Old-time music at the Big Muddy Folk Festival

Banjos, dulcimers, autoharps, basses and especially fiddles and guitars were common sights in Boonville last weekend, as the Friends of Historic Boonville's Big Muddy Folk Festival celebrated its 25th year on April 1st and 2nd. Musicians from around the country performed and offered workshops at Boonville’s historic Thespian Hall and other local venues.

The Missouri Folk Arts Program coordinate a backup guitar workshop Saturday that featured Steve Hall, who has led four apprenticeships through the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP). He explained and demonstrated his particular approach to old-time backup guitar, which places emphasis on the movement of the bass line. 

Workshop attendees also heard from Ellen Gomez, Mr. Hall’s current apprentice through TAAP. She is also an accomplished fiddler and plays other styles on guitar, and applied for the apprenticeship to learn Hall's approach and to fine-tune her skills.

Hall and Gomez certainly couldn’t demonstrate backup guitar without someone playing the melody line; master fiddler Vesta Johnson (Steve Hall's grandmother and first teacher) and her 2015 apprentice James Hall, who happens to be her great-grandson, supplied the waltzes, reels and two-steps.

Ellen Gomez, Steve Hall, Vesta Johnson and James Hall took turns picking old time dance tunes
during the rhythm guitar workshop at Big Muddy Folk Festival.  Photo by Tracy Anne Travis

Although Mrs. Johnson is an experienced performer and teacher (she's been playing fiddle since 1929), she mentioned that it was a special challenge teaching her ninth apprentice through TAAP, James Hall. She explained that it’s always a little different teaching family.

During the workshop for rhythm guitar, Ellen Gomez and Steve Hall accompany
James Hall as he plays a tune in one of his favorite dance forms--the waltz. Photo by Tracy Anne Travis

On the other hand, she's glad to pass on her knowledge of old-time music to another younger generation. During the workshop, and a session focused on fiddling later that day, she stressed the importance and value of young fiddlers learning tunes of an older variety (despite the appeal of flashy, quick, and newer styles that are not so firmly associated with a dance tradition). Examples of her vast repertoire were recently compiled on CD by The Field Recorders' Collective.

She teaches a style of North Missouri fiddling that is intrinsically linked to square dancing; a consistent, dance-able tempo and rhythmic integrity are her top priorities. Mrs. Johnson explained that fiddling has changed a lot since she was young, especially since there is much less opportunity to play for square dances.

Nonetheless, opportunities to hear old-time music continue. In Mid-Missouri, John and Betty White host regular monthly jam and dance at Hallsville Communty Center, and the weekly McClurg Jam on Monday nights is a another favorite. 

The Missouri Folk Arts Program and MU's Museum of Art and Archaeology will host a special old-time music event later this month. Master old-time fiddler John P. Williams, Jr. will play fiddle tunes with Bob Cathey and Kenny Applebee, as part of TAAP's new Then and Now: Apprentice Journeys series, at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, April 22nd in the Museum's European and American Gallery at Mizzou North in Columbia. The event is sponsored also with grants from the Missouri Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.