Ben Harney: ragtimes father
Ben Harney was another composer during this time, and he was famous for his song "Mister Johnsonm Turn Me Loose."
This video is just an instrumental version of
Ben Harney's song "Mister Johnson, Turn Me Loose."
Ben Harney's song "Mister Johnson, Turn Me Loose."
Ben Harney (March 6, 1872-March 2, 1938) – Ben Harney was a song writer and entertainer. Research says that he was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Ben’s father was a soldier in the Mexican-American War, and his grandfather was John Hopkins Harney, the first mathematics professor at Indiana Universityand wrote the first algebra textbook ever published. Harney wrote a lot of songs. He wrote, “You’ve Been A Good Old Wagon but You Done Broke Down,” “Mister Johnson, Turn Me Loose,” and “Cake Walk in the Sky.” These songs were big hits in the 1890’s. In 1897 Ben wrote a book called “Ben Harney Rag Time Instructor.” The book talked about ragtime music and how to improve it. Ben Harney was known as the father of ragtime, in 1938 he was titled “Ragtime’s Father” in Time Magazine.