20th ANNUAL GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY PARK MUSIC MUSTER

20th ANNUAL GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY PARK
MUSIC MUSTER, AUGUST 14 and 15

SCHEDULE AND PERFORMERS

Friday, August 14

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Tent Performances in front of the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center
12:00 – 12:45pm    Libby Prison Minstrels
1:00 – 1:45pm        Steve Ball
2:00 – 2:45pm        Susquehanna Travellers
3:00 – 3:45pm        the Irish Volunteers
4:00 – 4:45pm        David Kincaid
5:00 – 5:45pm        Camptown Shakers
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Saturday, August 15

Tent Performances front of the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center
9:00 am – 9:45 am     The Irish Volunteers
10:00 am – 10:45 am     The 46th PA Regiment Band
11:00 am – 11:45 am    The 77th NY Regimental Balladeers
12:00 pm – 12:45 pm     Fort Delaware Cornet Band
1:00 pm – 1:45 pm    The Susquehanna Travellers
2:00 pm – 2:45 pm    David Kincaid
3:00 pm – 3:45 pm    Steve Ball
4:00 pm – 4:45 pm    Camptown Shakers
5:00 pm – 5:45 pm    Libby Prison Minstrels

Performances on the Flagpole plaza, Museum and Visitor Center
9:40 am – 10:00 am    Steve Ball
10:00 am – 10:20 am    The Irish Volunteers
10:20 am – 10:40 am    David Kincaid
10:40 am – 11:00 am    The Susquehanna Travellers
11:30 am – 12:00 pm    Libby Prison Minstrels

Indoor Performances, Visitor Center Group Lobby
10:00 am – 10:30 am    Marshall & Company Music
11:00 am – 11:30 am    Doug Jimerson
12:00 pm – 12:30 pm    Marshall & Company Music
1:00 pm – 1:30 pm    Doug Jimerson
2:00 pm – 2:45 pm    The Victorian Dance Ensemble w/The Susquehanna Travellers

Dobbin House Courtyard Performances:
10:30 am – 11:00 am    Libby Prison Minstrels
11:00 am – 11:30 am    Steve Ball
11:30 am – 12:00 pm    The Victorian Dance Ensemble w/The Susquehanna Travellers
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm    David Kincaid
1:00 pm – 1:30 pm    Camptown Shakers
1:30 pm – 2:00 pm    Irish Volunteers
2:00 pm – 2:30 pm    The 77th NY Regimental Balladeers
2:30 pm – 3:00 pm    Doug Jimerson
3:00 pm – 3:30 pm    Fort Delaware Cornet Band
3:30 pm – 4:00 pm    46th PA Regiment Band

Pennsylvania Memorial Performances:
5:00 pm – 5:45 pm    Fort Delaware Cornet Band
6:00 pm – 6:45 pm    46th PA Regiment Band
7:00 pm – 7:45 pm    77th NY Regimental Balladeers

2015 Gettysburg National Military Park
Music Muster Performer Bios:

Libby Prison Minstrels portray the original orchestra composed of imprisoned officers at Libby Prison in Richmond VA.   The Infamous prison of the Civil War saw as many as 1300 Union Soldiers, mostly officers, in its six dark and dank rooms. Despite the horrors of the prison’s conditions, this musical group managed to purchase instruments from the outside and put on shows that were a wonderful respite from the hardships of prison life.

The Susquehanna Travellers perform the music of 19th Century America focusing on Civil War era and Irish music. The musicians are civil war re-enactors and members of the 87th PA Volunteer Infantry. The band got its start playing traditional tunes around the campfire at civil war re-enactments and with the support and encouragement of other re-enactors, the lads decided to officially form the Susquehanna Travellers. While the band certainly enjoys playing for the public, they feel most at home playing for their fellow re-enactors around the campfire. The Travellers will perform with the Victorian Dance Ensemble on the Dobbin House Courtyard and indoors at the Visitor Center.

The Victorian Dance Ensemble is the performing troupe of the Civil War Dance Foundation.   This year marks its fifteenth appearance at Music Muster. Founded in 1995, the Ensemble has presented dance demonstrations for the Smithsonian Institution, National Park Service, Civil War Preservation Trust, Pennsylvania Civil War Trails Project, Gettysburg Foundation, and numerous other organizations, historic sites and museums.   In 2009, they performed at one of the Inaugural Balls in Washington, D.C., and danced in the oratorio “For the People” in celebration of the Lincoln Bicentennial. The Victorian Dance Ensemble will perform along with the music of the Susquehanna Travellers at the Dobbin House Courtyard and indoors at the Visitor Center. The indoor program will culminate with audience participation; a long-standing tradition of the Music Muster.

The 46th Pennsylvania Regimental Band, are also referred to as The Logan Guards, they were a militia unit organized in 1858 in Lewistown, Pennsylvania. They gained fame in April 1861, when President Lincoln issued an urgent appeal for troops to protect Washington in response to the firing by rebels on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The President's call was issued late on April 16, 1861. The Logan Guards and four other companies of Pennsylvania militia were the first troops to arrive in the nation's capital. They marched out of Lewistown listening to William Hopper, a lone fifer, play "The Girl I Left Behind Me." This will be their sixth visit to the Gettysburg Music Muster.

The 77th NY Regimental Balladeers are celebrating their 19th year preserving the songs, history, and spirit of the 1860s and their fourteenth appearances at the Muster. The band was recently presented with the Medallion of Excellence by the Rhode Island National Guard. The group is honored and grateful for the opportunity to play at the Pennsylvania Memorial. This year's sunset program will evoke the memory of our ancestors who fought on this hallowed ground with special performances of ‘‘Nearer My God to Thee'' and "Come Dearest the Daylight Is Gone." Both of these selections have an historical significance at Gettysburg National Military Park.

David Kincaid, the Irish Volunteer, returns for his 12th Appearance at the Gettysburg Music Muster. Kincaid recognized as both musician and historian presents a compelling combination of the songs and history of the Irish in the American Civil War. Having performed at a variety of Irish/Celtic festivals, historical sites and folk music venues across the US, as well as European tours, Kincaid’s music has also been used in several documentary films, and he was engaged as a consultant and performer in the Hollywood Civil War film release “Gods and Generals.”

The Irish Volunteer Civil War Band is a Western NY based four piece group. All four members have long backgrounds in Celtic and folk music. They arrived on the Civil War and period scene in 2007. Since then they have delighted audiences at reenactments that include Amherst, Marilla, Granger Homestead in Canandaigua, Peterboro, Mumford, Erie Canal Village Civil War Days, and the Civil War Music Heritage Weekend in Windham, NY, among others. This will be their fourth appearance at the Muster.

The Fort Delaware Cornet Band, making their second appearance at the Muster this year, is an authentic Civil War Era Brass and Percussion Sextet portraying an artillery band from Fort Delaware. They play brass music of the Civil War Era. The group plays on authentic period instruments as well as performing in period reproduction Union uniforms of the Civil War.

Steve Ball also making his second appearance at the Muster is a musician and historian from Columbus Ohio who started both playing the guitar and studying the American Civil War at the age of twelve. Over the years, he developed an interest in older styles of American music, and has performed in Folk groups, Bluegrass and Country bands, Square dance bands, and even a Western trio.

Making their first Muster appearance, the Camptown Shakers, come from Adams, Chester, and Lancaster Counties in Pennsylvania; local boys. They play 19th century, popular, American Civil War era and stroke style banjo, fiddle, & percussion. Though they are history-minded their playing and singing has turned Victorian society on its head!

Marshall and Company Music will perform for the first time at the Muster. They come from a place of education. Doug Marshall taught a variety of instruments including mandolin, fiddle and banjo. Along with Tina Buchannan, they have added Civil War era music to their repertoire. Their performances are reminiscent of the parlor music that was played in the home when the times were much simpler and singing and music solved a variety of ill.

Doug Jimerson has been absent from the Muster for several years, but we are so thrilled to welcome this very accomplished musician, concert tenor and musicologist to our 20th Anniversary lineup! His specialty is historical and patriotic American music, but it’s varied from Stephen Foster to Lincoln to Beethoven.