The Beardstown Show
2009
The Beardstown Show survives in Ken's archive as a complete set of music recordings — a full original score built around the life of a river town. Composed and tracked across the fall and winter of 2009, the music carries the show from its opening theme, "Memories of a River," through scenes of ferries and wagon trains, Indian lore and snakes, steamboats and showboats, hard floods and "Tough Times," before circling home in a reprise and curtain call.
No script or program accompanies the recordings, but the song titles trace the arc of a community musical celebrating the heritage of Beardstown and the Illinois River: families crossing on the ferry, settlers hitching up the wagons, the coming of the steamboats, the bite of a "Big Cold" winter, and the river that gives and takes through flood. The numbered sequence — from the overture to the final bows — suggests a staged pageant with a clear beginning, middle, and homecoming close.
Musical Numbers
- Memories of a River (opening, with instrumental and melody versions)
- Ferry
- Hitch Up the Wagons
- Windy Night
- Friends
- Doodle
- Traveling to St. Louis
- Coming Upon the Mounds
- Coming of the Snakes
- Nervous Horse
- Marriage Music (I and II)
- Skinny Dippin'
- Big Cold
- Indian Lore
- Steamboat Comin'
- Show Boat
- Tough Times
- Flood
- Family River Theme
- Memories of a River (reprise)
- Ferry (reprise)
- Curtain Call
Additional cues in the archive include "Mud Song," "Skeeter Song," "Westward," "Opening Under Dialogue," and "The River, Final."
Production Notes
The score was written and recorded by Ken Bradbury, with tracking dates running from October through December 2009. The surviving files include both instrumental beds and melody-line versions of several numbers, indicating Ken prepared the music both for accompaniment and for teaching the cast their parts. The recordings appear connected to the Beardstown historical productions of the 2009–2010 period.
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