"Civil War in Music" will be presented at 2 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 11, at First Baptist Church, 301 Fourth St., Marietta, in the sanctuary. The event is open to the public and admission will be donations to the local food pantry. Refreshments in the dining room will follow the presentation.
Steve Ball, a musician and historian from Columbus, who started both playing the guitar and studying the American Civil War as the age of 12, will be presenting the program. 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 a western trio. His interest in Civil War music was generated by tunes he learned while in the western trio and eventually he built a repertoire of songs from the 19th century, both before and during the Civil War period of 1861 to 1865. His interest in the history of the war led to learning about the composers and the events that led to many of the songs of the period being written and composed. As his knowledge grew, he developed a presentation that explains both why the tunes were written and what was going on in the war at the time. The songs are presented in a somewhat chronological order and he tells the story of each song and keeps listeners informed of the progress of the war at the same time.
