Collection of music of Lincoln’s time, war-torn yet hopeful

NASHVILLE -- Presidents Day has passed, but there’s still time to enjoy music saluting Abe Lincoln. Honest.

Chris Vallillo’s “Abraham Lincoln in Song” is a collection of mostly Civil War-era songs, including “Dixie” and “Battle Cry of Freedom.”

The target audience? Certainly not the Britney Spears crowd.

“Lovers of acoustic music, history buffs and especially the educational audience” will enjoy the album, said Vallillo, a singer-songwriter from Macomb, Ill., who has studied Lincoln’s life and Illinois folk traditions.

This album probably won’t shoot to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 or dominate radio play. But Mark Summers, a history professor at the University of Kentucky in Lincoln’s native state, said the project can educate and entertain.

“Music shows you a good slice of the time period, tells you about sentimentality and the emotions at the time. I’d like to have it for my classes,” he said.

The album of mostly acoustic ballads -- released on Feb. 12, Lincoln’s birthday -- grew out of a one-man show in which Vallillo used period music to illustrate Honest Abe’s era.

“Battle Cry of Freedom,” written by George F. Root, was inspired by Lincoln’s call for Union volunteers in 1862. “Hard Times Come Again No More” is by Stephen Foster. There are additional songs about Lincoln’s funeral train, about a runaway slave and that were said to be liked by Lincoln. “Aura Lee,” written in the 1860s, is the melody for Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender.”

“This should be of interest to anyone who loves Lincoln,” said Vallillo, 53.

“Dixie,” though popularly associated with the South, was written by a Northerner and was reportedly Lincoln’s favorite song.

“On the day peace was declared, he broke the news to the crowds by having the White House band perform the song,” Vallillo said.

Vallillo will be selling the CD at his shows and on the Internet ( www.ginridge.com).

From 1990 to 1997, Vallillo was host and co-producer of the award-winning public radio series “Rural Route 3.” He has sung at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Ill., other Lincoln historic sites, performing arts centers and small theaters.

Vallillo has no illusions about selling as many records as Garth Brooks. But he said the popularity of the 16th president should not be underestimated.

The album has the endorsement of the Illinois Bicentennial Commission, which is overseeing two years of events to celebrate Lincoln’s birth on Feb. 12, 1809. “With the upcoming bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth, that interest should be significant,” he said.