine article, an old newspaper article, an old photograph, can send it in and I will scan it into the site for all to share.  I believe the key here is sharing.  The great power of the Internet is to share the information, for students, collectors and fans of old music or whatever.

3.  When did you first hear Annette Hanshaw sing?  I was sitting in my sailboat in Tahiti listening to the French radio station drinking a Hinano!  I thought at first that this singer was French but she had such perfect English I listened for her name that I first heard the words, Annette Hanshaw.   I didn’t know for many years to come who or what she was or where she came from.  But I remembered and vowed to find out more about her someday.

4.  Are you out to make a buck off this site?  Absolutely not!  The one thing I learned about my sailing in the South Pacific was the islander’s tradition of sharing.  Although I am going to firmly promote all of her records and the record sites that sell her records I personally have no interest in benefiting financially from this endeavor.  I do it for the true love of music.  I will help provide any information to anyone that asks it and will buy extra copies of her CD’s when they are released as I have found that record companies don’t often release her work for long.  I will try to maintain a collection as best can and encourage anyone with old 78’s that they own, to send them in to share on the site.

5.  What links are going to provide?  I have been searching the Internet since the Internet first began and the one thing I have learned is that it is the “Great Melting Pot”.  It is the biggest flea market that man ever invented.  You can find more information about the most detailed things that you ever imagined.  And every time the Internet does not fill that void someone comes along and starts up a site to cover that issue.  Well, I have found a lot of the best critics and collectors that rave about the records that Annette produced and the musicians that she recorded with, but I have seen nothing on the Internet about it.  I do not mean to compete with any other site on the net.  In fact, I want to complement and encourage other sites and will include links to other music from this era.

6.  How often will you update this site?  As often as my wife will let me!  Whenever there is new information out there I will update it.  This site is out there for the long term.  I intend to keep it going for the long term and with my other site about the South Pacific (Marooned On Flint Island!)I want each site to be a reference work for future historians, for collectors, for students gathering information for school projects.  The keyword for both sites is to “share the information”

7.  Are you forming the “Annette Hanshaw Society”?  That is a good question.  A group of collectors formed the Bing Crosby society in both England and the United States and they have a very good site.  I think that is possible as Annette’s work transcends continents and cultures.  Art will endure.

8.  How are you going to organize the site?  I propose to layout the site with certain sections to involve the primary scope of her work.  I will have a section on her discography, a section on her life, a section on recorded works out there and most importantly where you can find CD’s, records, cassette or 78’s of her work.  The discography section will be the biggest as I want to get the listener into the depth of her work.  Some of her recorded works are incredible not for just what she did in the song but what the musicians did together in the song.  Tommy Dorsey once said of Annette that she was a “musician’s singer”.  I have never forgotten that statement and it rings as true today as it did then.  Even at her young age she knew how to let the musicians take over when it was there spot.  She was not a singer that had to dominate a song but a “creator” that let everyone takes his or her spot on cue.  In the discography section therefore you will find me analyzing ad nauseum each of her works.
 
 
 

-Joe Werner

 

 
 
 
 
 

                       Please check out my other site at: Marooned at Flint Island at:  Marooned on Flint Island