For enthusiasts of early banjo
Al Smitley's Videos (33)
Stephen Foster's 200th Birthday
Happy 200th birthday to Stephen Foster!July 4, 1826: While distant celebratory canon fire commemora… Al Smitley Jul 3 18 views
Jenny Lind Mania
Jenny Lind, the “Swedish Nightingale”, was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1820. She toured Denmark in… Al Smitley Mar 8 30 views
Flying Cloud Schottische
The boom years of clipper ships began in the mid-1840s, responding to a growing demand for faster d… Al Smitley Feb 16 77 views
Lincoln & Hamlin
After suffering a defeat to Stephen Douglas in a senate race two years earlier, Abraham Lincoln def… Al Smitley Feb 12 43 views
Save de Union
In May of 1828, after approval by the House and Senate, President John Quincy Adams signed a tariff… Al Smitley Nov 27, 2025 64 views
Voyage Up Salt River
The U.S. in 1848 was a vastly different nation than it was just four years earlier. Texas had claim… Al Smitley Nov 14, 2025 34 views
Wide Awake Yankee Doodle
Most people, given a fair shake, prefer to remain within familiar locales. It’s safe to say that mo… Al Smitley Aug 3, 2025 48 views
Buck's Private Confession Publicly Revealed
This musical skit portrays the first two lines of each verse as if in the voice of soon-to-be (1857… Al Smitley Jun 13, 2025 47 views
Toledo War Song
Initially generated by an early cartographic error, by the mid-1830s a dispute between the State of… Al Smitley Jun 5, 2025 59 views
Michigan Emigrants Song
Lewis Cass, Michigan' Territorial Governor, viewed the initial construction of the Erie Canal as an… Al Smitley Jun 1, 2025 33 views
Slavery Is A Hard Foe To Battle
New Hampshire’s Hutchinson Family Singers debuted in the late 1830s singing sentimental and patriot… Al Smitley May 3, 2025 100 views
Treacherous Hearted President
The Whig Party organized in opposition to Jacksonian policies and defeated Jackson’s heir-apparent,… Al Smitley Apr 20, 2025 78 views
North Star and Song of the Free
Though written and performed late in 1847, “Oh! Susanna” was published the following February by 21… Al Smitley Apr 18, 2025 50 views
Fashions of 1847 Made with Clipchamp
In the early ‘80s, I was invited to join two others and play some tunes and lead dances at Conner P… Al Smitley Apr 10, 2025 44 views
Bully Brooks
When Al Green recently arose in protest in the House chamber, it wasn’t Congress’ most notable appe… Al Smitley Mar 22, 2025 26 views
Bloomer Costume
The more equality women gain, the more some insecure men seem to feel emasculated. here's an exampl… Al Smitley Mar 12, 2025 15 views
Rail Splitters Polka
Al Smitley Feb 12, 2025 40 views
Rail Splitters Polka
Well, since nothing has been posted since last summer and today is Abe's 2015 birthday, I'll re-pos… Al Smitley Feb 12, 2024 48 views
Stephen Foster (2001, PBS American Experience)
On July 4, 1826, as America celebrated its fiftieth birthday, local patriots and politicians in a s… Al Smitley Feb 26, 2023 91 views
The Base Ball Polka
Regarded as the first baseball-related sheet music from 1858. It's another opening day and I've run… Al Smitley Apr 8, 2022 64 views
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