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Edison Cylinder Recording Bonnie Blue Flag!

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  • Edison Cylinder Recording Bonnie Blue Flag!

    Wow! Check this out guys. An Edison Cylinder recording of Confederate Veteran and his band the Old South Quartette singing the Bonnie Blue Flag! This is simply fantastic!

    The Cylinder is for sale on ebay at this link

    http://cgi.ebay.com/EDISON-CYLINDER-...d=p3286.c0.m14

    There is an mp3 version of this cylinder. You can download it from the ebay site. As soon as I can figure out how to attach an mp3 file to the AC site I will do. Hurry and listen to this authentic recording of the Bonnie Blue Flag by a CS vet before it is to late. There are also pictures I of Polk Miller and his band.

    Here is the discription and history of the cylinder.

    A white man, Polk Miller was from Prince Edward County, Virginia. "I was raised on a plantation where ~niggers~ were thicker than hops," Polk wrote in an undated newspaper sketch found among his papers, "and it was there that I learned to 'pick upon de ole banjo'." In Civil War he served as a Confederate artillery man and hospital steward. According to a biographical sketch written by his son Withers Miller for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Polk himself furled the Confederate banner at Appomattox. Afterwards Miller farmed for a while, and then ran a successful drug store and animal remedies company in Richmond. After a hard day's work, Polk enjoyed entertaining family and friends with his banjo and voice. His son Withers recalled: "He was thoroughly fond of music, having a good voice, his singing being one of his many accomplishments. In story telling he had few equals, if any, and no superiors. In interpreting the Negro dialect he excelled, and it was through this channel that he achieved his greatest fame."

    Polk Miller (1844-October 20, 1913)


    Polk Miller was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia in August, 1844. He learned to play the banjo while growing up from slaves on a his father's plantation. He became a druggist in Richmond in 1860. During the American Civil War, he served as a Confederate artilleryman.

    At his drugstore in Richmond, Miller began making remedies for Sergeant, his favorite hunting dog. His friends soon found these remedies worked for their dogs as well. In 1868, began selling the products in the drugstore. This was the beginning of Sergeant's Pet Care Products, Inc. The tradename was established in 1886. By 2007, over 400 pet care products were sold under the Sergeant's trade name.

    In 1892, he began performing music professionally. Polk Miller and his "Old South Quartette" had a variety show of "Stories, Sketches and Songs" depicting African American life before the Civil War. Miller was white, and the four members of the quartet were black. They gained national prominence, and toured between 1900 and 1912.

    At one performance, Mark Twain introduced Polk Miller at Madison Square Garden. Although he did not perform in blackface, Polk sometimes billed himself as "The Old Virginia Plantation Negro" and performed Negro spirituals and pop and folk tunes such as James A. Bland's Carry Me Back to Old Virginny. Miller and his quartet played colleges and military schools, as well as the "most exclusive social clubs" in New York, Boston, Baltimore, Washington, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. Polk Miller and the Old South Quartette also performed at African American churches.

    Polk Miller's and the Old South Quartette were featured on some of Thomas Edison's earlier phonograph recordings.

    NUMBER/LABEL: 2175 - Edison Blue Amberol Record Cylinder, approx. 4 minute, PAT'D.17, 1913
    Attached Files
    Last edited by AZReenactor; 09-21-2008, 10:33 PM. Reason: fixed link
    Paul Herring

    Liberty Hall Fifes and Drums
    Stonewall Brigade

  • #2
    Re: Edison Cylinder Recording Bonnie Blue Flag!

    The link in my previous post does not work by clicking on it. Copy and past in browser.

    I can not seem to post the music file on this forum. If anyone can help me with this please PM me, post instructions or better yet post the file here! It is fantastic!
    Paul Herring

    Liberty Hall Fifes and Drums
    Stonewall Brigade

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Edison Cylinder Recording Bonnie Blue Flag!

      I shall give it a try...

      Didn't seem to work.
      [FONT=Times New Roman]Yours most respectfully, your obedient servant,[/FONT]
      [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
      [FONT=Times New Roman]R. L. ("Rob") Griffiths.[/FONT]
      [FONT=Times New Roman][I]Member, Civil War Preservation Trust.[/I][/FONT]
      [FONT=Times New Roman][I]Authentic Campaigner member since November 10th, 2004.[/I][/FONT]

      [FONT=Times New Roman][I]"I am not aware of ever having used a profane expletive in my life, but I would have the charity to excuse those who may have done so, if they were in charge of a train of Mexican pack mules at the time."[/I] - U. S. Grant[I].[/I][/FONT]

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Edison Cylinder Recording Bonnie Blue Flag!

        Hey all,
        I found the same cylinder (and many other possible CW era bands) listed for sale on another site really cheap. Don't know if it is still available. Check it out:



        -Clay Pendleton
        Clay N. Pendleton
        Muncie, Ind.
        Memberships:
        CWPT, NTHP, AASLH, AAM, Phi Alpha Theta, NAWCC

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Edison Cylinder Recording Bonnie Blue Flag!

          Here is a link to hear/download the Mp3. While there take a look at the rest of the awesome collection and UCSB's preservation efforts! Sends shivers down your spine listening to this!



          ...Go to search collection and enter Polk Miller

          -Clay Pendleton
          Last edited by claynpendleton; 09-21-2008, 10:54 PM. Reason: fixed link
          Clay N. Pendleton
          Muncie, Ind.
          Memberships:
          CWPT, NTHP, AASLH, AAM, Phi Alpha Theta, NAWCC

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Edison Cylinder Recording Bonnie Blue Flag!

            I came across this site earlier as well. It has some Fife and Drum stuff too.

            That is a very very cool site. You gotta love the sound of those drums!
            Paul Herring

            Liberty Hall Fifes and Drums
            Stonewall Brigade

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Edison Cylinder Recording Bonnie Blue Flag!

              I've been listening to the recordings for an hour and a half...very addictive. The minstrel music section with songs such as "the virginia skedaddle" and "Celebratin' day in Tennessee" , etc. are must hears...especially for those who do first-person minstrel shows...very "un-PC" but great stuff nonetheless.

              -Clay Pendleton
              Clay N. Pendleton
              Muncie, Ind.
              Memberships:
              CWPT, NTHP, AASLH, AAM, Phi Alpha Theta, NAWCC

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Edison Cylinder Recording Bonnie Blue Flag!

                Mssrs. Herring and Pendelton,

                Now you have done it - I will not be able to do any work today thanks to your posts! Outstanding gentlemen. Now I am going to listen to William Jennings Bryan talk about the guaranty of bank deposits,

                Many thanks,
                Michael Shea

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Edison Cylinder Recording Bonnie Blue Flag!

                  Yes,

                  I too was up very very late last night listening to cylinders.
                  Paul Herring

                  Liberty Hall Fifes and Drums
                  Stonewall Brigade

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Edison Cylinder Recording Bonnie Blue Flag!

                    I agree very addicting.


                    William Summe
                    In Memory of George Weiser, 10th NJ INF, CO. A, 6th corps 1st divison, captured at the muleshoe of Spotsylvania,Va, imprisoned in Andersonville,GA. Born in 1839 died in 1927.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Edison Cylinder Recording Bonnie Blue Flag!

                      Originally posted by Hardtack Herring View Post
                      Wow! Check this out guys. An Edison Cylinder recording of Confederate Veteran and his band the Old South Quartette singing the Bonnie Blue Flag! This is simply fantastic!.....NUMBER/LABEL: 2175 - Edison Blue Amberol Record Cylinder, approx. 4 minute, PAT'D.17, 1913
                      Paul -

                      Yeah, fantastic is the word. I'll assume the lead singer is the old soldier, the Quartette his back-up. For our interests it's all about the singing, as the banjo strumming is strictly contemporary to the Jazz Age ; providing rhythm and key change on a steel-stringed instrument typical for 1913 vintage (likely a tenor or plectrum banjo) but not at all for CW.

                      The fine photo of the old gent indicates he had moved on from whatever style he had learned in his younger days and was using a more modern playing style and instrument, as would be expected for recording in particular.

                      Dan Wykes
                      Danny Wykes

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Edison Cylinder Recording Bonnie Blue Flag!

                        The CD is on Amazon.com.
                        Rick Bailey
                        Melodian Banjoist from Allendale and Founder of Waffle Schnapps.

                        Comment

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