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There are several versions of "Dixie," "John Brown's March" and "Bonnie Blue Flag" that audiences like to hear, and the string band Un-Reconstructed has discovered them all — and invented even more. Through the group's harmonizing singers and unique instruments, their moods swing from robust to mellow, making for spirited entertainment while preserving the music of the Confederacy and the instruments used back then.

This six-piece dance band, which includes two Jacksonville natives and a Piedmont resident, recently won a Southeast Regional Emmy Award for its period music contributions to the television documentary The Last Ditch, a recreation of the Union assault on Columbus, Ga., in 1865.

The Emmy was not an honor the band sought out, said Harry Nuttall, the group's bass player. Instead, they were asked to submit their music to directors of The Last Ditch and the band's CDs were quickly accepted for the documentary.

"I am elated," said Nuttall. "This is satisfying to me because it is something that came to us after playing music together so much, for so long. It's a blessing."

The title The Last Ditch is part of a quote from Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who ordered "fighting into the last ditch before accepting tyranny." The documentary won two Emmy awards: One for the music and one for the lighting. There are 20 chapters of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences located across the United States, and regional awards recognizing excellence in television are awarded each year. The film will be aired on Georgia Public Television this fall on dates to be announced.

The band gets its name from the period of Southern rebuilding after the Civil War. Reconstruction was a difficult period in Southern history, said Susie Stephenson, the founding member and dulcimer player, but Southerners still have their identity, outlook and pride. Playing Confederate music is a way to help keep Southern memories alive, Stephenson said.

The band is true to its musical roots — they don't play from scored music. Instead, it is the musicians' creativity that drives the songs. "The notes are in our heads," said guitarist Dave Edwards of Gallant, an original member of the band. He is also the group's lead singer and adds touches of the harmonica and tin whistle.

When they perform, the band sings at least 31 known Confederate songs, as well as some original music, such as "The Hunley" and "O'Dempsey's March," penned by Jacksonville native Chris Dempsey. But the Un-Reconstructed experience doesn't end with the music and costumes. At shows, the band also teaches the audience old folk dances such as The Virginia Reel.

The group has played in at least 12 states as far north as Delaware and as far south as the Gulf Coast in Mississippi, said Stephenson. And it's been rewarding.

"I've been smiling since we started singing together," she said, looking at photos dated 1995 of Edwards, Dempsey and herself — the core group. "But this Emmy has set me on fire. I'm thinking that we should make a video and maybe a book of our road trips. After all, we have 15 years together of remembering."

They have traveled far and wide, despite a tornado threat and getting hopelessly lost on the way to some concerts — Stephenson has kept a journal that tells all the stories. Like last year, when the group played a packed house in Mobile for a convention held by the Sons of the Confederate Veterans. The convention was for the burial of a discovered unknown Confederate sailor who died aboard the CSS Alabama, a raider ship, when it was sunk near Cherbourg, France, during the Civil War. A brighter occasion was their concert for a grand ball in Waverly Hall, a restored plantation home near West Point, Miss.

"One year, we traveled 42 weekends out of the year," Dempsey said. "The traveling long distance gets hard."

"But it's been like family," Nuttall emphasizes.

Indeed, this is a family affair. Chris's mother, Pat Dempsey and his aunt Terri Harris, are seamstresses and made the group's costumes after much research.

"They made sure the styles are correct, down to the last stitch," Heather said. With a smile, she defines her role in the line-up as "second tambourine," but she also "controls traffic" for the Virginia Reel dancing.

The band's next show is the Sons of the Confederate Veterans' convention in Concord, N.C., from July 15-18.