Egbert Van Alstyne (1878-1951)
In Dear Old Georgia, Sheet Music, Detroit, Michigan. 1905.
McHenry County Historical Society, Union, Illinois.
Born in Marengo, Illinois, Egbert Van Alstyne eventually moved to New York City, where he worked as a music composer. He spent a number of years on Vaudeville, before his work on Broadway musicals in New York.
Van Alstyne teamed up with lyricist Harry H. Williams, and the pair wrote several songs together. In Dear Old Georgia was written only a few months after they produced their most famous song, In The Shade of the Old Apple Tree.
Van Alstyne’s rise to fame coincided with his short marriage to Vaudeville actress Louise Henry, with whom he performed several successful acts.
Listen to In Dear Old Georgia here, compliments of the Library of Congress.
Rogers (2000); Edwards (2013)
Image Courtesy of the McHenry County Historical Society
_____________________________________________
Stories, Structures, and Songs 