When I was a kid, it was actually a fun change of pace when my parents shut off ’80s pop radio and put in a Johnny Horton cassette. Through that historical balladeer’s rollicking 1960 hit, “Sink the Bismarck,” I learned about the British navy taking on the mighty German battleship during World War II.
With his new album, “Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!,” Lloyd H. Miller brings a similar level of excitement to aspects of the American Civil War. The album combines songs from the 1800s with Miller’s original tunes — like “Weeksville,” about the area of Brooklyn which became one of the United States’ first free black communities.
The listener learns of the courageous, painful journey of a Virginia slave who escaped to the North by mailing himself in a crate in “Henry Box Brown,” a ballad that will spark a passion for learning more about America’s heroes.
A wonderful way to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War, the album also includes the Gettysburg Address, read by contemporary voices.
“Sing-a-long History Vol. 1: Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!” CD by Lloyd H. Miller, $9.99, cdbab
