Arranger style for Carry Me Back to Old Virginy

Posted by: Torch

Arranger style for Carry Me Back to Old Virginy - 01/10/18 11:26 PM

I played a gig today at a new, upscale retirement center. They said that the whole time I would stroll around and play room to room. A good thing I took a lighter accordion. Then at end of my gig, I saw a group of 20 people or so sitting around in a large hallway. They wanted me to keep playing. One of the tunes was Carry Me Back to Old Virginny. I was a bit surprised that just about every single person in the group was singing it. I came home and did a little research on the song thinking of what kind of an accompaniment style I would use for such a song. Well, not that I can do any of what Louis Armstrong does, but his version gives lots of ideas. I like both versions for what they are. This was Virginia's state song from 1940 until 1997 when they "retired" the song "due to controversy over the lyrics' racial content" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carry_Me_Back_to_Old_Virginny).

1. 1937 musical 'Maytime'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYu55y5VatA


2. Louis Armstrong, Mills Bros
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUY-69YOziA