Review by Nelson Hermilla

Keep It Old-Time: Fiddle Music in Missouri from the 1960s Folk Music Revival to the Present, By Howard Wight Marshall (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2022). xvi + 481 pp. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Discography. Index. $37.68, cloth.

At this moment in my life, I’m grateful to have discovered what I consider to be the essential references I wanted as I lean into a dedicated interest to learn a great deal more about the Missouri music from which I came. Although my interest simmered for years with never enough samplings, I have given in to a renewed fascination to explore the musical traditions that sustained themselves, in part, by providing so many Missourians, including my family’s, primary entertainment throughout my childhood living in the Ozarks. If I were seeking an authoritative source to elevate my limited knowledge to a more nuanced appreciation, I would seek out someone who might enlighten me in as many details as possible where I might otherwise have to glean the information from many sources. Continue reading →

The Bethel, Missouri, youth fiddle camp returns this summer, June 9-14, 2024. This event features a week of instruction with fiddle masters representing several of Missouri’s fiddle styles, dancing, and sometimes swimming!

For more information or to register, visit historicbethel.org.

In 2023, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival will feature the people and culture of the Ozarks, with support from local partner Missouri State University (especially the MSU Library). To get the audience warmed up for next year’s festival, a concert featured two Ozark favorites: square-dance fiddling and bluegrass music. Fiddler David Scrivner (Springfield), banjoist Nathan McAlister (Granby), and guitarist David Cavins (Columbia) played a set of fiddle tunes and were followed by bluegrassers Sylamore Special, a band from Mountain View, Arkansas.

We hope that next summer’s event will include dances and jam sessions, so get your instruments tuned up and your dance shoes polished, and be ready to head to the capitol. See photos from this year’s festival and follow the Smithsonian Folklife Center for information about next year’s event.

Bud Wyatt of Centralia, Missouri, has passed away at the age of 90. A fine fiddler known for intricate waltzes and popular dance numbers, he played for years with fellow musicians Dale Pauley and Bobby Joe Caldwell. His son, Allen, and his grandson, Matt, are also well-known in Missouri as both musicians and the operators of the Wyatt Violin Shop in Independence. View Bud’s obituary.

The Bethel, Missouri, youth fiddle camp returns this summer, June 12-17, 2022. This event features a week of instruction with fiddle masters representing several of Missouri’s fiddle styles, dancing, and sometimes swimming!

Vesta Johnson shows some young fiddlers how to play a dance tune.

The Bethel, Missouri, youth fiddle camp returns this summer, June 6-11, 2021. This event features a week of instruction with fiddle masters representing several of Missouri’s fiddle styles, dancing, and sometimes swimming!

Vesta Johnson shows some young fiddlers how to play a dance tune.

Alvie Dooms has been a regular at the McClurg jam session for decades. Here he is his with his guitar, 2013 (from Old-Time Music and Ozark Heritage Festival)

McClurg’s session isn’t meeting these days, because of the pandemic, but here’s hoping that when we can all get together again, they’ll re-start their long-standing Monday night tradition. It’s a great way to spend a Monday night in the Ozarks. Listeners, card players, snackers, and musicians are all welcome, and there’s a wood stove for cool nights. (Make sure you are ready to drive some curvy roads if you visit!)

All in all, it’s not too different from something your grandparents or great grandparents might have done on a Monday night, long before Netflix or Monday night football.

Like the McClurg jammers, we all really miss dancing and playing together. But missing it also reminds us what we value about music and dance. In Missouri we have a still-lively fiddle and dance tradition full of welcoming people. But our traditions stay lively because we put our time and energy into them, and into each other and our communities in the process. Here’s hoping we can soon do more of the ‘work’ of passing on our traditions—that is, playing tunes with friends under a shade tree or dancing the night away!