In the Nutmeggers’ recordings featured on “In High Water: Songs of the Civil War,” we hope to do justice to those musicians who came before us, and especially those who gave their all, that we might see “a new birth of freedom.”
As Civil War veteran Albert Baur noted in his “Reminiscences of a Banjo Player”:
“We did not… lose our love for music; and some of us would manage to have it at any price… Strict orders were at all times issued that no baggage must be carried for an enlisted man in any of the wagons, while the amount carried for Commissioned Officers was cut down to the barest necessities. "Where there's a will, there's a way," and a few of us managed with the help of a friendly teamster to stow away a tack head banjo… If the weather was plesant a crowd would gather around the camp fire, the banjo and accordeon having been "sneaked" out of the wagon and a door from some farm house or a couple of boards having been put on the ground on one side of the fire the audience would take its place on the opposite side, when the evening's entertainment would be gone through with. It consisted of songs with banjo and accordeon accompaniment, stories of home, and jig dancing. The performances were crude but helped while away many a lonely hour and reminded us of home and friends in the far North.”
We seek to honor the spirit and humanity of those brave souls who fought so that this nation might live. This is their music, and these are their stories.
Listen to In the High Water
Liner Notes, Details about Each Song
- Angelina Baker
- Sail Away Ladies
- Old Tar River
- Oh Susanna
- Cumberland Gap
- Cindy
- Ring the Banjo
- McLeod’s Reel
- Pompey Ran Away
- Northern Soldier
- Cripple Creek
- Camptown Races
- Billy in the Lowground
Written & researched by Jacob L.T. Bates; Edited by Joe Ewers, Banjo of the 2nd South Carolina String Band
