George J. Gaskin

Coming August 28
Anthology: The Silver-Voiced Irish Tenor gives a thorough career retrospective of one of the early industry’s most important performers. A former carpenter, Belfast-born George J. Gaskin was plucked from the vaudeville stage in early 1890 and planted in front of a recording horn at the New York Phonograph Company, which was trying desperately to satisfy demand for nickel-in-the-slot entertainment in public spaces. He shone: at a time when singers had to shout into the horn with no feeling in order to be heard clearly, Gaskin’s records displayed a rich emotional expressiveness—and his were the earliest recordings of many now-standard Tin Pan Alley hits. Despite being one of the most popular phonograph singers of the ’90s, Gaskin found himself on the wrong side of legal wrangling by the emerging record labels and got vindictively frozen out. Undeterred, he went into talent management and staged one last recording comeback in the mid-1910s, fittingly honoring his native land. The 32 selections here are restored to remarkable fidelity and are accompanied by an 80-page booklet with a definitive biography.  Read more
List price: $21.99

30 tracks from 1893-1902, transferred from exceedingly scarce Berliner discs and brown wax cylinders, with top artists such as Dan W. Quinn ("The Band Played On"), George J. Gaskin ("Drill, Ye Terriers, Drill"), John Yorke AtLee ("The Mocking Bird"), George W. Johnson ("The Whistling Coon"), Arthur Collins ("I'd Leave My Happy Home for You"), and Sousa's Band, Vess Ossman, Edward M. Favor, Russell Hunting, and more. The deluxe 24-page booklet boasts extremely rare photos of several of the artists (many only now published for the first time in over 100 years), artist bios, a timeline of when the songs first hit big, and an historical essay focusing on major social problems of the decade. Companion volume to ARCH 9006. Read more
List price: $17.49

30 tracks from 1892-1900, transferred from exceedingly scarce brown wax cylinders and Berliner discs. More hits by the biggest artists of the American 1890s, such as Gilmore's Band, Cal Stewart, Dan Quinn, George Gaskin, Arthur Collins, and John Yorke AtLee. Standout tracks include the hitherto unattested cylinder of "Silver Threads Among the Gold" by J. W. Myers, the 1894 recording of "Then You'll Remember Me" by the U.S. Marine Band, an exceptional copy of "Casey at the Telephone," ca. 1896 by Russell Hunting, and the ultra-rare "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow Wow" ca. 1892 by Silas Leachman for the North American Phonograph Company of Chicago. The deluxe 24-page booklet includes lyrics and bios and pictures of selected songwriters, a timeline of when the songs first hit big, and an historical essay focusing on major technological innovations of the decade. Companion volume to ARCH 9004.  Read more
List price: $17.49