David Kincaid - Vocals, Guitar, Banjo, Octave Mandolin, Bodhrán & Percussion Liz Knowles - Fiddle
Jerry O’Sullivan - Uilleann Pipes, Flute & Whistle
This early-war broadside ballad marks the distinction between the Irish 69th New York State Militia, which had fought so bravely at the first Battle...

"Sail Away Ladies" is a traditional American fiddle tune with a history rooted in British Isles folk music and later popularized in the United States through various recordings and performances

Andrew Jackson's decisive American victory over the British at the Battle of New Orleans is the stuff of legend. Fought at the end of the War of 1812 stories, movies and even songs have been written about it. The most popular tune was written in 1821. It lionized the Kentucky long rifle and the m...

Like most broadside ballads (lyric sheets) from the American Civil War period, this one was not dated. Found on several versions by at least two different publishers, we can approximate the timing of the publishing of this piece by the content of the lyric, which in this case would be the summer ...

Toscanini in his prime was hailed as the ultimate Beethoven conductor. Not everyone agrees today, citing his relentless tempos and hard-driving intensity. But in pieces like the Fifth Symphony, or the present Overture, this style is just what is needed. Beethoven was not naturally inclined to ope...

David Kincaid - Vocals, Guitar, Banjo & Percussion Liz Knowles - Fiddle
Jerry O’Sullivan - Uilleann Pipes, Flute & Whistle
Penned by one “Corporal Barney,” this broadside ballad was likely published in the latter part of 1864. As these were rarely, if ever, dated by the publishers, the mention of...

“The “Battle Cry of Freedom” was composed by professional song writer George F. Root for a July 1862 Chicago war rally. The rally was in support of President Abraham Lincoln‘s call for an additional 300,000 volunteers to fill the ranks of the shrinking Union Army. The song was published In 1862 b...

This being the last live concert by the legendary 2nd South Carolina String Band, performed in Gettysburg, PA November 15th 2024, Remembrance Day Weekend for the benefit of the Lomas Center Museum Gettysburg.

Schubert’s Ave Maria, perhaps the best known of his over 600 songs, here played in an arrangement for violin solo by the youthful virtuoso Jascha Heifetz, then only 19.
Recorded in 1918 by Victor Records on a heavy 78 rpm disc, it was only recorded on one side; the other was left blank. It sold f...

First published in Philadelphia in 1838, “Old Rosin the Beau” likely comes to us from the British Isles. The words and melody are ‘traditional’, meaning there is no known lyricist or composer on record. For the longest time, we naturally thought the title referred to the “bow” that is “rosined” t...

Three brief orchestral numbers from Prokofiev’s bizarre fairy tale opera, conducted by a magician who delighted in bringing the new and strange to his audiences. This is perfect Stokowski material, exotic and well off the beaten path. During his years away from the Soviet Union from 1918 to 1936,...

THE BONNIE BLUE FLAG

The flag itself - a single white 5-point star on a dark blue field - first appeared in 1810 as the banner of the 'Republic of West Florida', but was quickly ushered off history's stage by the Louisiana Purchase after hardly 3 months. Some years after, another version reappea...

From the extensive “O’Grady Collection” is The 1812 Overture, as recorded in 1910, with historical information and pictures to accompany the music. This acoustic recording was performed by Charles Adams Prince and Prince’s Band for Columbia in New York City. The music was gathered by a large acou...

Adrian Boult and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, 1934. A classic old warhorse in a great performance from the earliest days of the BBC Symphony, created largely by Boult just five years before. Composed by Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo de Suppé, the prolific creator of over 300 works and best known...

In America of the early 1800s, nonsense songs were frequently written about larger than life characters. This tune, written by Dan Emmett and published in 1843 by Charles Keith Company of Boston, Mass. is a great example. The song was popularized by Emmett’s band, the “Virginia Minstrels,” and is...

A charming extended piece of music (about 30 minutes) by an American composer who is seldom heard nowadays, but whose music was highly popular in the 1920s and is well worth hearing now. Deems Taylor was almost a household name in those days, being prominently seen and heard in magazines and on r...

Willem Mengelberg and the New York Philharmonic, 1925.
An early electric recording of this famous overture by an old-school Wagnerian conductor. It’s a good example of the late nineteenth-century approach to this music, all storm and melodrama. Mengelberg was regarded in his day as one of the gre...

A highly dramatic orchestral fantasy written in the old grand manner, and not as famous as it used to be, it can still be exciting and highly evocative in a good performance. This one is exceptional, with just the right orchestral balance, and very full sound just a few years before the age of th...

An old-fashioned overture of the kind that was loved by American summer town bands a century ago, played by Arthur Pryor’s band in 1908. Pryor was a trombone virtuoso who had played in Sousa’s band. The recording was made acoustically, that is with no electric amplification and with the whole ban...