Old Folks At Home

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I have written quite a bit about my favorite oldies. Of course, the repertoire of music is practically never-ending so there is always something that comes to mind to write about. This time I thought about really turning back time and taking a look at some songs that were popular from the 1900s. One of them for some of you might be a comforting old song which you might have heard a long time ago. The song is “Old Folks At Home” with a banjo solo by Vess Osmann and a version of the song sung by Paul Robeson. This song is not an unknown one. It was written by Stephen Foster in 1851 and is also known as “Swanee River”. It was a minstrel song and since 1935 has been the official state song of Florida. The song was so popular during its time that more than twenty million copies of sheet music were sold. The Florida state song lyrics were changed a bit and finally, in 2008 another state song was added “Florida (Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky)” here in Florida I have seen the sky but have yet to see any sawgrass. For those of you who would like to sing along the Swanee River then you must come to Florida where you will find the Suwanee River. Its name was altered to be able to sing the song. This river begins in the Okefenokee Swamp in southeastern Georgia and then flows across northern Florida. How many of you recognize this song? Has anyone been by the Suwanee River?