Someone has said, “When Mr. Jack Daniel’s Original Silver Cornet Band performs, it’s more than just a concert.  It’s like the town of Lynchburg comes to call.”  And that’s true.

The moment the spidery white gazebo and the homey Tennessee front porch rocking chair appear on your stage, the magic begins.  Turn-of-the-century Lynchburg, Tennessee seems to amble in, settle down, and spin a time-warping spell on your senses.  You can smell the fresh-cut hay – you can hear the crickets’ song.  Somewhere a screen door creaks and slams.  A horse whickers lazily from the livery stable.  The murmuring conversation on the courthouse steps erupts into good-natured laughter.  A distant dog barks.  Upwind at Mrs. Bobo’s, an oven-load of peach cobbler has been set on the sill to cool.  Down by Mulberry Creek, the blacksmith’s anvil rings a final evening cadence.  Then the band begins to play.  And sure enough:  The town of Lynchburg has come to call.

When Mr. Jack Daniel’s Original Silver Cornet Band first folded its gazebo into the back of a truck, herded its singing crickets onto an audio cassette, crowded a dozen horn players into a customized Eagle and hit the interstate out of Nashville, nobody quite knew what to expect.

It was 1978, in the fall.  Sure, the band had made three albums, starred in two PBS network TV specials – but as far as trooping six weeks of one-nighters – well, it remained to be seen.  “HOMETOWN SATURDAY NIGHT” was the name of the show – the same as the first TV special.  Twenty musical numbers in two acts, with the unfailingly fallible “Perfessor” up front spinning tales in between.  The format was different because the band was different.  This was no rock ’n’ roll or country or Dixieland or “big” band.  This was a band based on an historical fact:  The Lynchburg Silver Cornet Band of Lynchburg, Tennessee.  A painstaking reconstruction of the actual band founded and funded by Lynchburg’s famous distiller himself, Mr. Jasper Newton “Jack” Daniel, back in 1892.  It played popular music of the turn of the century.  It played quietly – without amplification.  Occasionally the mellow conical horns could get feisty and even roar a little, but only as required by the appealing Greg McRitchie arrangements.  Mostly it was a gentle band.  Good humored and happy sounding.  Never taking itself too seriously, yet taking the music very seriously.

A band that was fun to watch, and delightful to listen to.  Well, that original 1978 tour was a huge success.  Audiences and press alike were enthusiastic in their praise for this unique little band and its theatrical approach to concertizing.  It was truly “an echo from another era,” and that era had a lot of appeal.

Today, after umpteen more national tours, the appeal is as strong as ever.  Audiences of every age are charmed by this friendly bunch of costumed characters from 1905.  They chuckle with the crusty “Perfessor.”  They cheer the dazzling musicianship and impeccable taste of these artists making “silver cornet history.”  Their experience and credentials are formidable.  The music they make speaks for itself.  If this is your first exposure to Mr. Jack Daniel’s Original Silver Cornet Band, we envy you the experience.