“Old-time Historic” (Used 10 times)

Nat M. Wills can be said to be one of America’s first modern comedians. A popular vaudeville entertainer and recording artist from the early 20th century. He is best known for his "happy tramp" persona, performing satirical numbers, and parodies of popular songs of the day.

Modern American stand up draws it roots from this art form among various other traditions that were popular in the late 19th century. The material itself often used stereo typical portrayals of ethnic groups through crude impersonations (most commonly African-Americans). Unfortunately the racial tones in American vaudeville performances were very common during its time, and is evident on Wills' "No News" among several other of his recordings.

Wills was born in Fredericksburg, VA in 1873. His birth name is said to be Louis McGrath Wills, but very little is know about his early life. After his family moved to Washington D.C. he began his career on the stage at a young age, and performed in various shows throughout the United States.

Wills died at the age of 44 in 1917. He was an auto enthusiast who was said to be working on a car in his garage with the doors closed, and succumbed to Carbon monoxide poisoning. Automobiles were relatively new at the time, and it is possible that he was unaware of the poisonous fumes that were emitted from a running engine, some also speculate that he may have committed suicide.

His recordings maintain a lightheartedness, but my favorite track "Saving Up Coupons for Mother" is pretty dark as he sings about puffing away on cigarettes for coupons to ironically purchase a tombstone for his “Pa”.

For further reading about Wills, and the Vaudeville genre check out No Applause--Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous by Trav S.D. And to hear more Nat Wills’ there is a collection of his works available at

Please welcome the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project, the largest online collection of historic sound recordings, to the Free Music Archive:

Cylinder recordings are some of the earliest artifacts from the dawn of recorded sound.

After the heyday of cylinder recordings this sonic window into the past was largely closed, and only small numbers of collectors and archivists struggling to preserve these fragile artifacts for future generations could hear or study these recordings.

Based out of the University of California, Santa Barbara, the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project began in 2003 to address this very issue. In the past 8 years the CPDP has managed to catalog, digitize, and upload nearly 10,000 cylinder recordings to its freely accessible website. Thousands more await digitization in UCSB's state of the art preservation and digitization facility.

Berto Solis, the UCSB digitization lab's team leader, and David Seubert, the director of the project, will be uploading to the FMA a weekly sampling of some of the best and most interesting examples of the recordings being digitized.

For the first installment, here's a small cross section of material spanning several genres and highlighting the audio fidelity achieved solely by acoustical recording technology. Yes, you read that right, no electricity was involved in making these original cylinder recordings! So sit back, relax, and get ready for a sonic snapshot a hundred years into the past.

Gondolier/Temptation rag. Fred Van Eps and Albert Benzler. U.S. Everlasting Record: 1260. [1909]
Banjo recording by Fred Van Eps recorded for the US Everlasting Company of Cleveland, Ohio. The second half of the cylinder is Temptation Rag, a great ragtime banjo recording with stunning audio quality that is proof that acoustical recordings can sound magnificent.

Pescatori di Perle. [Pêcheurs de perles. Je crois entendre encore] / Georges Bizet. Aristodemo Giorgini. Edison Amberol: 30032. [1911]
An aria from Bizet's Pearl Fishers sung by Italian tenor Aristodemo Giorgini. Early recordings provide a valuable link to 19th century performance styles that would otherwise be lost. This recording is an Edison Amberol, the most fragile of all of the common types of cylinders. These cylinders have become so brittle over time that it sometimes seems that they can shatter if you look at them funny.

What a time. Polk Miller and his Old South Quartette. Edison Amberol 391. [1910]
Polk Miller was born in 1844 and was in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. His group, the Old South Quartette, was integrated and included four black musicians. They were very popular 100 years ago and the songs they recorded still hold up well for modern listeners.

A live interview with Berto and David will air on WFMU on 04/21/11 at 11am.

Twelve years ago, the vintage recordings website Dawn of Sound released a compact disc collection of public domain early recording artifacts called Voices of Christmas Past. The recordings were cylinders and acetates from 1898 to 1922. Every year after the release, the website was inundated with requests for the CD. Once it was out of print, Dawn of Sound released it online for free.

Apart from the religious material, there are some fun winter-themed treats, two pieces from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, and some spoken old time radio theatre selections.

Dawn of Sound writes:

The artists featured here were pioneer recordings artists whose names were well known in the era they lived. They helped start what is now known today as the record industry. They were popular artist in their time, and their records sold well in an era when movies were silent and radio and television did not yet exist.

Of all things Christmas nothing is more traditional than the singing of carols and songs....

Twelve years ago, the vintage recordings website Dawn of Sound released a compact disc collection of public domain early recording artifacts called Voices of Christmas Past. The recordings were cylinders and acetates from 1898 to 1922. Every year after the release, the website was inundated with requests for the CD. Once it was out of print, Dawn of Sound released it online for free.

Apart from the religious material, there are some fun winter-themed treats, two pieces from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, and some spoken old time radio theatre selections.

Dawn of Sound writes:

The artists featured here were pioneer recordings artists whose names were well known in the era they lived. They helped start what is now known today as the record industry. They were popular artist in their time, and their records sold well in an era when movies were silent and radio and television did not yet exist.

Of all things Christmas nothing is more traditional than the singing of carols and songs....