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.