This is a 50 minute one man show featuring several Stephen Foster songs and original 19^th Century material taken from a song book published by Mart Taylor in the 1850’s.  John performs this material using an authentic antique 19^th guitar and a self-made replica 19^th Century fretless banjo.

“Mart Taylor and his Original Company” is based on an authentic historical personage who entertained throughout the California gold camps of the 1850s.

For the State of Washington

John adapts this presentation for the 1850's Puget Sound.  Olympia's "Pioneer Democrat" printed a review of a "Taylor's Minstrels" performance in Washington Territory in 1859. (This was a different Taylor, but of similar profession.)  As the Puget Sound filled with farmers, loggers and other entrepreneurs during the 1850’s, the thriving communities of Tumwater, Olympia, Port Gamble and even the new muddy settlement of Seattle, were hungry for entertainment.  With the regular steamship service available in the 1850s, it became possible for theatrical troupes, minstrel shows and other forms of entertainment to profitably ply their trade in the Washington territory.
 

Above image scanned from a Wm Dunniway tin type taken MMXI, in Columbia, CA

This presentation is suitable for elementary through adult audiences.