Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
HALL FAMILY
Reunions and Music

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TAGS:  Hall family, music, brass bands, WWI, James Columbus Creech,

HALL FAMILY Reunions and Music

In the Eastern Kentucky HALL FAMILY, reunions and music have remained a constant. Many family members played and continue to play musical instruments or use their voice as musical instruments. In WW,I brass bands were introduced to calm the troops, and many of the musicians who were chosen from the ranks were cornet musicians. Appalachia produced a good share of these talented musicians, as music was part of the way of life in the mountains of Kentucky and other Appalachian communities.

The record of music of all kinds is a long one in most branches of the Hall, Creech, and especially the Ritchie-related families. In many Kentucky mountain families, music was a part of daily life. A recent donation to the Pine Mountain Settlement School Archive from the Creech Family of the papers and photographs of James Columbus Creech (who married into the Hall family) yielded a number of photographs of Hall relatives enjoying the popular instrument of the WWI years, the Cornet.

The following curious cornet reference is from the papers and sheet music of Grazia Combs of Viper, Kentucky, who for years taught piano and also served as Principal of Dilce Combs School. Grazia, a cousin of the Halls and the Ritchie,s was a careful observer of community activity and was a piano teacher and lover of music. Her papers, which passed into the Hall family, revealed a  flyer for a “Hometown Saturday Night that featured a band called “Mr. Jack Daniel’s Original Silver Cornet Band.” The flyer snippet, seen below,  notes that the band apparently had its origins in Lynchburg, VA, in 1905. The flyer tells us

The year is 1905. It is a warm summer evening in Lynchburg, Tennessee ….a perfect night for a band concert. It is a quiet, more gentle, and emiently more peaceful period before the phonograph, the telephone, the motorcar or moving picture. Small town bands, amateur brass or “silver cornet” bands are the cultural hub around which rural America revolves.

Back at the turn of the century, Mr. Jack Daniel’s Original Silver Cornet Band played for the fun of it … and the pride of the people of Lynchburg went with them. In the same spirit, this concert is offered for your enjoyment.

PROGRAM

Overture: Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight The Bear Went Over the Mountain Ta Ra Ra Boom Te A Hail Hail The Gang’s All Here	Una Voce Poco Fa
Shenandoah	Lasses Trombone
Waiting for the Robert E. Lee	INTERMISSION
Aura Lee	Dixie/Bonnie Blue Flag
How to Build a Band	How to Lead a Band
In the Evening By the Moonlight	U & I Rainbow Ripples
The Three Trees	Londonderry Aire
Stephen Foster Medley: Camptown Races My Old Kentcky Home	Charleston Professor’s Choice Let Me Demonstrate
Song Medley By the Light of the Silvery Moon For Me and My Gal Shine On, Harvest Moon Wait Till the Sun Shies, Nellie Meet Me in St. Louis	Poor Butterfly Moore County Toodle-oo Amazing Grace
MUSICIANS	TECHNICAL STAFF

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GALLERY of  MUSIC SING-ALONG REPERTOIRE

SING-ALONG

In the early 1900’s the  music of the day often pulled from popular tunes and lyrics and also often mixed with the local and regional Appalachian ballads and music.  It is not surprising that gatherings would often engage in a “sing-along.” The following tunes were chosen for one of the Hall Reunions (undated). The list clearly signals the range of musical interest in much of the population of the area in the early twentieth century.

GALLERY SING-ALONG REPERTOIRE FOR UN-DATED HALL REUNION (?)

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SEE

JAMES COLUMBUS CREECH FAMILY COLLECTIONS GUIDE