Bob Beeman of the 2nd South Carolina String Band plays the bones, a Civil War era percussion instrument.High above Chattanooga, past the cannons that can’t fire and memorials for soldiers who died 150 years ago, the fiddle, banjo, guitar and jawbone meet.
The sound of the old American ballad “Angeline the Baker” hangs in the air.
“She left me here to weep and tear and beat on the old jawbone,” sang men in checkered shirts, cotton pants and straw hats.
A crowd gathered to watch and listen as the 2nd South Carolina String Band sang America’s most famous old tunes at Point Park on Saturday.
Close to the front, a man leaned forward, intent. On the back of his white T-shirt was a single word: “History.”