Craighead County was established a full
two decades before the Edison phonograph gave us
the ability to enjoy recorded music. The
decade of the 1850s was, however, one that
brought a new boom to music publishing when the
European rage Barrel Piano (a predecessor to the
Player Piano) started appearing in this
country. (An early model that played 3 songs is
shown at right).
Minstrel shows also
brought popular music to the early 1850s
Craighead district and tunes being whistled and
hummed along the streets. One
popular Civil War era song,
AURA LEA became
popular once again 95 years after it was written
with the release of
Elvis Presley's first film,
"Love Me Tender"
Aura Lea
Dixie's Land
Beautiful Dreamer Beautiful child
of Song I
Would Not Die In Spring
Nelly Bly Old Folks
at Home
Jeannie
My Old
Kentucky Home
Old Black Joe
Village Maiden
De Camptown Races Oh! Susanna
For Thee, Love, for Thee
Copyrighted Midi files and Lyrics courtesy of:
PUBLIC
DOMAIN
MUSIC
(www.pdmusic.org)
Visit this incredible website for amazing musical
histories
Copyrighted MIDI files, and text files of
their lyrics, created by Benjamin Robert Tubb
