“Pallet on the Floor” (PDF) from the Ronell Johnson album, That Gentilly Swing.

“Make Me a Pallet on the Floor,” as described by folk guitarist Sam Chatmon to archivist Alan Lomax, “it’s a blues-type, but it ain’t a blues.” The 16-bar blues, which begins on the IV chord and features “Georgia”-style chord changes to bridge the verse with the turnaround, is a form that resembles the popular ragtime music of the late-nineteenth century. Prior to its earliest recordings and derivative works, reports circulated of its performance throughout the South but the song’s origins have never been accurately documented.

Similarly, “Make Me a Pallet on the Floor” and its connection to New Orleans is wrapped up in the folklore around trumpeter Buddy Bolden. Often credited as the musician who created the music that would become known as jazz, by bridging ragtime and blues with a syncopated beat, Bolden was revered by those who were lucky to have ever heard the musician perform, such as pianist “Jelly Roll” Morton. “Pallet on the Floor” is remembered as one of Bolden’s signature tunes that would inspire the popularity of early jazz in the twentieth century.

Also worth noting that the spirit of Buddy Bolden continues through the music of his great-grandchild, trombonist Sammie Williams of Big Sam’s Funky Nation.

Here is a YouTube video of Sam Chatmon performing “Make Me a Pallet on the Floor” from the Alan Lomax Archive:

Recommended reading: In Search of Buddy Bolden: The First Man of Jazz by Donald M. Marquis. Published by LSU Press