A copy of a CD by the quartet, Bucking Mules, “Smoke Behind the Clouds,” mysteriously appeared in the incoming mail unsolicited.
The cover photo of one of the earlier hotels on the rim of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee overlooking Moccasin Bend (Point Hotel) necessitated a quick scan of the contents of the disc.
Upon reviewing the writings on the jacket and the summaries of the songs contained therein further review was necessary on several points.
Additional discovery produced the moniker of the lead singer and fiddler (JD) whose name just happens to be the same as his 100 year old grandfather who hit the Century mark on May 28, 2025. (KCH on guitar), LR (banjo) and JD (bass fiddle) are the other talented members of the quartet).
The title of the historical song produced further flashbacks to prior stories reduced to music that also produced memorable stories from prior experience.
The song, “Jasper Jail,” speaks of one of two recalled stories from the Marion County and Montagle Mountain areas.
While incarcerated in the jail in the little town that served as the most famous speed trap in the 1940s-1950s in America along US Highway 41, an inmate spied a fair young maiden strolling along the streets of Jasper. Intoxicated in more than one way he expressed his intention of contacting her when he had served his sentence.
He did. She stopped his drinking and he became a lay Baptist preacher, successful businessman, and proud father of several children.
A separate tale about the local incarceration venue is told in the songs of one of the most distinguished residents of Sewanee, location of the University of the South.
Although stories somewhat differ about the relationships of the natives and said prestigious institute of higher education the name of Hamper McBee is etched in the history of the community and he is acknowledged as the subject in “Jasper Jail” on the CD.
Henry Walter “Hamper” McBee (1931-1998) was recognized as one of the better singers of unaccompanied songs and ballads.
Stories of Hamper as a moonshiner, singer, and carnival barker are part of his legend in Middle Tennessee.
He was also known to show up at the “teetotaling” fraternity houses at the all while, male institution in bib overalls on a party weekend and provided welcome companionship.
Hamper’s expertise as a moonshine maker was displayed at the 1984 World’s Fair in Knoxville where he constructed and operated a still for the viewing public.
The autobiographical commentary of “Jasper Jail” concluded with the comment, “he noted that the price of a night in Jasper Jail went up significantly over time.”
Hamper was a genuine “mountain man” known to several generations of students and teachers at the University of the South and the Highlander Folk School near his home on Monteagle.
Hamper would pass on May 3, 1998 after being described by a writer in 1978 as the “modern prototype for an immoral character that liked drinking, singing, dancing, yarn spinning, and loving who hated preachers, hypocrites in any form, sheriffs, and middle-class bankers!!”
(The downtown Jasper Jail on the second floor of a building across from the old courthouse is long gone but the words and music of Hamper McBee survive!)
If you have additional information about one of Mr. Summers' articles or have suggestions or ideas about a future Chattanooga area historical piece, please contact him at jsummers@summersfirm.com)