The Ballad of John Banvard
 
John Banvard worked on the Mississippi as a riverboat man for many years in the 1830s. His experiences inspired him to paint a "three-mile long" painting of the Mississippi. Displaying the painting on rollers that moved the painting in the background while he told tales of life on the Mississippi brought him great fame. He toured his show to Boston and New York and eventually toured Europe and the world with his painting and one man show. He inspired imitators and in fact did more three-mile paintings, including one of the other bank of the Mississippi, one of the Nile, and one of Palestine. After his world travels he brought back the relics he had collected to New York and opened a museum in Times Square. Unfortunately, he directly competed with Barnum's museum, which beat the pants off him due to superior advertising even though many of their "relics" were fakes while his were the real thing. Due to bad business management he went banckrupt and retired to South Dakota, where he died in poverty. No one knows what happened to his paintings.

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MUSICIANS
David Wechsler – Vocals, Piano, Accordion
Doug Stone – Backing Vocals
Curtis Eller – Banjo
Hannah McLimans – Violin
Gerald Menke – Pedal Steel Guitar
Ross Bonadonna – Organ
Aaron Zemelko – Upright Bass
Bill Gerstel – Drums

Music and Lyrics by David Wechsler