Angel Band by Jerry Ernst
Reviewer: Jane Ellen

As a presenter of lecture/demonstrations of Civil War music, I have long refused to play vocal tracks, feeling that today's performances lacked the ability to adequately convey the sounds of a generation long past. That practise ended when I discovered the fine albums of Jerry Ernst: music historian, Civil War reenactor, and most importantly, period song stylist. Angel Band is first and foremost a collection of songs of the people. Whether you're looking for spirituals, humourous songs, Irish folk songs, or love songs, you'll find them all here, performed to the strains of guitars, banjos, and bones in some of the most authentic period renderings I've ever heard. No Civil War music collection is complete without a few of Ernst's recordings.