Home Front will perform Civil War period music at '08 Festival

MEYERSDALE, PA--The popular musical duo Home Front will return to the Pennsylvania Maple Festival to again fill the Historic Meyers Homestead with period music from the 1850s and 1860s. Musicians Chuck Krepley of Apollo and Tom Crytzer of New Kensington will entertain those passing through the Festival Park homestead, more commonly known as Maple Manor, on the second Saturday of the festival - April 6. The duo has performed at the festival for the past few years and is sure to draw a crowd again this year. Krepley and Crytzer formed Home Front a few years ago with the intention of performing at area festivals, reenactments and historical sites. Their first performance together was in December of 2000, during a Civil War reenactors dance at the Somerset Historical Center. The duo released its first CD, Parlor to Campfire, November, 2002. Krepley noted all 17 songs on the CD are from the 19th Century. To the best of his knowledge, one of these songs, titled Few Days, has never before been recorded. He said he has never heard anyone else perform this peice about this 1850s melody. He said the tune was forgotten and he is reintroducing it. According to Krepley, the duo performs all the Civil Ware standards, including The Battle Cry of Freedom, Kingdom Coming and When Johnny Comes Marching Home. The duo always performs in historic costume. Krepley plays both the fiddle and banjo and Crytzer plays the guitar. The banjo they use is an exact reproduction of a banjo from about 1850. The instrument was constructed by George Wunderlich of Meyersville, Md. Wunderlich takes great care to use the same methods of banjo construction today as were used over 150 years ago. For example, Krepley explained, the banjo maker does not use sandpaper, because it had not yet been invented in the mid-1800s. Krepley also collects authentic pre-1865 sheet music, which is used to perform the majority of the duos music. He and Crytzer are looking forward to returning to Maple Manor for another festival performance. They enjoy the atmosphere of the house and being able to perform parlor music just the way they would have back 150 years ago.

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