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!

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