2ND SOUTH CAROLINA STRING BAND: Hard Road

2nd South Carolina String Band

Hard Road

© 2000 2nd South Carolina String Band (783707396521)

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An authentic recreation of a Civil War era camp band, playing lively, well known patriotic, homefront and minstrel songs and melodies on period acoustic instruments.

tracks

1 Tenting on the Old Camp Ground
2 Battle Cry of Freedom
3 Cavalier's Waltz
4 When Johnny Comes Marching Home
5 Cindy
6 Oh! Susanna
7 Invalid Corps
8 Buffalo Gals
9 Kingdom Coming
10 Bonnie Blue Flag
11 Jine the Cavalry
12 Ring de Banjo
13 Rose of Alabama
14 Camptown Races
15 Goober Peas
16 Cumberland Gap
17 Sweet Betsy from Pike
18 Lorena
19 The Vacant Chair
20 Richmond is a Hard Road

notes

The 2nd South Carolina String Band recorded their first album; WE'RE TENTING TONIGHT, in 1991. Containing 15 of the most popular songs of the War Between the States, it was well received from the start and continues to be a strong seller. In fact, it was so well received that the band was encouraged to produce a second album, WE ARE A BAND OF BROTHERS, released two years later in 1993. This recording profited from the experience gained since the first - being produced in a better studio with better technology - as well as from two more years of performances together by a band whose reputation was already spreading rapidly. This second album contained another 15 of the most well known songs of the era, thus making the two together a sort of "Top 30" of the Civil War.

Many years later, these two albums continue to attract listeners and fans, new and old. So much so that, pursuant to countless requests to bring them both out on CD, we have done just that! We are proud to offer the our first two albums together at last on one recording. The best of WE'RE TENTING TONIGHT and WE ARE A BAND OF BROTHERS, are here presented with a driving, spirited, and exciting sound worthy of the men whose memory and spirit we strive to honor and evoke.

Robert E. Lee once said, "We couldn't have an army without music."

Throughout history, music has always been of great importance to the military. The American Civil War was no exception. Critical group activities such as drilling and marching were taught to rhythm so as to forge automatic responses by constant repetition - an effective tool for teaching troops maneuvers needed for going into battle. Bugle calls and drum figures were components of music used to instruct new recruits and to guide veteran soldiers in the field.

But perhaps the most important use of music was not on the parade ground or battlefield. Often in war there are long periods between battles spent waiting in camp or bivouac. Boredom was one of the soldier's worst enemies and music in camp was one of his principal antidotes. On campaign, regimental brass bands and field musicians playing fife and drum performed on the march and in bivouac. In winter quarters it was the camp band or minstrel troupe's job to keep up morale. Every brigade had its own minstrel show, with commanders trading or commandeering the best talent for their band.

The 2nd South Carolina String Band is a true recreation of such a camp band. These musicians originally met as did those among the volunteers of 1861 - as riflemen in a company of infantry. This band was formed as theirs was - to entertain themselves and their comrades around the campfire. Since 1989 when they first began to play together, some of the founding members have retired and some new men joined, but the music has continued to improve and flourish.

Regarded by many as the best band of their kind in America, they have played in concert and at period dances at nearly all of the major national reenactments of the last ten years, for fund raisers as at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia, and at the dedication ceremonies for the last two monuments to ever be placed at Gettysburg National Battlefield Park. Their music can also be heard in two of Ken Burns' films, JAZZ and MARK TWAIN, as well as in performance and on the sound track of Ted Turner's GODS &GENERALS.

reviews

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  • hard road
    author: bill soileau

    now that is music !!!!!!!!!!!not enough good things to say, would'nt know how to start .

  • author: preston collum

    Beautiful music about a tragic time in Our history

  • Hard Road
    author: Sandra Jeter

    Outstanding selection of songs from the War Between The States era. When you are listening to the music, you can hear the joy, tears, as well as their hopes for Dixie!

  • Banjo good but off 70 years
    author: Chuck

    I like this CD but the 3 finger banjo style so well played here had another 70 years or so before invention. . . for certain not the way it was in 1862.

  • Hard Road
    author: Don

    Great recording. Just close your eyes, while listening, and your're back on 'the olde campground'! As I keep humming along most melodies, I wonder, whether 2nd SC could place the lyrics on their homepage? Concerning shipment, see 'Southern Soldier' by 2nd SC.

  • Wow, this is great !!
    author: C JASON LANDAU

    These dudes can really create what, I imagine, is a real civil war encampment show !! I love all of the songs, and have another of their cd's as well. Good stuff !!

  • Superb recreation of period music!
    author: Ladylikenyer

    This is the most beautiful version of "Cindy" I've ever heard. Keep it coming, boys!

  • These guys make their instruments sing, too.
    author: Rosalie Burns

    I love it! This is a wonderful group of musicians. I have three of their CDs and love 'em all.

  • Sensational treatment of some great period folk songs
    author: Paul

    Fantastic treatment these guys give to what are some really great traditional folk songs. I only wish I could play the banjo as well as they can.

  • author: Joan Shropshire

    In reading the previous reviews all of them express how I feel about the band. I was privileged to see them outside of Springfield, Mo. and later at the Antietum reenactment. Hard Times is the third CD I have. Being a Southerner, some of the music has brought me to tears. They're great!

  • ... beyond compare!
    author: Laurel Scott

    Truly stirring, and VERY addictive -- after listening to the 2nd SC, I can't bear to hear any other band play music of the Civil War era.

  • short version...outstanding
    author: R. Osmond

    An appropriate word to describe the superlative status of this cd escapes me. It is beyond anything i could think of. This is my second cd by this group and they continue to be great. I searched the ebay offerings for anything of comparison but there isn't any. The feeling of authenticity in the music makes me feel as if there had been recording equipment in the mid-19th century, this is what it would sound like. If you are a student of history or music, this cd will ring in your soul.

  • Well done in selection of songs Very good instrumentally and vocally
    author: Jim Dunlap

    A well done selection of Civil War period songs. Thanks for including the Battle Cry of Freedom (great banjo playing) and Lorena one of my favorite songs and coincidentally my wife's name. All songs are well done and good to sing along with.

  • It could only have been better if we'd won!
    author: Valerie Protopapas

    This is a wonderful CD. The choice of songs is excellent, revealing the hearts and minds of the men and women who lived during that most glorious and unhappy time and are performed in a bright, tuneful, 'down-home' style that never descends into amateurism. It makes one smile - and cry - and that's what music is all about.

  • Great Service - Great CD
    author: Vicki - Cincinnati

    Oooohh Baby! Nice job - the CD is great, so was the service. Thanks!

  • Looks like The South Shall Rise Again !
    author: Tom Brennan

    One of the joys of being a reenactor is sitting around a campfire with your messmates and singing and playing music. When winter comes you can listen to these South Carolina boys and get the same feeling. "Up men, and to your posts....." Tom Brennan 8th Texas Cavalry, Terry's Texas Rangers (impression)

  • Great! Excellent Sound!
    author: Victor Bohacheff

    pure dixie. Original sounds of banjos and fiddles. Keep on playing the good old sounds of the South ...

  • Authentic and lively classics from the Civil War era!
    author: A Random Giraffe

    Hard Road is a masterful collection for the American civil war buff and lovers of traditional music in general. The period instruments and strong vocal work serve the material well and showcase the musical aspect of an important era in the history of America. Highly recommended!

  • Superb period music.
    author: John

    Most authentic sounding civil war music I've heard. I'd have bought it just for Rose of Alabama anyway!

  • Gul... Durn.. Good!!!l
    author: Chris Goodyear

    First time I heard Rose of Alabama, was Clint Eeastwoods "Outlaw Jose Wales".Feel like I'm there. excellent period music. Thanks!

  • It's easy to like Hard Road!
    author: Randy Ingersoll, Gardiner, Montana

    The cd "Hard Road" starts with the song, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground"... at the very beginning you hear the sounds of frogs and crickets, setting the scene -- you are under the oak trees on a summer evening, gathered 'round the fire for the camaraderie that only music can bring. Suddenly the full, rich sounds of fiddle, guitar, and banjo pour in, and you settle down for a journey into the past filled with both joy and sorrow, that continues throughout the entire cd. It's simply beautiful.

  • Absolutely Terrrrrifffficccc
    author: Terry Ronstadt

    I finally got to hear Songs that I haven't heard in Years. I can remember my father singing Tenting tonight when I was a young girl around the campfire.I had never heard When Johnny comes Marching Home in its entiriety till now. Absolutely Terrrriffficcc!!!

  • Deo vidice,wonderful music,Greetings from Hagen,Westgermany
    author: Ulrich Rothtauscher

    Good ol' Southern Music

  • Heard this group live--own 3 of their CD's--traditional songs
    author: Frank

    Growing up in the '50's, I sang many of these songs in school. Although born a Yankee, my grandparents were from the Carolinas, and on hearing Dixie, they would have stood up. They, too, would have enjoyed the foot-stomping, sing- around-the-campfire songs, in spite of some of the lyrics being hard to understand. Played with insturments of the times including a jaw-bone, this album does justice to our history. Very enjoyable.

  • BEST MUSIC OF THE ERROR
    author: GEORGE RUTTER

    I AM A REANACTOR,THIS IS THE BEST GROUP REPRESENTING THAT TIME ERA.

  • Its the greatest music about this time period i've hear
    author: Woody
  • author: Wayne Ritchie

    3 songs on this not to miss. Hard timnes. Alabama Rose & bonnie blue flag. These songs get you to the heart of what it must have been like over a 140 years ago. The civil war is over but the music lives on, thanks to this group.

  • The best musical fun I've had
    author: John Ayers

    Hard Road is filled with authentic sounding versions of songs I've been singing since I was a little shaver. Rose of Alabamy is the best musical fun I've had in years and Vacant Chair and Tenting on the Old Camp Ground moved me almost to tears. This CD would be a delight to bluegrass fans, historians, sing-alongers, or anyone who enjoys just plain good music.

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