Homespun Songs of the C.S.A., Volume 5
(Homespun Songs of the C.S.A., Volume 5 performed by Bobby Horton, 3430 Sagebrook Lane, Birmingham, AL 35243, (205) 967-6426, compact disc, $15, cassette, $10 (postage included).
We reviewed Bobby Horton’s music for the first time in these pages eight years ago, when Horton released volume four of his series Homespun Songs of the C.S.A. At the time, he remarked that before he’d started performing Confederate songs, he believed there weren’t enough of them “to top off an anthill.”
Now, after more than a decade of digging through archives, Horton has amassed a large collection of sheet music for Civil War songs. His latest album release includes 18 of those tunes, most of which no one had ever recorded. Still, hundreds more survive only on the printed page, leaving Horton plenty of recording work for the future. “I could be doing this from now on,” he says. “I just want to make sure these songs aren’t lost forever. When the people selling my music say, ‘Oh, no, not another one,’ then I’ll know it’s time to quit.”
Horton records his music in his home studio, singing all the vocal parts and playing all the instruments, which include cornet, banjo, mandolin, and drums. “The material is so good,” he says, “that even I don’t mess it up.” His modesty aside, the music that comes out of his modern one-man band effectively re-creates the sound and spirit of a group of Civil War soldiers sitting around a campfire, playing instruments and singing songs to release powerful pent-up emotions. “It’s not macho to cry about not being able to go home,” Horton says, “but you can sing about it.”
Carl Zebrowski
