Who Was Fred Hylands?

This is a face that few will recognize. Even over a century ago his face was not well known. Despite this, most people who own any recordings dating from 1897 to 1904 have indeed heard him. It seems ironic that someone we can hear on hundreds, perhaps thousands, of records was decidedly never known for his recordings. In 1897, an authentic Indiana Hoosier set foot in the Columbia Phonograph company lab to replace the first studio musician ever, Edward Issler. This young man’s name was Fred Hylands, a 25 year old ragtime pianist fresh out of the vice ridden midway of Chicago. Around the end of the previous year, the management at the Columbia Phonograph Company set up their first laboratory in Manhattan, and with this new headquarters, they needed some new talent. Among the new workers they hired, they weeded through dozens of pianists to eventually choose the somehow charming and eccentric Hylands. He was showcased as their token “rag time” pianist from the very beginning of his employment at Columbia, being specifically advertised as thus in trade magazines such as The Phonoscope. 1898 is the