Old-Time Fiddling at the Capitol

The Missouri Folk Arts program and Missouri State Parks showcased two masters of Missouri fiddling on Saturday, April 23rd on the lawn outside the historic Lohman Building at the Jefferson Landing State Historic Site. The event, which is part of the MFAP's "Folk Arts at the Capitol,"series, brought old-time musicians and dancers from around the state to enjoy the sunshine and music in Jefferson City.

The event was a convergence of two fiddling giants representing two regional styles — Little Dixie and Ozarks. A 2016 master of Old-time Ozark Fiddling, H.K. Silvey, the only fiddler left of his generation in Theodosia, Missouri (in the southwest Missouri Ozarks) played his signature Ozark style tunes which he has picked up and learned for over 70 years now. Mr. Silvey has long ties to Missouri's Traditional Art Apprenticeship Program (TAAP), as he is one of two surviving master artists who participated in the year the program was initiated in 1985.

H.K. Silvey bows an old-time tune as Jim Nelson and Travis Inman back him up on guitars.

Another fiddling giant of the Little Dixie fiddling style, Mr. Travis Inman (Sedalia), graced the event with his current apprentice Carlie Cunningham (Fulton). Mr. Inman, an eight-time TAAP fiddling master with 40+ years of fiddling experience backed up his apprentice on the guitar as she played the famous Missouria "Casey's Hornpipe" tune, although known around master Mr. Inman's family as the "Swearingin's Hornpipe."

Apprentice and fiddler Carlie Cunningham shares a tune with with her teacher Travis Inman,
guitarist Jim Nelson, and Ozark fiddler H.K. Silvey. 

Jim Nelson from Saint Louis backed up all the fiddlers as they played. One unique feature of this event was the way way fiddlers were able to trade off tunes and the splendid way Mr. Nelson supported the two different fiddling styles with harmonies. You might have thought the team had done some prior practice. The audience had a great chance to notice the contrast between the two styles, since it's typical in old-time music for one fiddler to start a tune and then hand it off to another player.

Besides bringing together these two regional styles (and three generations of fiddlers), the event also incorporated old-time music's sister tradition--dancing. As old-time musicians and dancers are apt to point out, historically, you really can't have one without the other. Those from an older generation of fiddlers, like Mr. Silvey, are used to playing for dances. Mr. Silvey intimated to us one time that his family of fiddlers always played and danced to the tunes and that his "mother was a good singer and could jig dance up a storm". Unfortunately, today younger players have fewer opportunities to play their tunes for dancers since traditional dancing is less common. Groups like the Mid-Missouri Traditional Dancers, who were represented at this event, focus on creating opportunities for learning and practicing traditional dances that were popular during Missouri fiddling's height of popularity.

Experienced dancers as well as amateurs circle up during and old-time "barn" dance. 

It was such a joy to have Mid-Missouri Traditional Dancers' Jim Thaxter as caller for Saturday's event, teaching the dances beforehand, telling the dancers what moves and formations will come next, and communicating with the musicians about what type of tune to play and when the music should stop and end. Indeed, one of our Facebook Page friends, Jim Ford, commented that they "had more fun than you can shake a stick at." The audience danced, and danced, and danced! Even though the concert officially ended at about 1 pm, the crowd still wanted to dance. Other musicians brought their instruments for a jam session with the performers. The last person left the lawn at 5 pm!

Then and Now: Apprentice Journeys with Master Fiddler John P. Williams, Jr.

On Friday, April 22nd, the MU Museum of Art and Archaeology again opened its doors as a music venue — this time for the foot-stamping rhythms of old-time Missouri fiddling. The concert was part of a new component of Missouri's Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP) called Then and Now: Apprentice Journeys, which features apprentices who have gone on to become master artists in the program.

2014 master fiddler John P. Williams, Jr. was the featured artist of the day and was accompanied by  two of his frequent musical collaborators: his former apprentice, Bob Cathey, with whom he traded tunes and guitarist Kenny Applebee who backed them up. The event was well attended by a fully packed audience in the European and American Gallery at Mizzou North.

John P. Williams, Jr. 

Although he started fiddling at the age of 7, it was not until he was 16, that John P. Williams apprenticed under the legendary Boone County fiddler, Pete McMahan, in 1998 and 1999. Williams was Mr. McMahan's last apprentice before he passed away in 2000. Williams  went on to become one of the youngest Missourians to serve as master artist in TAAP, teaching Old-Time music's Little Dixie fiddling style in TAAP in 2014. Williams, who has over 20+ years of fiddling experience, is now more passionate and devoted to preserving this art.

As part of the Then and Now series, MFAP staff conducted an oral-history interview with the featured master artist to learn more about his perspective on what it's like to be an apprenticeship in the program. Mr. Williams' interview took place before the concert in the MFAP office. He shared what he learned about music and teaching a traditional art during his time as an apprentice.

During the concert, as Williams traded off tunes with Cathey, they also punctuated their performance with stories about the old-time musicians from whom they learned tunes. Almost every single tune that they played jogged their memory of a certain person or jam session. A good number of the tunes that Williams shared at the concert were learned from some of the finest Missouri fiddling giants to ever draw a bow like Pete McMahan, Vesta Johnson, Dwight Lamb, John White, Taylor McBaine, and Bob Holt. In the interview before the concert, Williams intimated that one of his favorite tunes is called "Gilsaw" — he learned it from one of his former teachers. You can hear Mr. Williams play this breakdown on Youtube from a few years back. Mr. Williams' playing style represents a clear lineage of Missouri fiddling, since he learned a lot of tunes from Mr. McMahan, who himself played tunes that he picked up as a young man during the Great Depression.

Bob Cathey starts a tune with Kenny Applebee, as John P. Williams listens and prepares to take up his bow. 

The concert signed off with a short reception outside the gallery. The musicians then headed to the Gazebo at Mizzou North to continue the music, jamming with audience members who brought their acoustic instruments.

Audiences in Mid-Missouri have had ample opportunity to hear live fiddle music this spring—partly because it just so happens that four out of the eight TAAP apprenticeships this year are related to old time music.

But this Friday's Then and Now event features a storyteller: Loretta Washington who will perform in St. Louis as part of the St. Louis Storytelling Festival. This event will incorporate a live oral-history interview as well as storytelling, so that audiences can get an inside scoop on her journey from apprentice to master storyteller.

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.

Tracy Anne Travis is the Missouri Folk Arts Program's newest graduate intern who hails from Wichita, Kansas. A Masters student in the University of Missouri's Department of English, Ms. Travis studies Folklore. Beyond her studies, she is a tutor and a musician, who plays and studies old-time, Irish, and Baroque music.

 

On February 20th, the Missouri Folk Arts Program hosted Saint Louis-area master artist and African-American gospel musician Doris Frazier at MU's European & American Gallery in the Museum of Art and Archaeology. The concert emphasized that gospel music is rooted in community even though the museum gallery contrasts the style's more typical habitat--church.

After an introduction by Deborah Bailey, who coordinates Missouri's Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP), Mrs. Frazier in turn introduced her craft. She noted gospel's roots in the days of American slavery and that its purpose is to express devotion to Christ, but also to tell the community’s story.

Mrs. Frazier serves as music director at a church in the community of Westland Acres in Chesterfield.The historic community was named for Mrs. Frazier's late husband's ancestor, who was a freed slave who originally purchased and settled the land in St. Louis County.

Doris Frazier invited the audience to sing Down at the Cross and Down by the Riverside.
Photo Credit: Alex W. Barker

“I like audience participation,” Mrs. Frazier said. She started the concert with Down by the Riverside, saying “I’m gonna teach it to you, and it won’t take but two minutes.” And she was right. It wasn’t long before nearly the entire audience was taking part as Mrs. Frazier directed with her hands and voice.

The event also showcased the efforts of TAAP to encourage traditional arts in Missouri. Mrs. Frazier was one of the original master artists when the program began in 1985, and took on another apprentice again in 1992. With any traditional arts, much of its meaning and success lies in the student-teacher relationship, and this is what TAAP helps to cultivate and support. This year, Mrs. Frazier took on another Saint-Louis area resident, Peyton Boyd, as her TAAP apprentice in order to teach him gospel-style piano.

Peyton Boyd played gospel versions of hymns such as It Is Well With My Soul and Precious Lord, and concluded with a classical piano solo.
Photo Credit: Alex  W. Barker 

Mrs. Frazier and Peyton Boyd prepare to perform a duo of Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet.
 Photo Credit: Alex W. Barker 

As the concert came to a close, Mrs. Frazier included two of her own compositions about personal insights and events in her family's history, accompanied by two of her daughters. She closed the concert with the hymn In the Garden, and again led the audience as they sang along.

Stay tuned for upcoming events presented by the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program this Spring!

Website Update and 2016 Events from Missouri Folk Arts Program

Just a quick update to say that the Missouri Folk Arts Program updated its website, with both an events page and a new Museum Magazine story under "What's New?" 

All photos courtesy of Missouri Folk Arts Program
 

 

2015, the Year in Our Rear-view

2015, the Year in Our Rear-view

[Follow hyperlinks for more details.]

• We celebrated retirements and new beginnings at the Missouri Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts' Folk & Traditional Arts Program.

On January 28, retiring Missouri Arts Council Executive Director Bev Strohmeyer unfolded a gift from colleagues, a quilt made by old-time fiddler Vesta Johnson.

• Master fiddlers Cliff Bryan and Vesta Johnson saw the releases of long-anticipated CDs from Voyager Recordings and The Field Recorders' Collective, respectively.

• Much-deserved awards and honors were bestowed on our friends and colleagues: Jennie Cummings, retired director of Mt. View's Missouri Cowboy Poetry Festival, received a Missouri Arts Award; Gladys Caines Coggswell received an honorary doctorate; Vesta Johnson received a heritage award in Tennessee; The Bosman Twins received a St. Louis Arts & Education Council award; and Anna Crosslin of International Institute of St. Louis received a national award. Photos courtesy of Lisa Higgins

MFAP's Lisa Higgins, Jennie Cummings, and 
MAC's Joan White at 2015 Missouri Arts Awards



Folklorist Darcy Holtgrave (right)  and Gladys Caines Coggswell celebrate her honorary doctorate at University of Missouri-St. Louis.

• We have also been in the midst of major anniversaries, from our own Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program's 30th to the Missouri Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts' 50th. Friends and colleagues published fabulous stories about TAAP's 30th anniversary, including MAC, Rural Missouri, KBIA, Cassville Democrat and the Salem News. 

• MFAP featured Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program artists, past and present, at events co-sponsored with the Missouri State Museum, the Museum of Art and Archaeology, the Big Muddy Folk Festival, and Missouri State Parks (Scott Joplin Historic Home and Museum; Current River State Park; and Roaring River State Park). 

Master gospel vocalist Doris Frazier performs at the Scott Joplin
House in St. Louis. 

Master blacksmith Bob Alexander demonstrates at a
Hammer In outside the Lohman Building in Jeff City. 

Members of Kansas City's Kuku (South Sudanese immigrants)
community perform at the Big Muddy Folk Festival in Boonville. 

• The Missouri Arts Council funded nine Folk Arts grants in FY15 (ended June 30, 2015) and also in FY16 (started July 1, 2015). Boonslick Area Tourism members took Lisa Higgins, MAC Executive Director Michael Donovan, and MAC Communications Manager Barbara MacRobie on a tour of the Barn Quilts of the Boonslick, a rural arts project that spans Cooper, Saline, and Howard counties. Lisa Higgins also visited Folk Alliance International for a reception welcoming new Business Development Manager Alex Mallett. 

This barn on HWY TT in Saline County outside of Arrow Rock sports the Arrow Star pattern.

•  Our Community Scholars project continued with everything from planning meetings (February) and "place story" performances (June) to workshops, field trips, and conference presentations and participation (November).  

• Award-winning storyteller Milbre Burch curated and emceed a pilot project, a "place stories" performance in Columbia in June by community scholars/traditional tellers: Loretta Washington, Gladys Caines Coggswell, Angela J. Williams, Marideth Sisco, and Tracy Milsap. Photos below by Heather Rhodes Johnson

Milbre Burch introduces Made in Missouri: Spinning Place in Stories.

Loretta Washington shared stories about places close to her, from Wardell to Ferguson.

Gladys Caines Coggswell explained the impact of Hannibal's Fannie Griffin Art Club to the community.

Angela J. Williams told stories about the importance of place to family, including her father's funeral home and her mother's beauty parlor. 

Marideth Sisco shared stories of her travels, on that very day and across Missouri.

Tracy Milsap took the audience back to her Kansas City homes.

• Members of the Community Scholars Network also came together in Jefferson City in November over four days for workshops (blogging, grantwriting) and a fieldtrip on Thursday, November 12 to visit master blacksmith Bernard Tappel and quilter Patti Tappel. While our visit was too short, we learned a lot about Patti's sewing machine collection and her expertise with paper piece quilting. She showed us several completed quilts (her own and family treasures) in a "bed turning," as well as a her current work in progress, a quilt featuring 4" paper pieced squares, each unique. Bernie fired up the forge and quickly demonstrated how to make a fire poker, using hand tools and machines. Photos by MFAP staff

Patti Tappel (center) shows Community Scholars Loretta Washington, Ruth Ann Skaggs, Sarah Denton, and Mary Peura her hand-quilting project.

Community Scholar Caryl Posada-Stillings records Bernard Tappel, as he discusses blacksmithing.

• After our fieldtrip to visit the Tappels, members of the Community Scholars Network attended the 2015 Missouri Folklore Society annual meeting. Mary Peura, Angela Williams, Sarah Denton, Deloris Gray Wood, Suzanne Chilton, and Loretta Washington all presented at the conference. The Fall 2015 issue of the Missouri Folklore Society Newsletter provided an overview of the meeting. Photos by MFAP staff

Network members Mary Peura, Angela Williams, and Sarah Denton formed a panel after Wednesday night's banquet to tell MFS members about the Community Scholars project and their own research projects. 

Deloris Gray Wood gave a presentation on her work with the Missouri Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association.

Folk Arts Specialist Deb Bailey at the Big Muddy Festival

Many thanks to Missouri Folk Arts Program staff and volunteers for another successful year of documenting, sustaining, and presenting our state's living folk arts and folklife in collaboration with Missouri's citizens.  Photos by MFAP staff

Graduate Assistant Jackson Medel records the old-time music jam at Roaring River State Park.

Graduate Assistant Dorothy Atuhura tries quilting with Lois Mueller at Scott Joplin House Historic Site.

 

Graduate Volunteer Heather Rhodes Johnson increases her music collection at Roaring River State Park.

Director Lisa Higgins watches performances at Current River State Park with Van Colbert, 
Photo by Deloris Gray Wood