Mr. Jack Daniel’s Original Silver Cornet Band brings a Hometown Christmas

Mr. Jack Daniel’s Original Silver Cornet Band brings a Hometown Christmas

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Kick off the holidays and enjoy some family fun when Mr. Jack Daniel’s Original Cornet Band bring their Hometown Christmas to the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts Sunday, December 7. This old-fashioned show features such beloved songs as Deck the Halls, The Little Drummer Boy, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and other holiday favorites.

For turn-of-the-century, small town inhabitants, the town band was a familiar and important cultural fixture. At one time, nearly 10,000 such bands were in existence in the United States. Made up of ordinary citizens, such as the hardware clerk or the feed store merchant, their enthusiasm often outweighed their musical skills, but that didn’t keep them from playing everything from Mozart to Sousa at saloon openings, political rallies, funerals and parades.

In 1892, the famous distiller Jack Daniel decided that his hometown, Lynchburg, Tennessee, needed their own band. With a $230 investment, he purchased a variety of instruments to create Mr. Jack Daniel’s Original Silver Cornet Band. For 20 years the band was a staple of life in Lynchburg. But as the town grew, and industry advanced, the band lost its luster and faded from the public eye.

Nearly 80 years later, Dave Fulmer happened upon a photograph of Mr. Jack Daniel’s Original Silver Cornet Band. Intrigued by the photo, he began researching the "town band" phenomenon and eventually became an expert on the culture and facets of small town American life at the turn-of-the-century. With some help from friend Grieg Ritchie, a composer/arranger, and a grant from the Jack Daniel Distillery, Fulmer set out to recreate Mr. Jack Daniel’s Original Silver Cornet Band. Finding period instruments proved to be tough. Some were imported from France while others were found by scouring attics and antique collections. By the fall of 1978, the new Mr. Jack Daniel’s Original Silver Cornet Band had produced an album and appeared in two PBS specials. The success of the albums and specials convinced Fulmer that the show could go out on the road and the first of many tours was undertaken. Named after the first PBS special, Hometown Saturday Night, the show was divided into two acts with the "Perfesser" as the unofficial emcee, telling stories in-between musical numbers. There was no rock ‘n’ roll, no amplification and no electronic instruments. Everything – right down to the period costumes – was authentic.

Since its debut, the band has toured to all 48 of the contiguous United States; played Lincoln Center, Disneyland and the White House; and appeared on NBC’s Today Show and National Public Radio. Still following the same format it established 30 years ago, Mr. Jack Daniel’s Original Silver Cornet Band presents a slice of Americana that is long gone.

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Mr. Jack Daniel’s Original Silver Cornet Band Hometown Christmas

Sunday, December 7, 2 p.m.

Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

Ticket Prices: $15-30

Web sites: University of Florida Performing Arts: http://www.performingarts.ufl.edu/

 

To Purchase tickets, call the Phillips Center Box Office at 352-392-ARTS (2787) or 800-905-ARTS (toll-free within Florida) or call Ticketmaster at 800-277-1700 (toll-free). Tickets may also be purchased in person at the Phillips Center Box Office, the University Box Office at the University of Florida Reitz Union or from any Ticketmaster outlet, or online at http://www.ticketmaster.com/. Cash, checks, MasterCard and Visa are accepted.