Generally Granted

Generally Granted: Interview With 2nd South Carolina String Band
Jessica Marie

         Forming in 1989, The 2nd South Carolina String Band, one of the most prominent of the Civil War bands still performs, releases CDs, and still recruit new fans via their website and MySpace.com. Miraculously in this length of time, they are still great friends and still enjoy the company of each other and the successes they have had in the past seventeen years. I was fortunate enough to be able to interview David Goss, the lead singer and guitarist.

Jessica: Were you and your band mates friends throughout school or did you meet later?

Dave: The original line-up of the Second South Carolina String Band was Joe Ewers (banjo/back-up vocals), Fred Ewers (fiddle/vocals), Me, (Dave Goss, guitar/ vocals), John Frayler (drums) and Bob Beeman (bones, tambo, back-up vocals). Everyone else--Joe Whitney (flute), Mike Paul (fiddle) Greg Hernandez (fife) --all came in much later. John Frayler and I had known each other previously from working together in museums in Salem, Massachusetts--we actually met back in the late 1970's. Joe and Fred, being brothers, had known each other all their lives. Bob Beeman was a member of the 2nd South Carolina, Company I, "Palmetto Guards" Civil War reenactment unit that we all joined in 1988. It was in the 1989 reenactment season when we all five started playing together and formed the band for singing around the campfire at night with our pals in the "Palmetto Guards". Only Joe and Fred Ewers knew each other in school, all the rest of us met much later.

Jessica: How did the band come up with your current name?

Dave: The name--2nd South Carolina String Band--- was a natural outgrowth of our mutual association with the 2nd South Carolina, Company I, Civil War reenactment unit to which we all belonged at the time the band formed.

Jessica: What inspired you to start performing Civil War songs and how do you choose the songs you are going to record and perform?

Dave: What inspired us? Well, I'd have to say that we found ourselves at night in camp sitting around the campfire looking for something productive and fun to do, and music seemed like a good idea. All of us had been musicians and we loved playing and singing all sorts of music--but at a Civil War reenactment, the only songs, which seemed appropriate, were songs that would have actually been sung by soldiers in a Civil War camp. So we decided to replicate the kind of camp band those soldiers would have had--with the right instruments and the right music. How do we choose songs? We choose the songs because they are period appropriate to the Civil War and because we like them. If we don't like a song--we just don't sing or record it.

Jessica: Are you going to be releasing a CD in 2006?

Dave: Are we releasing a new album? Yes! We spent the winter in the recording studio, and have just finished a new album. The next few weeks will be time to edit and engage in post-production work--refining the material. The title is taken from the first cut on the album, "Nelly Bly" by Stephen Foster (one of our favorite composers). The album is going to be called "Dulcem Melodies" (phonetically pronounced dull-sum). We think it is the best album we've ever produced--a lot of good, lively dance tunes mixed with some beautiful parlor music and a few military aires thrown in. I think our fans will like it. It reminds me a lot of "Southern Soldier", which is my personal favorite of our albums so far. It should be released during the big, 4th of July Civil War reenactment in Gettysburg, PA this summer.

Jessica: When is your next performance?

Dave: Let's see.....Our next performance will be down in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia at Newlmarket, VA., over the May 20 weekend. That's a nice early season event, and we have played there every year for the past five or so years. It is beautiful country, and a very nice event for us to start out the season.

Jessica: What inspires the band to perform?

Dave: What inspires us? Hmmmm.... Well, I guess it's the love of the music and a love of American history combined with the friendship which we all share. That is one thing about the band--we love playing together, especially in front of live audiences----and we are all good friends. It really makes a difference. If we were not good friends, the band coundn't have lasted as long as it has. Recording sessions especially can be very tense--but with us, we seem to get along so well, that the tension level is not there.

Jessica: Do you belong to any Civil War battle reenactment groups or do you just mainly stick to music?

Dave: Do we belong to any other reenactment groups? Well, as I said before, we all originally belonged to the 2nd South Carolina, Company I, Longstreet's Corps, and ANV. That unit disbanded in 2000,---so I put in over 12 seasons with those boys. Some of us have remained unattached to any other unit, and simply focused on the music. Several of us are now affiliated with other reenactment units---for example, the 7th Tennessee for Joe and Fred Ewers. For myself, I don't have the extra time to get back into the reenactment hobby with the commitment to an active unit. I am only interested in playing with the band right now.

Jessica: Who are your favorite people of the Civil War?

Dave: MY favorite people? Uh, let's see.... well, I guess Robert E. Lee is my favorite general over all. Now there was a man of real character, a man you could admire and look up to. My guess is that he was a strong Christian and always tried to live a life in keeping with his faith. Similarly, I respect Gen. Thomas Jackson, although I am not sure I would have enjoyed serving under him---he could be a rather eccentric and overly demanding character at times, but eminently respectable. Do I like anyone a little more obscure? Yes, I have had a long-standing admiration for Gen. John Hunt Morgan and particularly his creative and innovative means of waging war--moving fast, striking hard and disappearing. My great-grandmother was a Morgan, so I guess I feel a kinship there. My favorite Union leader is Col. Lawrence Chamberlain of the 20th Maine Vol. Infantry. Once again, I see a lot of character and gentlemanly behavior there. He was a guy I would have no trouble following into a fight.

Jessica: I always like to ask these types of questions, but what side of the Civil War do you mostly support or are you just like me and like both sides?

Dave: Frankly, I think it is a good thing the South lost. Just imagine how the history of the United States would have turned out without the South as a part of the nation. ON the other hand, I am a state's rights advocate--and I believe firmly that none of the signers of the U.S. Constitution would have done so if they thought they were entering an irrevocable contract. I believe that the sad side of the Civil War is not just the catastrophic loss of life, but the tremendous change the war wrought upon the country--and its Constitution---particularly how much power was placed in the hands of a dominant federal government. The other unfortunate result was of course, Radical Reconstruction, which, in my view, did more to alienate the South and its people than the war. The two really positive results, of course, were the abolition of slavery and the preservation of the Union. So, yes, like you, I see positives and negatives on both sides.