From the University Press:

“Play Me Something Quick and Devilish” explores the heritage of traditional fiddle music in Missouri. Howard Wight Marshall considers the place of homemade music in people’s lives across social and ethnic communities from the late 1700s to the World War I years and into the early 1920s. This exceptionally important and complex period provided the foundations in history and settlement for the evolution of today’s old-time fiddling.

Beginning with the French villages on the Mississippi River, Marshall leads us chronologically through the settlement of the state and how these communities established our cultural heritage. Other core populations include the “Old Stock Americans” (primarily Scotch-Irish from Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia), African Americans, German-speaking immigrants, people with American Indian ancestry (focusing on Cherokee families dating from the Trail of Tears in the 1830s), and Irish railroad workers in the post–Civil War period. These are the primary communities whose fiddle and dance traditions came together on the Missouri frontier to cultivate the bounty of old-time fiddling enjoyed today.

The physical version of the book includes a fantastic CD produced by Voyager Records featuring 39 tunes from Missouri fiddlers such as George Morris, Art Galbraith, Gene Goforth, Taylor McBaine, Pete McMahan, Warren Helton and Travis Inman.

It’s available directly from the University Press and from online retailers, like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Jim had a deep commitment to and knowledge of traditional fiddling. He played fiddle tunes from Canada clear to Mississippi and back again, collecting them like a child collects shiny rocks. Though he learned and loved many tunes local to his stomping grounds in Stone County, MO, he also had a special place in his heart for the Missouri Valley repertoire. When musicians and family members staged a Bob Walters reunion in 2010, Jim enthusiastically drove to Nebraska (and how many people can say that?) to play Bob’s tunes—and jaw with like-minded friends—for a whole weekend.

Jim played not only fiddle, but just about anything with strings, and a few things without, and did it all well. On just two of his records with his wife, Kim, Jim can be heard playing fiddle, mandolin, banjo, steel guitar, and both flatpick and fingerstyle guitar. The fuzzy edges between country and blues are especially evident in his playing. Jim spent much of his time playing music, both professionally and for fun, including memorable gigs with Don Ho and Shoji Tabuchi.

Like all the best musicians, Jim practiced, listened, and learned from others constantly, soaking up every new  detail like it was the first. For the past several years, he’s been a master fiddler at the Bethel, MO Youth Fiddle Camp, partly to teach the campers and partly to enjoy the company and music of the other masters.

Kim and Jim have made music together as an old time band and a traditional country duet for decades. Their spine-shivering harmony singing combines two of Jim’s favorite things: great music and a great story, enthusiastically told. Jim wound up many a session with stories, injected with his dry wit, of musicians he’d known and times spent doing the things he loved best, fiddle in hand.

He’ll be missed.

SD Junior-Junior

1. Kirsten Shaw
2. Riley Shaw
3. Brook Stadelmaier

SD Junior

1. Christine Keller
2. Danielle Gillis

Open Junior

1. Morgan Lipes
2. Kelsea Kennedy

SD Adult

1. Todd Goehring
2. Joel Brick
3. Kathryn Henning
4. Jared Finck

Open Adult

1. Cody Stadelmaier
2. John Shaw
3. Alice McGary
4. Renae Blom
5. Brian Hesford
6. MathewTyler
7. Ed Gross
8. Leila Kelley

Button Accordion

1. Amber Gaddy
2. Johanna DeGroot

SD Senior

1. Judy Oliver
2. Tom Carlson
3. Dan Sheldon
4. Brenda Warborg
5. Ken Duda
6. Harley Aisgaard
7. Jerry Anderson

Open Senior

1. Jim Christensen
2. Mary O’Connor
3. Ann Robinson
4. Jeanne Finke

Harmonica

1. Lyle Johnson
2. Jeff Osthus
3. Mick Warborg

Open Championships

1. John Shaw
2. Cody Stadelmaier
3. Morgan Lipes
4. Alice McGary
5. Jim Christensen
6. Mary O’Connor

SD Championship

1. Todd Goehring
2. Jared Finck
3. Arnold Johnson
4. Joel Brick (Disqualified for playing 2 waltzes)

Twin Fiddling

1. Jason Shaw/John Shaw
2. Nate Kemperman/Alice McGary
3. Jay Kelly/Jim Christensen
4. Kathryn Henning/Mindy Hunke
5. Judy Oliver/Wilbur Foss

SD Senior-Senior

1. Arnold Johnson
2. Lyle Johnson
3. Mick Warborg
4. Bernadette Westegaard
5. Vince Weidler

Piano Accordion

1. Bill Schwan
2. Shelly Keller
3. Michelle Schettler

Open Senior Senior

1. Jack Crowley

National Invitational

1. Jason Shaw
2. Joe Fedrizzi
3. Michelle Schettler
4. Mindy Hunke
5. Sharon Graf
6. Nate Kemperman
7. Jay Kelly
8. Tilford Bagstad

He’s got a clean, fascinating solo fiddle style with a slightly Scottish cast, and plays some very unusual (and lovely) tunes as well as some cracking good versions of old favorites like Rye Straw (also known as “The Joke’s on the Puppy”).

Travis is eleven-time Missouri State Fiddle Champion, and his fiddling is deeply grounded in his Missouri roots. He represents a transition between the dance-dominated fiddle traditions of earlier years and more contest- and performance-oriented traditions of today. Travis has embraced elements of these influences to create a sound that’s firmly traditional, surprisingly contemporary, and uniquely his own.

Inman is accompanied by the stellar musicians Charlie Walden on guitar (himself a champion Missouri fiddler) and Patt Plunkett on keyboard. The recording was made by David Cavins in Columbia, Missouri, in September 2011. Biographical notes by Amber Gaddy, tune annotations by Howard Marshall.

The tunes: Angus Campbell, Rosebuds of Avamore, Swearngin’s Hornpipe, St. Anne’s Reel, I’ll Be All Smiles Tonight, Sweet Georgia Brown, Lead Out, Eva Anne’s Waltz, Red Apple Rag, Over the Waves, Jumping the Strings, Hooker’s Hornpipe, Peacock Rag, Back in Old Arkansas, Rachel, Sugar Tree Stomp, White Rose, Grey Eagle, Paddy on the Turnpike, Cowboy Waltz, Charmaine, Turkey in the Straw, Wednesday Night Waltz, Woodchopper’s Reel, What a Friend We Have in Jesus

TRAVIS INMAN: MISSOURI FIDDLER is available from Voyager Records and from Mr. Inman in Sedalia, Missouri, (660) 827-2266. Copies may also be obtained at Missouri locations such as the Wyatt Violin Shop in Independence, (816) 252-5656, and Seitz Violins in St. Louis, (314) 353-1312. More information may be obtained from co-producer Howard Marshall or on the Voyager website.

Long before Jimmy Driftwood made up the words to describe the Battle of New Orleans to his high school history students, or Homer and Jethro camped it up with lyrics about Camp Kookamonga, Eighth of January was a fiddle standard all over the country.

Here is a sampling of Missouri versions to whet your appetite for a little celebration this Eighth of January. And just in case you miss the eighth of January, Ozarks fiddler Bob Holt offers up his “Ninth of January”, complete with dancing feet.

I’ve taken the opportunity presented by the move to update the structure of the site a little bit and plan to add quite a bit more content in the weeks to come. Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to check back for new tunes, profiles of fiddlers and event listings.

We’re having a party to celebrate the fiddling legacy of Bob Walters as carried on by Dwight Lamb of Onawa, Iowa. Bring your instruments for an afternoon (and evening) of music. Also bring a dish to share for a potluck dinner. Contact Bill Peterson with questions.

UPDATE: The Tekamah newspaper, the Burt County Plaindealer, has published an article about the event, a story and a poem about Bob Walters. The biographical story was written by Harold Walter’s daughter, Alta Wolf.

I regret to report that we have lost another elder statesman of traditional Missouri fiddling.

Roy W. (Bill) Eddy, Sr., died August 2, 2010, in Slater, Missouri, at the age of 95. He had been ill for several years, and suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.

Graveside services will be held at the Slater City Cemetery, Thursday, August 5, at 10:30 a.m. Visitation will be held at Weiker Funeral Home in Slater at 9.30 a.m. Memorials may be presented to the Gilliam Baptist Church.

Bill Eddy was a farmer from the Gilliam area, east of Slater and several miles west of the Missouri River in Saline County, a community known for its fine fiddlers and dancers as well as it exceptional agricultural land.

Bill was one of the featured fiddlers in the University of Missouri documentary project, “Now That’s A Good Tune,” in 1989 (reissued in 2008 by Voyager Records), and he was an excellent proponent of the classic Little Dixie style of fiddling that is representative of central Missouri traditions. He was a strong supporter of the Missouri State Old-Time Fiddlers Association and took part in its activities and dances.

Bill Eddy played many interesting local tunes, as well as all of the “big” Missouri tunes, such as “Grey Eagle,” “Rachel,” and “Leather Britches.” He composed several fiddle tunes, such as a hornpipe he called, “Phyllis Gale Breakdown” (in honor of a daughter), which can be heard on the “Good Tune” CDs. He competed in fiddler’s contests throughout the season and enjoyed these events. He was a keen observer and commented on the differences between playing fiddle for dances and playing in fiddling competitions.

Bill was a solid contest fiddler and had been competing in contests since the 1920s. Bill was often called upon to help judge fiddler’s contests. In 1981, he helped judge the first Minnesota State Old-time Fiddlers Contest (Cotton MN). As a judge, Bill recognized the complexities of judging these exciting and sometimes volatile events. He often took time after a contest to visit with young fiddlers, in order to praise their playing, encourage them, and offer tips on fiddling technique. He was particularly fond of the older hornpipes and, in many conversations I recall, Bill was convincing in his opinion that they should be played “straight.” My last visit with Bill was at a fiddler’s contest in Boonville at the annual steam thresher’s reunion several years ago.

I enjoyed his fiddling and I appreciated his perspective on traditional fiddle techniques, which he had accumulated through some 70 years of involvement in the music and involvement in the fiddle contest scene.

If anyone has old photos, recordings, newspaper clippings, anecdotes about Bill Eddy, and the like, that they would like to share, and, hopefully, contribute to the “Missouri fiddle archives” in the State Historical Society (Western Historical Manuscript Collection) in Columbia, please contact me.

–Howard W. Marshall (hmarshall [at] missouri [dot] edu)

Dancing the Night Away: Contra Dancing in Mid-Missouri from Erin Schwartz on Vimeo.