In 1910, Tin Pan Alley sold $2 billion worth of sheet music.  Ragtime was so popular in Tin Pan Alley that it eventually replaced the ballad as its most marketable song product.

The Blues invaded Tin Pan Alley in 1914, brought there by W.C. Handy, who composed the first commercial blues to be published.  Handy's "St. Louis Blues" became not only an American classic, but one favored abroad.

1915 - Alan Lomax was born in Austin, Texas. In the early 1930s, Alan Lomax and his father, folklorist John A. Lomax, developed the Library of Congress’ Archive of American Folksong.

Storyville was shut down during World War I, sending the Jazz musicians up the Mississippi river in search of employment and spreading Jazz to cities on the river and to Chicago and New York.

In 1917, The Original Dixieland Jazz Band released the first Jazz record. It became one of the first records to sell a million copies.

James Reese Europe is cited in books about ragtime and early jazz as the most respected black bandleader of the 'teens', but he should also be recognized among World War I historians because of his musical compositions inspired by wartime experiences, and the achievements of his band known as the 369th U.S. Infantry "Hell Fighters" Band.  Recordings made by Europe's band in early 1919, within weeks of the men's return to the States, are finally being reissued on compact disc.

1900s  / 1910s  / 1920s  / 1930s / 1940s
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Deal Of The Day

MY MUSICAL LIFE
By Carl P. McConnell

Mabel McConnell talks about the Carter Family, Doc & Carl,
The Original Virginia Boys and the early days of radio.