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THE STRING BANDS
By
CHARLES E. WELCH JR.
The string bands were
not on hand to welcome in the twentieth century, but they missed it by only a
year. The late Bart McHugh, and the late Abe Einstein suggested to John F.
Towers that he lead his band in the parade. Here is Mr. Towers story printed in
the MUMMERS MAGAZINE of 1948:
(As told by Jack Towers, one of the four who originated the
String Bands)
In the fall of 1898, I
was employed in one of the leading department stores in Philadelphia. Just as
with the young men of today, we would meet at noon hour and discuss different
topics. One day the subject of music was mentioned. A chap by the name of John
Wygand said that he played 'banjo' and that he, with three others would play
against any four string instrument players at any time. It just so happened that
I played 'flute' with three others who played 'banjo', 'mandolin', and 'guitar'.
His challenge was accepted and we arranged to have a 'contest' to see who were
the better players.
We met the following
week and after tuning up, I started to play a number that the three boys whom I
had with me were familiar with. The other four, instead of waiting to play their
number, immediately started to play with us. That was the start and the end of
the 'contest'. We became so interested that we played the rest of the evening
together and arranged to meet every week. From time to time, new boys came to
rehearsals and before the following New Year's day, we had about 30 pieces, all
string except the flute.
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