I’ve got a book on my shelf that I have rarely considered. It’s called “Singing Soldiers: A History of the Civil War in Song.” Selections and historical commentary are by Paul Glass. Musical arrangements for piano and guitar are by Louis C. Singer.
One of the grand things about the information age in which we we live is that one can pick up a book like this, go to pretty much any song within, and quickly find a YouTube video of someone singing it. I randomly chose this ditty, “We’ll Fight for Uncle Abe,” originally written in 1863 – words by C.E. Pratt, music by Frederick Buckley. (The 1987 date above is of course the year it was recorded it). I then did a bit of computer searching and clicking and found Bobby Horton “a bluegrass musician, music historian, songwriter and arranger, best known for his extensive discography of Civil-era music and his long-time collaboration with documentarian Ken Burns.”
Horton is a member of Three on a String, which performs frequently in the Birmingham (Alabama) area, and has recorded and released fourteen volumes of Civil War songs on his own label. He is best known for providing period music for documentaries created by Ken Burns, including “Mark Twain,” “Lewis & Clark,” “Baseball,” “The Civil War,” “Thomas Jefferson,” “Frank Lloyd Wright”, “Horatio’s Drive” and “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea”. Horton has also provided music for sixteen National Park Service films and has performed educational songs for the “Lyrical Learning” series.
BHAMWIKI
As a guitar player and occasional clawhammer banjo picker, and someone with a mild in interest in Civil War music, I sometimes threaten to learn more about the songs of the period. I have now apparently tripped on the motherlode. Good for me.