John White, one of Missouri’s premiere square dance fiddlers, has recorded a new CD packed with 28 dance tunes ranging from hoe-downs to schottisches. John comes from a musical family in north-central Missouri and learned to play by playing for regular dances. Consequently, he has a fiddle style all his own that is built upon his great sense of rhythm and drive. Square dancers and fiddle enthusiasts drive from all around to dance a square or just to hear John play.
Released in 2007 by Voyager Recordings of Seattle, this CD features John playing standards like "Dry and Dusty," "Arkansas Traveler," "Soldier’s Joy" and the "Peek-A-Boo Waltz," and some more unusual tunes like "White Man," "New Five Cent Piece," "Nine Miles" and "Natchez Under the Hill" (not the "Natchez" that is from the "Turkey in the Straw" family). John is joined on this CD by musicians Kenny Applebee, David Cavins, Amber Gaddy, Kathy Gordon, Howard Marshall, Jim Ruth and Musial Wolfe.
Posted on May 5th, 2008
Saturday, June 7 & Sunday June 8 • 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Stephens Lake Park, Columbia • Free
There will be performances by a number of area fiddlers and accompanists at this year’s Art in the Park festival. “Shade Tree Fiddlers” will include hour-long sets throughout Saturday and Sunday by bluegrass, old-time, and swing fiddlers, young and old. Among those schedule to appear are Bobby Joe Caldwell (Columbia), Dale Pauley (Columbia), Bud Wyatt (Centralia), Kelly Jones (Stover), Howard Marshall (Fulton), John White (Hallsville), Joel Chrisman (Columbia), Sadie Currey (Columbia), and Brian Biswell (Fayette). Location: Stephens Lake Park, 2001 East Broadway, Columbia. Directions: take Broadway exit west from US63. For more information, contact Howard Marshall via e-mail or at (573) 642-6226.
Posted on March 28th, 2008
Legendary Missouri fiddler Nile Wilson passed away Friday, March 21. He was 95.
I wish to inform everyone of the death on March 21 of north Missouri fiddler Nile Wilson of Bucklin at the age of 95. A great loss of one of the legendary elders, and a good friend.
Nile was among those who played in the WOS radio fiddle contests and live broadcasts in the late 1920s (Jefferson City). Nile played a number of “tie hacker tunes,” many of which he learned from his fiddling grandfather Isaac Wilson, who walked to north Missouri from Indiana after the Civil War as a young Union Army veteran. Isaac Wilson worked in the tie hacker camps, hewing white oak railroad ties for the railroad being built across north Missouri. These camps included a number of itinerant Irish and Scotch-Irish fiddle players (Civil War veterans), in the same part of Missouri where Francis O’Neill taught school for a year and collected several fiddle tunes at local dances (before going to Chicago and becoming famous; see article in Missouri Historical Review, October 2005).
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Posted on March 24th, 2008
December 31, 2008
Downtown Columbia, Missouri
First Night offers numerous venues with many kinds of music and performance, usually including fiddling and square dancing. Contact: Jane Accurso, e-mail j_accurso [at] hotmail [dot] com
Posted on March 24th, 2008
October 11, 2008 • 2 p.m. (Registration begins at 1 p.m.)
Clarksville, Missouri • American Legion Hall
Open and junior divisions. Contact: Mary Jane Owens, 400 King St., Frankford MO 63441, (573) 784-9890, e-mail: oprysinger2 [at] msn [dot] com, or Patty Chandler (573) 485-4398.
