Ernest Hogan (1865-1909)
mezzo-soprano Thea Lobo
organist Sam Nelson
originally released June 18th, 2020
This guileless tune in popular style, written towards the end of Hogan's life, nods at the ubiquity of childhood nostalgia and familial love.
Ernest Hogan started performing in his teenage years on tour as a dancer, musician, and comedian with minstrel troupes. During the height of his career he enjoyed wide recognition and acclaim, but in his later years he admitted to a sense of shame in participating in and furthering racist tropes in music and entertainment. He was the first Black performer to produce and star in a Broadway show, The Oyster Man, in 1907. He continued to perform this show until his health failed him and he collapsed multiple times on stage, dying of tuberculosis in 1909
