REN SHIELDS  (1868-1913)

born in Chicago, Shields worked with popular minstrel troupes of Lasses White and George “Honeyboy” Evans. Shields published his first song (“The Warmest Coon in Town”) in 1897 but his greatest hit was "In the Good Old Summertime" (1902) not long after he left minstrelsy and emerged in vaudeville,  

 

Ideas for Shields' later pieces like  “Come Take A Trip In My Airship,” may have come from his own theatrical experiences (below, right, 10th billing) That, and another song co-written with the Leightons, “Frankie and Johnny or You’ll Miss Me In the Days to Come,” would later be recorded by country music pioneer, Charlie Poole. 

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In an interview in the May 5, 1907 issue of  The Washington Post  Shields explained the secret of music success: “It is the song that the drunk is going to sing that is the song that is going to be popular.”