Big Canoe Records

Why do I listen to Civil War music? It is to evoke the period of the Civil War. Good music adds another dimension to my attempt to experience past events in my mind, much as living history portrayals and battle reenactments add that special physical reality to something that is forever dead and gone. It is to this end that I would like to recommend to you, for your enhanced appreciation of the Civil War on the Border, the work of Cathy Barton, Dave Para, and Bob Dyer. These three Boonville, Missouri, folklorist-musicians have produced two magnificent collections of Trans-Miss Civil War music that you will absolutely love.

Dave Para and Cathy Barton are a husband and wife team of singer-songwriter-instrumentalists who are nationally and internationally known for their interpretations of American folk music. They perform regularly in several folk festivals around the country, they have appeared on the Grand Ole Opry, and they serve as artistic directors of the "Big Muddy Folk Festival" held each year in Boonville, MO. They have recorded several albums of folk music besides the two in review here. In addition to their recording projects, Para and Barton have performed together for years in Missouri schools, presenting programs on Missouri art, folklore, and music through Young Audiences of Kansas City.

Bob Dyer, also of Boonville, is another composer and performer of folk music who has produced two collections of original songs and written several books, all closely associated with the history of his hometown of Boonville. The three have joined forces to record two albums under Dyer's Big Canoe label: Johnny Whistletrigger: Civil War Songs From The Western Border (released in 1993) and Rebel in the Woods: Civil War Songs From The Western Border.

Johnny Whistletrigger consists of 22 cuts, most of which are traditional songs representing both Northern and Southern viewpoints, although somewhat weighted toward the Southern side. Subject matter ranges from the pre-Civil War Kansas-Missouri border wars, to songs about specific battles in the Trans-Miss, and several on the subject of guerrillas, specifically the infamous William C. Quantrill. Of the 19 songs (three of the cuts are readings) all but three are traditional, period songs gathered from various sources by the performers. One that I was pleased to hear performed finally is known as "The Invasion of Camp Jackson," aka "The Happy Land of Canaan," which, according to Eugene Ware, was sung incessantly all across Missouri by the men of the 1st Iowa Infantry in the summer of 1861.

Rebel in the Woods, released just last fall, is a new collection focused more directly on the music of the Civil War in the Trans-Miss. There are 15 songs here, four of which are originals composed by one or another of the performers, the rest are traditional or period pieces. The selections again tend to weigh a little more heavily toward Southern subject matter. This is not to say that any sort of political position is taken in either of these albums. The artists take great pride in their work and come across as serious professionals who want to let the music speak for itself.

Barton, Para, and Dyer are no mere fiddle players and banjo pluckers, however. They are true historians and folklorists; and painstaking research lies behind each and every song on these two albums. They have utilized original sheetmusic and published collections of traditional songs. They have paged through old newspaper articles, delved into manuscript collections at public repositories, and tapped into private collections as well. Beyond this historical legwork, they have networked with other folklorists around the country, comparing and selecting different versions of lyric and melody, in a sort of modern manifestation of the age-old oral tradition of music.

Far and away the majority of the pieces in both collections are traditional, either published period-music or songs passed down over the years among the people of Missouri and Kansas. Where no music exists to accompany the lyric, the performers use their vast knowledge of American folk music to select an appropriate melody, based on the structure of the lyric, internal references, or other historical clues that accompany the song's tradition.

A few of the cuts are not traditional folk songs, but rather have been composed by the performers. Purists will be disarmed by the richness and fidelity to tradition found in these songs, however. Bob Dyer, whose voice recalls the great Burl Ives, authored most of the original work on both albums. He roots his songs in traditional melodies and keeps strictly to the historical subject matter in his lyrics. What he adds of his own--in the Eulenspiegel-like character of "Johnny Whistletrigger," the epic sweep of events in "The Last Great Rebel Raid," or the legend-building language of "The Swamp Fox"—is the certain, but easy mastery of a true storyteller. Other original pieces are written and performed by Cathy Barton, who brings to "Kate's Song" (on Johnny Whistletrigger)—a piece filled with love, loyalty, and looming tragedy—the unique perspective on guerrilla life of Kate King, teenage wife of William Quantrill. Barton's "Anderson's Warning" (on Rebel in the Woods) is my pick for the most fascinating piece of all. This song, set in the first person voice of "Bloody Bill" Anderson, the infamous Missouri guerrilla, is a chilling tale of rage, brutality, and bloodshed, which portrays the reality of guerrilla war as no other I have ever heard. Folk songs from the oral tradition tend to have their sharp edges smoothed by a process the Germans call zersingen, and often their perspective on things such as outlawry is romanticized. Not so in "Anderson's Warning," which is shocking in its matter-of-factness. The tale of Anderson's bloody deeds is menacingly understated in a mixture of grim humor, vicious threats, and resigned self-awareness. The narrative structure, always closely following historical facts, creates a tension of dread anticipation, and the fact that it is sung by a woman gives Anderson's voice an eery feel of something from beyond the grave. Compare these original compositions, so true to the music of the period and so steeped in the actual events they portray, to some of the smarmy stuff that passes as Civil War music today.

Don't let me fail to mention the fact that Barton, Para, and Dyer are also excellent musicians and singers, and that their recordings display the highest of production qualities, with no synthesizers or phony sound effects. For all who enjoy traditional American folk music and who are lucky enough to be interested in the Trans-Mississippi theater of the Civil War (and for those who savor that strange, evocative power of music) there can be no better entertainment than the songs of Cathy Barton, Dave Para, and Bob Dyer.