As you know, the Nifong Park (Museum) location was excellent, and the courtesies of Deborah Thompson and the Historical Society were very much appreciated. But there were ongoing dissatisfactions with the inability to get more fiddlers to take part, attract students, townspeople, etc. We had been talking about trying a new location somewhere downtown or on campus, and now we have one to try. The sessions will be sponsored by the International Center. I’m very excited about the new location, and very grateful to David for working out the location and schedule.

–Howard Marshall

On Saturday, the lineup of fiddlers included Paul Grace of Columbia; John White and The Nine Mile Band of Hallsville and Columbia, with David Cavins, guitar, and Amber Gaddy, banjo (check out John White’s new fiddle CD on Voyager Records); Howard Marshall of Fulton with Ron Ray, guitar, and Kathy Gordon, bass; Joel Chrisman of Ashland with Heinrich Leonhard, guitar; Jim Thaxter, banjo; Kathy Gordon; and Elizabeth Fedorchalk of Holts Summit and Quintin Huck of Ste. Genevieve with Judi Hirti, autoharp.

On Sunday, the performers included Sadie Currey of Columbia, with David Currey, guitar and Dobro, and Howard Marshall, mandolin, guitar, and second fiddle; Bryan Biswell of Fayette, with his brother, James Biswell, guitar; Dierik Leonhard of Columbia, with Jane Accurso, guitar; and The Nine One One Band of Columbia (so-named because the original members all had open-heart surgery), whose three fiddlers are Bob Caldwell, Dale Pauley, and Bud Wyatt, with Harold Barnes, mandolin, Brady Roby, guitar, and Kathy Gordon, bass.

A good time was had by all! For more information on any of these fiddlers, e-mail Howard Marshall.

Shade Tree Fiddlers at Art in the Park 2008

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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).

Nile’s recordings include several cuts on “Now That’s a Good Tune:” Masters of Missouri Fiddling (1989) as well as a CD produced by Charlie Walden and Bill Shull, Nile Wilson: Tie Hacker Hoedown (1995). He was profiled in The Old-Time Herald (winter 1994-1995) and other places.

In later years Nile was featured at festivals such as the Frontier Folklife Festival (St. Louis), the University of Chicago Folk Festival, and the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes. His visitation March 25 was attended by numerous family members and fellow musicians.

- Howard Marshall