James A. Bland

This oval lithographed portrait of James A. Bland is a detail from the sheet music cover for "James Bland's 3 Great Songs," published in 1879. Bland was a prolific songwriter and minstrel performer whose most famous composition was "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny," which served from 1940 to 1997 as the official state song of Virginia. The song presented a highly sentimental, Lost Cause view of the Old South.