Barbershops, Bullets, and Ballads

Book excerpt: Through Barbershops, Bullets, and Ballads: An Annotated Anthology of Underappreciated American Musical Jewels, 1865--1918, you will discover older musical gems written during a half-century period of geographical, economic, political, and cultural expansion in the United States. Due to the fact that our collective American consciousness is rapidly developing cultural amnesia about or indifference to many of these older songs, the authors felt that a scholarly anthology needed to be produced before another century and millennium overwhelmed us. With Barbershops, Bullets, and Ballads, you will discover academic composers such as Arthur Foote, George Chadwick, and Amy Beach and find annotations outlining the history of the songs as well as the actual words and music. Barbershops, Bullets, and Ballads reveals to you such underappreciated songs as: “Above in Her Chamber,” with music by Julius Eichberg and lyrics by poet Celia Thaxter “In the Evening by the Moonlight,” with music and lyrics by James A. Bland “My Wild Irish Rose,” with music and lyrics by Chauncey Olcott “Cheyenne,” by lyricist Harry H. Williams and composer Egbert Van Alstyne “Come, Josephine in My Flying Machine,” with music by Fred Fisher and lyrics by Alfred Bryan In Barbershops, Bullets, and Ballads, you will find sections containing historical notes of featured songs in chronological order. Through this remarkable collection, you will discover an anthology of popular music of the bygone “golden age” of song and take a pleasurable voyage back to a time that is long gone.