Civil War Music

Marvin was commissioned by Georgia Public Television (GPTV) to contribute music for the GPTV special, "Georgia's Civil War," which aired in four parts from September 23rd through September 26th.

The GPTV Web site had this to say:
"Twelve years after its debut, Ken Burns’ landmark documentary series The Civil War  remains the most-watched series in PBS history. Completely digitally remastered, Burns’ 11-hour masterpiece returns in September, and is the centerpiece of an unprecedented Civil War programming initiative on Georgia Public Broadcasting that includes the premiere of the original GPTV production Georgia’s Civil War,  the first-ever documentary series to tell the story of the Civil War in Georgia."

"Getting to contribute music to GPTV's Georgia's Civil War was a real honor for me," said Marvin.  "The folks at GPTV are an absolute  joy to work with, and this was a challenging and rewarding project.  The music had to sound authentic for the era, as did the instrumentation.   Fortunately, there are a number of reputable 'song catchers' who have archived the music and studied the historical arrangements of that period.  There was also an opportunity to compose some original pieces to sound as though they were from that era." 

"I was also fortunate enough to get Danny Ray Cole to play fiddle on the project.  Danny is a great fiddle player, and, more importantly,   he has studied the styles of historical periods.  He is knowledgeable as to what a fiddler of this period would  have most likely played, and what he would not.    That was a huge help to me as producer.  I played all the other instruments, and to get to hear Danny's fiddle bring those pieces to completion was just a real treat." (Be sure and visit Danny's site  http://www.DannyRayCole.com  .)

"Music was very important to troop morale on both sides of the Civil War.  I tried to find out which songs were popular, and then make them sound as I imagined they would have sounded in the camps, played by musicians who were also soldiers involved in the war."

Click on the links below to hear a few of the songs.

Note: We have learned that these music samples do not load and play through Netscape. 
 We have contacted Netscape and are waiting for a solution from them.   We apologize for any inconvenience.  If Explorer is available to you, it works perfectly!

Lorena
Rev. H.D.L.Webster
Arrangement (c) 2002 Marvin Taylor

I'm A Good Old Rebel
Author unknown
Arrangement (c) 2002 Marvin Taylor

Old Dan Tucker
Daniel Emmet
Arrangement (c)2002 Marvin Taylor

Sweet Donna Jane
(C)2002 Written by Marvin Taylor

Blue Gray Waltz
(c)2002 Written by Marvin Taylor

If you'd like to hear more of Marvin's music, click here!