Granddad Paul, Grandson Jordan, Granddaughter Kaylin, Daughter-In-Law Barb, Son Greg, Granny Carol.

The Back Porch Players enjoy presenting 1700's, 1800's and early 1900's period folk music. We hope to help keep alive a love of the melodies, lyrics and history of these songs for present and future generations.
Members of the Stickley family make up the BACK PORCH PLAYERS, all of whom sing and play timeless period songs & Gospel tunes from the 1700s, 1800s and early 1900s, specializing in music from the Civil War Era. Also included are various rhythm instruments such as: washboard, wood block, tambourine and limberjack. (a primitive rhythm instrument)
PAUL plays 6-string and 12-string guitar and also banjo. In addition, he arranges the songs and does historical research. He has played many different kinds of music for more than 47 years. He says he enjoys the old, historic songs, the acoustical instruments and the family band more than all the other types of music in which he has participated.
CAROL has been playing upright bass for 2 years and she produces brochures and business cards for BACK PORCH PLAYERS. In Gospel groups, she has played electric bass for over 20 years and keyboard for about 10 years.
SON GREG started playing banjo about one and a half years ago. He narrates the history for each song and, in addition, he has created the web site for BACK PORCH PLAYERS.
DAUGHTER-IN-LAW BARB plays violin. She has 8 years experience playing classical violin and 4 years playing old time music with BACK PORCH PLAYERS.
GRANDSON JORDAN has been playing the ocarina for 2 years. An ocarina is a wind instrument which is sometimes referred to as a sweet potato or a vessel flute. The ocarina has been around for over 3,000 years in one form or another.
GRANDDAUGHTER KAYLIN has about 8 years of singing experience doing fund-raisers, school dramas and gospel music. She started playing the violin a little over a year ago.
GRANDSON QUIN is Jordan and Kaylin's cousin and although he has just started playing tambourine with THE BACK PORCH PLAYERS he is doing great and takes his job very seriously.
We Have Performed At Various Festivals and Fund-raisers:
Following is a list of some of our songs.

1. THE BATTLE-CRY OF FREEDOM
Written by George F. Root in 1861. Adapted for use as one of the campaign songs for Lincoln in the 1864 election. 		2. THE BONNIE BLUE FLAG
Written by Harry Macarthy (stage name: Arkansas Comedian) in 1861. This song was second only to "Dixie" in popularity among Confederate soldiers.
3. THE MINSTREL BOY
Written in 1813 iby Thomas Moore who set it to the melody of the Moreen, an old Irish aire. This song was a favorite of the many Irishmen who fought during the U.S. Civil War, primarily on the Union side. 		4. BELLE MISSOURI
Published in 1863 in reply to "Maryland My Maryland" a song proclaiming Maryland's desire to join the South. Both songs are based on the music to "O Tannenbaum" an old German Christmas carol. Lyrics by Howard Glyndon, Music by Hermann Schneider
5. JOHNNY HAS GONE FOR A SOLDIER
An American adaptation of the Irish tune Shule Aroon which dates back to the 17th century. Johnny Has Gone For A Soldier was popular during the American Revolutionary War as well as the Civil War. 		6. SOUTHERN SOLDIER BOY
Words by Captain G. W. Alexander. Music taken from the tune "The Boy With The Auburn Hair." This song was made popular in the play "The Virginia Cavalier", an 1864 hit in the Richmond theater.
7. TURKEY IN THE STRAW
Turkey In the Straw was one of the earliest American minstrel songs. It was a fiddle tune named Natchez Under the Hill before it was published with words in 1834 as Old Zip Coon. It was very popular during Andrew Jackson's presidency 		8. LORENA
Words by H.D.L. Webster - Music by J.P. Webster (no relation). The lyrics were originally written as a poem memorializing H.D.L. Webster's unrequited love.
9. DIXIE
This Confederate War Song was written before the Civil War in 1859 by a Northerner, Daniel Decatur Emmett, for the bryant's Minstrels. He got his idea for the song from the term used by circus people when the weather turned cold and they were preparing to head south for the winter. They would think of the genial warmth of that section for which they were heading, and their expression would be, "Well, I wish I was in Dixie." 		10. BATTLE OF SHILOH HILL Written by M. B. Smith, Company C, 2nd Regiment, Texas Volunteers April 1862, Music adapted from "Wandering Sailor". Estimated casualties: Union 13,047; Confederate 10,699.
11. ROCK OF AGES
Written by Augustus Toplady, published March 1776 in The Gospel Magazine. On his deathbed Gen. Jeb Stuart requested that this hymn be sung and he made an attempt to join the singing. 		12. YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS
A minstrel song written by someone identified only as J.K., this tune was copyrighted in 1858 by publisher Charles H. Brown of Jackson, TN. The Army of Tennessee sang "The Yellow Rose of Texas" as they trudged into Mississippi on New Year's Day, 1865.
13. ASHOKAN FAREWELL
This plaintive Appalachian melody written by Jay Unger is heard wafting through Ken Burn's PBS documentary "The Civil War". Although not written in the 1800's, it embodies the haunting sadness of tunes played by soldiers from both sides around their campfires after the day's battle had ended.