Me and Me Banjo (1903) by Kerry Mills

[Steve Harrison]

Whilst mooching through the Library of Congress archive, I came across a piano score

for this tune.

It's one I'd never heard of by Kerry Mills and although not in quite the same league as his more well known compositions, it's quite a catchy tune and with it's association with banjo I decided to do a banjo arrangement.

The score and midi are in the library........Steve.

[Trapdoor2]

In depth bio and list of compositions for F.A. "Kerry" Mills: http://ragpiano.com/comps/famills.shtml

 

Great work, Steve. Now I'm going to go looking for a copy of the Arthur Pryor cylinder for "Me and Me Banjo".

[Steve Harrison]

Thanks Marc, I didn't know it had been recorded by anyone, it's a new tune to me, I look forward to hearing Arthur Prior..Steve.

Trapdoor2 said:

In depth bio and list of compositions for F.A. "Kerry" Mills: http://ragpiano.com/comps/famills.shtml

 

Great work, Steve. Now I'm going to go looking for a copy of the Arthur Pryor cylinder for "Me and Me Banjo".

[Trapdoor2]

All I've been able to find is the Victor matrix logs that show the Arthur Pryor Band (which was simply Sousa's band in "recording mode", Sousa famously hated recordings and refused to make any) cut two sides in 1904 of this piece. They were not cylinders but 7" Victor disc records which were then single sided. Very few of these survive, I have only a couple.

[Thomas Edgar]

While reading the Kerry Mills bio (Thanks Trap), I saw that one of the songs he wrote was the "The Wyoming Prance: A Rag Time Two Step".  Being from Wyoming, I would love to find a copy of it.  The U of Wyoming mascot is a bucking horse, so a "Prance" would be a great tune to learn.

I've checked Lib of Congress, etc. but no luck.  Any ideas???