The Old South Quartette

The Old South Quartette, initially known as "Polk Miller & His Old South Quartette," was an American vocal ensemble established in the late 1890s by Polk Miller (1844—1913), a white musician and entrepreneur from Richmond, Virginia. They toured the United States extensively between 1900 and 1911, renowned as one of the first mixed-race music groups, and continued performing as an "all-black" outfit after Miller's retirement. The Old South Quartet was among the earliest African-American bands to produce commercial audio records for Edison Amberol Record in December 1909 — after Unique Quartette (December 1890) and Standard Quartette (August 1891) on New York Phonograph Co. and Dinwiddie Colored Quartet in October 1902 on Victor Talking Machine Co. They recorded 78 RPM gramophone records in August 1928 on Q·R·S (label and piano roll publisher) and presented on WRVA radio in Richmond. The quartet disbanded sometime in the early-to-mid 1930s. The original band's founder, Polk Miller, learned to play banjo from slaves on his father's plantation and began a professional music career in 1892. Despite glorifying black music and proudly fronting a mixed-race ensemble, Miller didn't support racial equality or civil rights, explicitly embracing slavery and Confederacy ideology his entire life. In 1911, he retired from the Old South Quartette at sixty-seven, as the group began getting more violent racist threats during concert tours. The ensemble began performing with Colonel Thomas Hobson "Marse Tom" Booker (1844—1928) in the early 1900s when he joined Miller's "Two Old Confederates in Old Times Down South" program as a storyteller; subsequently, Booker remained with the group for many years. Over twenty vocalists performed in the quartet, with many names and biographies still undiscovered. Old South Quartette Randall Graves, Anderson Epps — 1st tenor Clarence Smith — 2nd tenor Archie Johnson, Walter Lightfoot — baritone James L. Stamper, Alphonso DeWitt — bass