“Songs and Stories from the Civil War” highlights the benefits of music for soldiers of the past

KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) – Kingsport Cultural Arts and the Tri-Cities Civil War Round Table teamed up Monday night to host “Songs and Stories from the Civil War Era.”

The music event at the Kingsport Renaissance Center featured one of the country’s leading musicians specializing in Civil War-era music, Bobby Horton.

According to the Kingsport Cultural Arts organization, Horton is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and music historian who has performed with the musical trio Three On A String for over 50 years.

Horton produced and performed music for 19 of Ken Burns’ PBS films, among other notable projects. He told News Channel 11 that many Civil War songs have been documented and have been the focus of historians over time.

“Fortunately, it’s incredible how many thousands of Civil War songs have been written, copyrighted, printed and sold as sheet music, thousands of them,” Horton said. “And they’re out there.”

Horton said many soldiers used singing as an outlet to express their feelings and often their grief.

“They didn’t have a television and the soldiers didn’t have a newspaper to read or anything like that. But they sang. They sang on a march, they sang in camp, and it’s not ‘manly’ for a soldier to moan and moan, ‘How much I want to go home, but I can sing about it.'”

Horton said that listening to and performing songs written during the Civil War created a connection for him. He said he realized how powerful the emotions people experienced in the war were and that songs were one of the only real outlets for providing emotional relief on the front lines.

“They sang about things that were important to them, and when you engage with people from history, you become fond of them. You feel like you know them, and that makes you know them a little better. And you understand what they were thinking when they thought that.”

Horton reflected on the expectations placed on soldiers regarding their mental health and how they can communicate this to those around them.

“It gave them a chance to vent their anger, you know, like I said, you couldn’t complain, but the other guys could sing about it because they were doing the same thing.”

For more information about musician Bobby Horton, visit his website. For more details about Kingsport Cultural Arts, visit ArtsKingsport.org.