On June 21, eight members of Un-Reconstructed, a local group that plays period music from the time of the Civil War, piled into a white limousine for a two hour trip to Hyatt Grand Regency Hotel in Buckhead, Ga. For many of them, it was their first trip anywhere in a limo.Mint juleps were mixed for those who wanted them and the group reminisced along the way about their years together as they headed to the Southeast Regional Emmy Awards to find out if Un-Reconstructed had won an award for their music in The Last Ditch.
The Last Ditch, a documentary about the battle for Columbus, Ga., was nominated for five Emmy awards by the National Academy of Arts and Sciences. The film received two – one for lighting and one for music composition and arrangement – the latter ensuring Un-Reconstructed can now tack the phrase “Emmy-award-wining” onto their list of credentials.
The music for the film was pre-recorded music taken from the band’s six CDs. Initially, Richard Lifshey, the movie’s director, wanted to record the group live at a reenactment they were going to be visiting.
“Of course, when we got there it was so loud with all the cannon noise and people noise he couldn’t do that, couldn’t record it live there. We just gave them a stack of CDs and they said when they went out on lunch break and went to Subway for something to eat, they plugged in some of them,” said Susie Stephenson who plays the hammered dulcimer and mountain dulcimer for the group.
Lifshey and his partners in the film were blown away by what they heard on the CDs and decided to use Un-Reconstructed’s songs in the film.
The group consists of five core members – Susie Stephenson of Southside, Chris and Heather Dempsey of Jacksonville, David Edwards of Gallant and Doug Carson of Georgia – but can often grow to encompass as many as nine, including retired bass player Harry Nuttall, dulcimer player Jessa Hawthorne, Doug Jennings and Luke Weathington.
David, Susie and Chris have been playing together since the mid-90s and have slowly added on new members, who have quickly become friends.
Sitting in a room with the group, it takes nothing more than the name of a place they once played to get a stream of memories flowing from each of them – like the time they played Waverly Hall, a restored plantation in Mississippi.
“There is a big cupola in the house and it was designed for a band to play. The last band to play in the house was from 1879. So we were the first band to play in that spot since 1879,” said Chris, who plays the fiddle for the group and teaches, along with his wife, at Pleasant Valley High School.
Or the time they played on I-20.
“We were stuck in traffic for about two hours and just got out and played,” said Chris.
“We sat there and sat there and finally we got bored with it and just got our instruments out and played,” added Susie.
The group has easily traveled over 300,000 miles to gigs ranging from re-enactments on old battlefields to weddings or other special occasions.
The band can be found online at www.un-reconstructed.com or on Myspace at www.myspace.com/unreconstructedband.
