Cherry Street Artisan Lunchtime Music
Posted on March 13th, 2008
Cherry Street Artisan, downtown Columbia
Daily live noontime music, often featuring fiddle music, free.
John White • Nine Miles of Dry and Dusty
Posted on March 9th, 2008
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.
Hallsville Square Dances
Posted on March 9th, 2008
Second Saturday of each month at the Hallsville Community Building.
4 p.m.: Instrumental jam sessions for any interested musicians; square dance instruction will be available
6 p.m.: Potluck supper.
7-10:30 p.m. (or until we’ve had enough): Dance.
The Hallsville Community Building is located three or four blocks east of the four-way stop in Hallsville on highway OO, near the water tower.
Very informal; All ages welcome; Square dance instruction available, live music. No admission charge planned at this time, but donations will be accepted to help cover costs. Carry-in food welcome for the potluck supper. No smoking in the building. No alcohol allowed.
Questions: Contact John White (via the About page).
Charlie Stallcup Dies at 101
Posted on December 23rd, 2007
Dear friends of Missouri fiddling,
It is with regret that I inform you that the lifelong devotee of Missouri fiddling and fiddlers, Charlie Stallcup, died on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 at a Hannibal hospital. Frank Ferrell, Charlie’s son-in-law, called me to report this news.
Services will be held next Saturday, December 29, at the James O’Donnell Funeral Home, at 302 S. 5th Street in downtown Hannibal (tel. (573) 221-8188). Visitation will be at 10 a.m., with the memorial service at 11 a.m., and with burial to follow. A brief notice appeared in the Hannibal Courier-Post, Dec. 20, 2007.
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Alva Lee Hendren Dies at 77
Posted on March 14th, 2007
The old-time banjo player, fiddler and guitarist, Alva Lee Hendren (Mrs. Kenneth Hendren) of rural Madison, Missouri, died March 6, 2007 at the age of 77. Alva Lee was born in Moberly (Randolph County) in 1929 and was part of a well-known musical family. Her father was Luther Wilson, a coal miner in the Moberly-Huntsville area, who who taught Alva Lee a two-finger, up-picking style of playing five-string banjo. Wilson had learned banjo from Columbus Raider, and this banjo style, providing excellent accompaniment for fiddling, reached back to the Civil War in central Missouri.
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