Brandt Ross Sets History to Music

When Brandt Ross begins work on one of his American history programs, he often reaches first for his guitar. The nearly 90-year-old Ross, who lives with his wife, Ginny, at Sunrise at Huntcliff Summit, an independent living community in Sandy Springs, believes that the music of America is a good place to start when he’s telling the story of America.

“I’ve been singing folk songs since my father bought me my first guitar when I was 10. I’ve got a repertoire, now, of probably about 1,000 songs. Songs that take you back to so much in history. There’s a song for everything.”

The idea of leading classes about American history with music came to him soon after he first retired, about 20 years ago, when he began taking adult education classes at a local university just to stay active. But he soon realized that after a lifetime spent in a deep appreciation of America’s musical heritage, he could teach, too.

“I really got into it, and said, ‘Gee, I can do this. I loved history, and I decided to teach classes that blend the folk music into the history, because our whole history is embodied in the folk music of this country. I began teaching with a few other retired guys like myself, and did that for about three or four years, and then began doing it on my own, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Over the past several years, he’s put together, perhaps, 30 programs that have become a popular part of the weekly activities schedule at the Sandy Springs senior living community.

In recent weeks, in the run-up to America’s 250th anniversary, he’s done programs on the Miracle of America’s Revolution War Victory, the story of Abigail Adams, one of the female founders of the American republic, and the Pirates of the Barbary Coast in North Africa, who were terrorizing American shipping soon after the founding of America — all of it accompanied by Ross’s guitar and his musical selections.

“I like to take the great stories from history, whether it’s the good news or the bad news. I cover it all because even if our history is flawed, I try and tell the stories that that show remarkable progress America has made over the years.”

Not all of his stories are of the well-known heroes of history. He describes his discovery recently of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, who, with her husband, William, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, became two of America’s most important cryptologists, breaking the German military codes in two World Wars. Yet, hardly anyone knows their story and certainly even fewer, the songs, that bring their story to life.

“They were absolutely amazing in what they did in learning the secrets of America’s enemies. It’s just one of many great personal stories in our history.”

Ross credits his father, Leonard, who first inspired him to begin performing publicly as a teenager in Highland Park, Ill., where he grew up. He was a successful businessman who had developed a deep understanding of music. They even performed together at his high school in suburban Chicago.

Later, as a young college student, he got caught up in folk revival of the 1950s with a burning ambition to make music his career. He enrolled in the University of Chicago because it meant he would have easy access to the city’s thriving folk music clubs, like the Gate of Horn, which attracted such stars as Odetta, Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn, and Theodore Bikel.

To support his burgeoning career as a student musician, he sold cookware door-to-door, which is how he met a pretty, young nurse who was working at the University of Chicago’s Billings Hospital. She became his wife, Ginny, and she convinced him that his real talent was in selling not in singing.

He reluctantly shelved the guitar but never gave up singing as a personal hobby and a way to reinforce the bond they share. Sixty-seven years later, he is still singing to her and their three married children, six grandchildren, and a great-grandson.

He eventually became the president of Corbin Ltd., one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of men’s tailored clothing, and a successful business consultant.

But, after all these years, it’s the music that keeps him youthful and active.

“It’s so invigorating, first of all, sharing the songs that have become so much of a part of our life in this country. And telling the great stories about this country, that, frankly, so many people are hearing for the first time.”