I'm pleased to announce a milestone in Virginia musical history - the release of an audio CD of the music of the 19th Virginia Heavy Artillery Band, AKA The Smithfield Brass Band. The original band books, from the Museum of the Confederacy, are the only Virginia Confederate band books to survive.  Furthermore, they are the earliest band books that have been found for any Virginia municipal band.  By the end of the 19th century, every city and town of any size had a brass band, and today bands such as The City of Fairfax Band, The Charlottesville Municipal Band, and the Stonewall Brigade Band in Staunton are part of that heritage. The CD itself is a 100% product of Virginia - well, almost. The Crestmark Military Brass Band of Logan, Utah recorded the 16 selections plus five songs from the Museum of the Confederacy. But our daughter, Martha Carrington Cabell Peters, discovered that band two years ago while living with her family in Logan. Col. Keith Gibson, Director of Museum Operations at VMI narrates the CD 'concert.' I published the band books three years ago with a cover dedication to the Cabell-Breckinridge brass band at VMI. That brass band, with its reproduction Civil War over-the-shoulder saxhorns is about as close as we come today to the 19th Virginia Band. The VMI group performed for the Virginia premier of "Gods and Generals", and I believe will be performing again in Lexington this Thursday, May 15, at the annual commemoration of New Market Day. The CD is available from the Museum of the Confederacy, New Market Battlefield State Park, the museum shop in Jackson Memorial Hall at VMI, and www.AMAZON.COM (Search for '19th Virginia'). For further information, quantity discounts, gifts to libraries, etc., contact me offlist at [log in to unmask] .

Randy Cabell  - Boyce,  Virginia



To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html