Arthur Francis Collins              

(February 7, 1864 – August 2, 1933) was an American baritone who was one of the most prolific and
beloved of pioneer recording artists, regarded in his day as "King of the Ragtime Singers".

Within a few years, Collins proved one of the most productive and successful singers in the record
business. In his long career, between 1898 and 1926, he worked for every record company active in the United States.
He specialized in what were then called ragtime songs, popular dialect numbers associated with vaudeville and minstrel shows.

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Byron George Harlan

(August 29, 1861 – September 11, 1936) was an

American singer from Kansas, a comic minstrel singer and balladeer who often recorded with Arthur Collins.
He also made a number of vaudeville recordings portraying a “rube” character with comedian Steve Porter.

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Arthur Collins and Byron G. Harlan formed a popular comic duo between 1902 and 1926.
They sang popular standards as well as what were known as ragtime songs.
This type of song was sung by performers in a comic  dialect.
Their material also employed many other comic dialects of the time including Italian, Irishmen and farmers.

Most of their ragtime songs contain comic dialog between the verses.
This became their trademark in their recordings.
There are also frequent exaggerated laughs on many of the sides.
That is the voice of Arthur Collins that you hear.

This CD presents some of their recordings made between 1902 and 1909.

Arthur Collins & Byron Harlan - Comic Ragtime Songs [Victor Discs] (1902-1909) Encore 1

Several Items will have a  symbol next to a song.
You can listen to a sound clip with the  windows media player.