The Music Goes 'Round And 'Round

Thomas Edison's invention, the cylinder phonograph, provided the first recorded sounds heard in the mountains. Invented in 1877 and first marketed in 1890, these machines and the disc phonographs that followed them irreversibly changed the course of Appalachian music. The cylinder releases were produced to satisfy the musical and entertainment needs of urban audiences. Some of these "cylinder songs" were adopted by mountain singers and added to their repertory of traditional folksongs and ballads.

Cylinder Entertainment

The cylinder releases featured light opera, classical music, comical stories by make-believe "rustics", vaudeville songs and routines, and Tin Pan Alley songs (the popular tunes of 1880-1930). This group of cylinders was purchased by the family of Stokes Reuben Wilson of Bakersville, North Carolina for home use in the years around 1918. They were purchased by mail order, and the children were occasionally allowed to choose the selections.