Mills, Kerry F. A. Mills

Description

The sheet music for the song “Whistling Rufus” was written and composed by Kerry Mills and published by F. A. Mills of New York, New York in 1899. The cover depicts whistling Rufus playing a guitar, and the lyrics call him “A great musician with a high position/ was whistling Rufus, the one-band man.” The cover shows well-dressed African-Americans dancing in the background, and Rufus seems to be playing at one of the cakewalks that would soon became famous across America.Currently not on view

Record Contributed By

National Museum of American History

Record Harvested From

Smithsonian Institution