For all the vexed issues they pose to us now, minstrel shows were an important part of American social life in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the early days of the phonograph industry, the record labels attempted to bring the experience of minstrelsy into consumers’ homes. The records were popular; hundreds of titles and thousands of examples survive to this day.
A few of these records have been issued by modern labels, but never before has an attempt been made to deal authoritatively with the genre as a whole. At the Minstrel Show fills the void with 51 tracks on two CDs and a 56-page heavily annotated booklet by Tim Brooks, author of the new McFarland book, The Blackface Minstrel Show in Mass Media. Disc One features three complete minstrel “shows”—that is, series of discs or cylinders that were intended to be listened to sequentially to give the listener the experience of a whole minstrel show. Disc Two has a number of minstrel “first part” routines (some extremely rare) and songs and skits about minstrelsy, recorded between 1894 and 1926. List price: $28.99
OVERVIEW
- Catalogue number: ARCH 1004
- UPC: 868490000296
- Original release date: March 13, 2020
- Running length: 146:52 / 51 tracks / 2 CD set
- Notes & packaging: Digipak with a 56-page color booklet
- Tracks recorded: 1894-1926
- Contains racially derogatory language
- In Archeophone’s Genres series
- Awards: 63rd GRAMMY Nominee, Best Album Notes
Sample all tracks
| Tracklist: CD 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victor’s “An Evening with the Minstrels” Series | ||||
| 1. | No. 1: Ethiopian Carnival of Melody | Victor Minstrels (Entire Company) | 1905 | |
| 2. | No. 2: Minstrel Ballad: My Creole Sue | Victor Minstrels (feat. S. H. Dudley, Len Spencer & Harry Macdonough) | 1905 | |
| 3. | No. 3: End Song: Chimes of the Golden Bells | Victor Minstrels (feat. S. H. Dudley, Len Spencer & Quartette) | 1905 | |
| 4. | No. 4: Musical Act: Ebony Emperors of Melody | Victor Minstrels (feat. S. H. Dudley & Len Spencer) | 1903 | |
| 5. | No. 5: Having Fun with the Orchestra | Victor Minstrels (feat. Len Spencer & Steve Porter) | 1904 | |
| 6. | No. 6: The Cake Walk in Coontown | Victor Minstrels (feat. Len Spencer) | 1905 | |
| 7. | No. 7: Sidewalk Conversation: Funny Things You See in the Papers | Victor Minstrels (feat. S. H. Dudley & Len Spencer) | 1902 | |
| 8. | No. 8: Grand Afterpiece: Scenes on the Levee | Victor Minstrels (Entire Company) | 1904 | |
| Columbia’s “An Evening with the Minstrels” Series | ||||
| 9. | Introductory Overture | Columbia Minstrels (Entire Company) | 1903 | |
| 10. | Our Land of Dreams | Columbia Minstrels (feat. J. W. Myers) | 1903 | |
| 11. | End Man’s Stories | Columbia Minstrels (feat. Len and Harry Spencer) | 1903 | |
| 12. | End Man Song: I’m a N- That’s Living High | Columbia Minstrels (feat. Arthur Collins) | 1903 | |
| 13. | Jokes Between Interlocutor and End Men | Columbia Minstrels (feat. Len and Harry Spencer & Arthur Collins) | 1903 | |
| 14. | I’m Wearing My Heart Away for You | Columbia Minstrels (feat. George J. Gaskin) | 1903 | |
| 15. | Jokes Between Interlocutor and End Man | Columbia Minstrels (feat. Harry Spencer & Arthur Collins) | 1903 | |
| 16. | End Man’s Song: My Friend from Home | Columbia Minstrels (feat. Len Spencer) | 1903 | |
| 17. | Finale: Black Hussars March | Columbia Minstrels (feat. J. W. Myers) | 1903 | |
| 18. | Musical Specialty: Trumpet Solo | Columbia Minstrels (feat. Albert Bode) | 1903 | |
| 19. | Monologue | Columbia Minstrels (feat. George Graham [presumed]) | 1903 | |
| 20. | Yankee Doodle: Banjo Solo | Columbia Minstrels (feat. Vess L. Ossman) | 1903 | |
| Edison’s “At the Minstrel Show” Series | ||||
| 21. | At the Minstrel Show No. 1 | Edison Minstrels (Entire Company) | 1906 | |
| 22. | At the Minstrel Show No. 2 | Edison Minstrels (feat. Arthur Collins & Byron G. Harlan) | 1906 | |
| 23. | At the Minstrel Show No. 3 | Edison Minstrels (feat. Len Spencer & Billy Murray) | 1906 | |
| 24. | At the Minstrel Show No. 4 | Edison Minstrels (feat. Will F. Denny) | 1906 | |
| 25. | At the Minstrel Show No. 5 | Edison Minstrels (feat. Len Spencer & Billy Murray) | 1906 | |
| 26. | At the Minstrel Show No. 6 | Edison Minstrels (Entire Company) | 1906 | |
| Tracklist: CD 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | The Minstrel Parade | Arthur Collins & Byron G. Harlan | 1915 | |
| 2. | Minstrel 1st Part, “A High Old Time” | Spencer, Williams & Quinn’s Imperial Minstrels | ca. 1894-1895 | |
| 3. | Minstrel 1st Part, “Dese Bones Shall Rise Again” | The Imperial Minstrels | ca. 1899 | |
| 4. | Minstrel 1st Part, “The Laughing Song” | Billy Heins & the Ancient City Quartette | ca. 1898 | |
| 5. | Minstrel 1st Part, “A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight” | Excelsior Minstrel Company | ca. 1898 | |
| 6. | It’s Got to Be a Minstrel Show Tonight | Dan W. Quinn | 1902 | |
| 7. | Minstrel 1st Part, “Echoes of Minstrelsy” | Arthur Collins, S. H. Dudley & the Ancient City Quartette | 1899 | |
| 8. | Minstrel 1st Part, “All I Want Is My Chicken Back” | Alabama Troubadours | ca. 1900 | |
| 9. | Minstrel 1st Part, “Three Minutes with the Minstrels” | Arthur Collins, S. H. Dudley & the Ancient City Quartette | 1899 | |
| 10. | That Minstrel Man of Mine | Len Spencer and Vess L. Ossman | 1901 | |
| 11. | Minstrel 1st Part, “My Wild Irish Rose” | Climax Minstrels | ca. 1902 | |
| 12. | Minstrel 1st Part, “Goo Goo Eyes” | Zonophone Minstrels | ca. 1901 | |
| 13. | Monarch Minstrels 1st Part, No. 5 | The Georgia Minstrels | 1902 | |
| 14. | An Amateur Minstrel Rehearsal | Edison Vaudeville Company | 1907 | |
| 15. | I Got to See the Minstrel Show | Arthur Collins | 1906 | |
| 16. | Minstrel Record “D” | Rambler Minstrels | 1906 | |
| 17. | The Peerless Minstrels | Peerless Quartette and Company | 1910 | |
| 18. | The Elks Minstrels | Elks Minstrel Company | 1908 | |
| 19. | The Stranded Minstrel Man | Murry K. Hill | 1908 | |
| 20. | Me an’ de Minstrel Ban’ | Billy Murray | 1905 | |
| 21. | Military Minstrels (No. 26) | Victor Minstrel Company | 1912 | |
| 22. | Rex Minstrel No. 2 | Peerless Quartette | 1914 | |
| 23. | Minstrels Part VI: I Want to Go Back to the Land of Cotton | Little Wonder Minstrels | 1916 | |
| 24. | The Land of Minstrelsy | Premier Quartet Minstrels | 1919 | |
| 25. | Bring Back Those Minstrel Days | Al Campbell and Jack Kaufman | 1926 | |
The Vinyl District
Minstrelsy was, on a musical level, often quite contemporary, as the performances gathered here tap into songs that were concurrent hits of the day. That makes them far more of interest to musicologists (both professional and listening-room armchair) than a novice might think…The overall appeal relates to the scholarship and how it sheds light on issues of the present day. A-
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Black Grooves at the Indiana University Archives of African American Music & Culture
“At the Minstrel Show reveals the complex history of American popular music at the turn of the 20th century and serves as a valuable audio companion to books on the topic.”
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GRAMMY Awards
- GRAMMY Nominee, Best Album Notes, 2020