The sticky symbol of the tarheel being practically a franchise in the Carolinas, it comes as no surprise that two different old-time bands used the name Carolina Tar Heels, this later version of the group actually forcing the first one to change its name to the Original Carolina Tar Heels to avoid confusion, a noble idea that didn't work. The first group using the Tar Heels title was formed in 1927, recorded for Victor, and was fronted through the years by Doc Walsh on guitar and banjo, eventually joined by the well-known Clarence Tom Ashley, among others. The second version of the band, under consideration here, was very popular around the Atlanta area in the early '30s. It was a resident band on Atlanta's WSB, playing regular shows including the Saturday night Broom Dance, based on the idea of sweeping the floor prior to a barn dance. The group also played regularly around the Atlanta area. It was led by Claude Davis, born Claude Dennis in Salisbury, NC, in 1895. Part of the group's appeal was that, in the manner of the extremely popular Gid Tanner & the Skillet Lickers, it was almost more of a vaudeville revue than a band, featuring not only musicians but comedian Louie Bailey and glamour in the form of singer Esther Mae Davis, known as the "Carolina Sunshine Girl." The band fizzled out in the mid-'30s. When the folk revival began in the '60s, the original Tar Heels group had the field clear to itself as this outfit failed to resurface. Leader Davis died in 1961. Bandmember Hoke Rice is perhaps the most famous member, having played with the Skillet Lickers and in the band of Skillet Licker fiddler Lowe Stokes, where Rice recorded one of the first examples of flat-picking guitar soloing on either a jazz or country record. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi