Dear friends of Missouri fiddling,

It is with regret that I inform you that the lifelong devotee of Missouri fiddling and fiddlers, Charlie Stallcup, died on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 at a Hannibal hospital. Frank Ferrell, Charlie’s son-in-law, called me to report this news.

Services will be held next Saturday, December 29, at the James O’Donnell Funeral Home, at 302 S. 5th Street in downtown Hannibal (tel. (573) 221-8188). Visitation will be at 10 a.m., with the memorial service at 11 a.m., and with burial to follow. A brief notice appeared in the Hannibal Courier-Post, Dec. 20, 2007.
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The old-time banjo player, fiddler and guitarist, Alva Lee Hendren (Mrs. Kenneth Hendren) of rural Madison, Missouri, died March 6, 2007 at the age of 77. Alva Lee was born in Moberly (Randolph County) in 1929 and was part of a well-known musical family. Her father was Luther Wilson, a coal miner in the Moberly-Huntsville area, who who taught Alva Lee a two-finger, up-picking style of playing five-string banjo. Wilson had learned banjo from Columbus Raider, and this banjo style, providing excellent accompaniment for fiddling, reached back to the Civil War in central Missouri.
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