A hybrid style of popular music that has affinities with jazz and country blues. The term ‘skiffle’ appears originally to have been applied in the USA during the 1930s to entertainment provided at rent parties, which encompassed blues, barrelhouse, boogie-woogie and other styles of black popular music. This music was revived in the 1950s, mostly by white groups, who learnt the repertory from touring black performers and from recordings. Skiffle bands played in a style loosely based on that of the spasm bands from New Orleans and such groups as the Mound City Blue Blowers led by Red McKenzie. They often included acoustic guitar, harmonica, kazoo, jug, washtub bass and washboard or drums, and the chordal and melodic instruments provided a simple three- or four-chord accompaniment to a vocal part.
While the skiffle revival of the 1950s embraced the USA and Germany, it gained most ground in Great Britain. The earliest recordings by Chris Barber (1951) and Ken Colyer (1954), made with skiffle groups drawn from their jazz bands, exemplified the style of such ensembles, but the best-known recording of the period was Rock Island Line (1954, Decca) by Lonnie Donegan with Barber’s group. Donegan’s work was modelled on that of the blues singer and guitarist Leadbelly. Donegan and his imitators enjoyed considerable popularity until about 1959, when skiffle gave way, both in the USA and Europe, to ‘beat’ music and to rock and roll.
D. Boulton: Jazz in Britain (London, 1958)
G. Melly: Revolt into Style: the Pop Arts in Britain (London, 1970)