I'm wondering what the earliest commercial shanty recordings were. My guess would be soloist (probably tenor or bass) with orchestra, chorus or piano. The first one I know about is Columbia 4689, a 78, featuring Raymond Newell and Chorus singing "Johnny Come Down to Hilo", "The Hog's Eye Man" and "We're All Bound to Go" (a copy of which I saw when visiting Chris Roche - thanks, Chris).