One Sunday night in the early 1970s, 7th grade English teacher and musician James Von Schilling sat twirling the dials of his radio, just curious about what was on. Then a sound sprang over the air waves, the likes of which he had never heard before. From those moments on, Von Schilling’s life was to change.

The song was “Shout, Sister, Shout.” Performed by a female trio, it started off on a cheery note, then veered inexplicably into blues, jazz, even tapping an element of African American spirituals. Then the song came to an end. Von Schilling (pictured left)  did not know the name of the group, only that the sound placed it in the early 1930s. He soon discovered that the singers were the Boswell Sisters.

The next morning, Von Schilling headed for the Sam Goody record shop in the Garden State Plaza shopping mall in New Jersey. There, in the nostalgia section, he found a collection of the Boswell’s songs from 1932-1934. The record’s lining notes told him a little about the Boswells: they were sisters Connee, Vet and Martha, who had grown up in that most musically diverse of cities, New Orleans. Lead singer Connee wrote the arrangements for the group. Each sister had studied multiple musical genres, and the group rated among the most popular of the 1930s.

But what had become of them? And who were they? Von Schilling set out on a quest to find out. That search, in turn, broadened to a fascination with popular music. Most of all, Von Schilling wanted to share what he had learned.

“As it happened,” Von Schilling says, “they were introducing mini courses to Hackensack High School, where I taught. I thought it would be great to teach a course on pop music from the 1920s to the present, the 1970s and I did so. Eventually, though, I realized that I wanted to teach adults.”

At the time, only one university taught popular culture—Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Originally planning to take a few courses, Von Schilling remained at Bowling Green for five years, earning his doctoral degree in American culture.

What was there about the Boswell Sisters that stopped Von Schilling’s hand on that radio dial? “The Boswells were a freak of nature,” he says. “They were three sisters, close in age, with similar voices, musically gifted and trained in all kinds of music. They had a kind of instinctual harmony with each other, almost subconscious. They were imaginative, innovative, bright, sparkling.”

Most remarkably, Von Schilling points out, they sang before tape editing existed. “They sang right into the microphone.”

Raised in New Orleans, the Boswell Sisters absorbed the many genres flourishing in the city--blues, Jazz, African American, Latin, and brass band. They incorporated these into their music, in intricately creative ways. “Every song has something unusual in it,” Von Schilling said. “There are little touches.”

While still at Bowling Green, Von Schilling wrote an article about the Boswells and sent it to the music magazine Creem. No one’s heard of them, the editors said, and declined the manuscript.

Nevertheless, the Boswells' influence ran through the music of more famous singers. Fans of the Andrews Sisters and Judy Garland unknowingly heard the Boswells' imprint. Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra acknowledged inspiration from the Boswells. Sinatra called the Boswells the most imitated vocal group in history.

“The Boswell Sisters changed popular singing,” Von Schilling says. “They had a jazzy style, they sang off the beat, used richer harmonies. Nothing like them had been heard before and nothing has been heard since, up to this day.” By traveling on their own and forging their own way, they also helped set a new and wider path for women. It is also possible, Von Schilling thinks, that the Boswells may have left a mark on the big bands of the 1930s; bandleaders Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman played backup for the sisters before gaining their own stardom.

After its rejection by Creem, Von Schilling sent his article to Connee Boswell, retired and living on Central Park West in New York. In the late 1970s, Von Schilling found her phone number in an old New York City directory and called her, aiming to arrange an interview. But Connee was ill, and the interview turned out to be an impromptu conversation on the phone. “She was straightforward and full of life,” Von Schilling says. He still has the yellowing envelope on which he took notes.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Von Schilling, his article was traveling among the sisters’ fans, passed on by Vet Boswell. In 1979, two Broadway producers, Mark Hampton and Stuart Ross, gave Von Schilling a call. They were staging a play, Heebie Jeebies, based on the sisters’ lives and had read Von Schilling’s article. The article confirmed for the men that their interest was on the right track. The play went into production, and at a cast party, Von Schilling met the only surviving sister, Vet. “She was dignified and reserved, but also friendly and funny.”

Seven years after the party, the article emerged again, when another devoted Boswell fan tracked Von Schilling after reading it. More and more, Von Schilling discovered that the Boswells, thought to be forgotten, had had a cohort of devoted followers all along.

Nowadays it is much easier for Boswell fans to find each other. The Internet has enabled a worldwide community to share their enthusiasm, knowledge and comments. The major site is bozzies.com.

Recently, Von Schilling attended a conference in New Orleans commemorating the 100th anniversary of Connee Boswell’s birth. He again saw that his unpublished article had taken on a life of its own, over a period of thirty-five years. Many of the conference-goers, who ranged in age from their teens to their 70s, had read it.

The Boswells continue to receive validation through Von Schilling’s article “Hearing the Boswell Sisters” published by the Journal of Popular Music and Society in May 2008.

Von Schilling believes that while the Boswell Sisters’ popularity will always be limited, their influence will become increasingly recognized. Having retired in 1936 as a group (Connee performed until the mid-1970s), the Boswells’ fame faded behind the popularity of later artists, many of whom imitated their style. Additionally, the Boswells’ infidelity to common jazz stereotypes contributed to the group’s post-retirement obscurity.

Today’s admirers, however, have brought the group back to life. Several singing groups are reviving their songs and style. Improved recording technology helps insure that the Boswells’ music will live on.

In addition to shaping popular music, Von Schilling believes that the Boswells’ and his own stories have a life lesson to teach. “It shows the value of staying with a subject for 35 years. You learn more, and things happen over time. It can lead you in different directions.”

Von Schilling is grateful to the Boswells for leading him in the direction of college teaching. “I was glad when my recent article was published because I felt I owed the Boswells something. They set me on a path that changed my life.”