Customer Reviews

Songs of the Civil War

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Civil War songs haunt my earliest memories. My father was a history buff who had his boys memorizing the Gettysburg Address before they entered kindergarten, and I cannot remember a time when I did not know the songs of the Union and Confederate soldiers. As someone who has known and loved these songs all my life, I must say that `Songs of the Civil War' is simply one of the best collections of this music that I have ever heard.
The songs on this collection were obviously selected with great care. Many of the greatest hits of the Civil War are here, like When Johnny Comes Marching Home, Dixie Land, and Marching through Georgia, but more obscure material has also been included, like Lincoln & Liberty, which was an unofficial campaign song for the Republican in the 1860 election. Both Union and Confederate songs are well represented. These songs do not attempt to recreate arrangements and instrumentation of the 1860s, and might not pass muster at a strict re-enactor's campfire, but they are outstanding examples of the best of folk, country, and gospel music.
The real strength of this CD is the all-star cast that performs these songs. Jay Unger is here, opening the CD with his haunting fiddle tune Ashokan Farewell, which gained fame through Ken Burn's Civil War documentary. The late, great John Hartford performed three songs, including the best rendition of Lorena that I have ever heard. Ever the good ol' Southern boy, Waylon Jennings lent his distinctive growl to fine versions of Rebel Soldier and An Old Unreconstructed. Hoyt Axton turned in my favorite performance on the CD with a near perfect rendition of Yellow Rose of Texas. I was initially put off by the country twang in Kathy Mattea's rendition of the mournful song of loss Vacant Chair, but through repeated listening, it grew on me as a beautiful alternate take on this sad old song. Sweet Honey in the Rock brought their amazing harmonies to songs of the experience of the black men and women around whose fate the Civil War raged. Their performances of No More Auction Block for Me and Run, Mourner Run bristle with power and beauty.
Whether you are an old fan of these songs adding to your Civil War collection, or are new to this music and are looking for a good introduction to this piece of American history in song, `Songs of the Civil War' is outstanding, and will not disappoint.

Theo Logos

As I sit here writing this review the CD `Songs of the Civil War' is playing in the background. There are two things, which surprise me; firstly that each time I listen to this collection I enjoy it that little bit more and secondly after playing it so much I'm surprised that the disc hasn't wore away to nothing! Ken Burns, the co-producer of this album and of course the producer of the spectacular TV series `The Civil War' suggests that "Music, songs are a kind of glue that holds our history together and binds the present with the past to form our most important memories." Unlike the soundtrack to the series, which is mainly traditional music and instrumentals `Songs of the Civil War', offers the listener a whole range of songs that capture the essence of the both the Civil War and the social and political philosophies that gave birth to it. There are songs from the perspective of both North and South, from the position of the soldier, from their families left behind, from the slaves on the auction block, ballads, foot stompers, humour and laments, they are all represented here and then there is Ashokan Farewell which still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!

I highly recommend `Songs of the Civil War' to you and encourage you add not only it but also the soundtrack to the series to your music collection.

Enjoy!

If you liked the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" or have actually heard of the album "White Mansions," then you would want to check out this 1991 collection of "Songs of the Civil War." The various artists are not only folk singers like Judy Collins and Richie Havens, but country singers such as Waylon Jennings and Kathy Mattea, and artists who work the area in between, namely John Hartford. But mainly this album is going to be of primary interest to those interested in the Civil War who will most enjoy hearing familiar songs sung by familiar voices, and certainly be introduced to both new songs and singers as well, such as when Sweet Honey in the Rock sings "No More Auction Block." Sometimes you will be surprised to learn who is singing what, as I was when Jennings did "Rebel Soldier," but that just speaks to why this is such a great album.

In fact, when the U.S. Military Band shows up to play instrumental version of "Dixie's Land" and "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," it is something of a disappointment since these tracks are most like what we have heard on previous collections of Civil War music. I know that Havens is not doing "Follow the Drinking Gourd" the way it was done back in the 1850s, but I do not have a problem with his "modern" interpretation of the song sung by slaves traveling the Underground Railroad. The only one where I did not like the interpretation was when Hartford did "Lorena" more up tempo than I think the song should be sung. There are some liberties taken with the song selection, because while "Ashokan Farewell" is so closely identified with the Civil War because of the Ken Burns documentary, it is not a song "from" the Civil War (I suppose that semantically "of" gets the title off the hook). Not that I have gone through and checked the bona fides of each of these twenty-five songs. When Ronnie Gilbert of the Weavers shows up to sign the political song "Lincoln and Liberty," I am not about to complain. Hoyt Axton's "Yellow Rose of Texas" is about as far out of place as anything gets on the album, but he also does "Oh I'm a Good Ole Rebel," which is clearly on firmer ground.

What might be most impressive about this collection is the way it combines so many different musical styles, from Traditional Folk and Black Gospel to Bluegrass and Outlaw Country. There are more and you can quibble on the labels, but you get the point. Standout tracks for me were Mattea's "Southern Solider Boy," Hartford's tender "Aura Lee," Sweet Honey in the Rock's "Run, Mourner, Run," and the McGarrigle sisters on the Stephen Foster song "Better Times Are Coming." Actually, all three of the songs Kate and Anna sing on the album are by Stephen Foster, which certainly suits their harmonic talents. Mattea has three tracks as well and is as much of a standout performer on the album as anyone. Final Note: choosing to do "Marching Through Georgia" as an instrumental strikes me as making a point of avoiding having the lyrics of the most hated song of the Civil War (by far) on the album (not that there is anything wrong with that). The fact that "Songs of the Civil War" ends with Steve Luck blowing "Taps" is just a final reminder that they knew what they were doing when they put this album together.

I can't vouch for the authenticity, but to my non-historical-musically-trained ear, it sounds like it could be authentic. This is a collection of Civil War -era songs, and probably more modern songs written about that era. They are performed by a wide variety of musicians, from the U.S. Military Academy Band to Judy Collins to Waylon Jennings to the McGarrigle Sisters. The arrangements sound authentic - I'm not hearing any electronic instruments - but they don't sound like they're performed on "period" instruments. Personal favorites are the gospel-sounding tunes "No More Auction Block for Me" and "Run, Mourner, Run," and the Richie Havens tunes "Follow the Drinking Gourd" and "Give Us A Flag."

The entire collection is interesting and widely varying in mood, from melancholy to gung-ho. Just under 70 minutes of music here. I would recommend it to anybody who loves music, and is interested in the lore of this dark period in history.

There seems to be some confusion between reviewers, as to whether this is the "Ken Burns" music (from the documentary television series). My CD says "Produced by Jim Brown, Ken Burns and Don DeVito." But inside, it says the recordings are from the PBS Special, "The Songs of the Civil War." Have I cleared up the confusion?

I feel like I've owned this since just after Gettysburg. It's simply a wonderful CD, as the other reviewers here all happily attest. But the money track on this disc is Kate McGarrigle singing "Hard Times Come Again No More". This version of one of America's most moving songs is the best ever recorded. It made me cry like an onion salesman. If there's any justice in the world, those McGarrigle women will come out of whatever constitutes "retirement" for folk singers and do a whole CD full of Foster's most moving songs. Come on and sing, Kate. And bring along Anna. There's nothing good on TV anyway.

Hi! I love this CD because it has every song I wanted, plus some I didn't know. I'm a Civil War Reenator so authenticity is important. I was disappointed that "Dixie" was instrumental only, but the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is so moving, it more than made up for it.

Just seeing this brings tears to my eyes. These songs will make you feel as if your sitting around a camp fire the night before a battle or on those long miserable marches. This CD will make you feel like you are there.

This album is absolutely wonderful. It's a great history lesson as well as just good music. Kathy Mattea has one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard, and John Hartford was such a wonderful musician (I say "was" because he passed away in 2001). Sweet Honey in the Rock and Kate & Ann McGarrigle have beautiful harmonies, and the military pieces are great. Music is essential to understanding history, and this album is a history lesson in itself.

One of the best recordings of what I term "entry-level" war music. Not necessarily entirely accurate campfire portrayls, but still good. Wonderful companion to the Burns series. In fact-it's a Burns recording.

There are a surprisingly large number of civil war collections available on CD via Amazon, but most will cost a lot more than this one, and likely give you less satisfaction. This item was a vocal companion piece to the instrumental soundtrack for the 1990's PBS mini-series by Ken Burns. Overall, it is much more satisfying than the instrumental disc. Of course, with 25 tracks, no one will like each song equally. I was disappointed in the selections featuring "Sweet Honey in the Rock." While I respect the lead singer of that group, Bernice Johnson Reagon, the performances here seem to show off her group instead of the power of the old song. That's not a problem with any of the other tracks. For an example, compare Sweet Honey's version of "No More Auction Block" with Paul Robeson's: in his recording, there are no showy vocal effects to distract from the pain, protest and power of the lyric. That is a minor quibble, however, because this disc rewards repeated listening, and features fine performances by Kathy Mattea, Hoyt Axton, Waylon Jennings, Judy Collins, John Hartford, the McGarrigle sisters, Richie Havens and Ronnie Gilbert. There were a few songs unfamiliar to me, which is always nice to discover. The most enjoyable civil war collection I ever heard never made it to CD, which is a shame. It was an LP created by the National Geographic Society around 1970, with only around a dozen tracks, but great performances. Even my son, not yet three years old, liked the version of "Goober Peas" on that record. I wish NatGeo would reissue their whole series of late '60's and early '70's records on CD before the format vanishes...maybe as two LP's on one disc. I owned almost every one of them at one time, and wore them out playing them: Hawaii, Cumberland Gap, Songs of the Sea, Songs of the Civil War, In the Good Old Summertime, Barbershop Melodies, John Phillip Sousa marches, and others. In their absence, I am glad to have this product and I thank Columbia and Ken Burns for making it happen.