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200 Stories for Missouri’s Bicentennial, JUNE 2021

200 Stories, June 2021

#ShowMeFolk #200Stories #Missouri2021 #Missouri200

In Missouri’s bicentennial year, Missouri Folk Arts will share 200 stories over the course of 52 weeks in 2021 about folk and traditional arts in the Show Me State.

We kicked off June with Story 81 and wrapped up with Story 96.

 

81 of 200   

West Plains Council on the Arts is just days away from its “reunion,” the return of the Old Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival this Saturday, June 5, 2021 after a pandemic gap year. Events kick off at 10:00 a.m. and wind up at 9:00 p.m.
As the Council writes, this beloved event started “in response to input from the traditional music community (mostly musicians from families who had played for generations as well as graduates from the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program of the Missouri Folk Arts Program). At the time, there was not a festival venue locally where that music was showcased. Members of the community formed a planning committee to look at the feasibility of a small arts council participating in a meaningful way to facilitate such a festival. The first years were under advisement, with input, and some sponsorship from the Missouri Folk Arts Program. The festival has always received funding from the Missouri Arts Council under their community arts program.”
Congratulations to the production team, volunteers, and sponsors! The 26th festival indeed looks like a reunion with familiar and favorite performers on the outdoor stage and leading workshops in the Civic Center. Look just outside the Civic Center for foodways and folk remedies under the Brush Arbor and crafts demonstrations. Enter to compete in the Bob Holt Jig Dance competition or the pie contest or the mule jump! Follow the festival on Facebook and visit the website to learn more about specific artists and activities.

82 of 200 

Barbara Culpepper TAAP Master Artist: 2013 

Barbara Culpepper began quilting at eight years old, and she’s been quilting since she can remember. Her grandmother and mother taught her to all about fabrics (how to cut them and how to coordinate them). They, and she, often cut their quilts from patterns drawn onto and cut from old cereal boxes. Mrs. Culpepper’s favorite quilting partner was her late husband, Ray; they worked on projects well together, often for their community’s benefit. Over the years, they taught many children in their family and beyond at venues like Ozark National Scenic Riverways. From that work, they built and sold quilting kits for kids to encourage them to learn and sustain quilt making. 

Here’s an example of a 4-patch the Culpeppers made and sold in 2013. https://www.facebook.com/CulpepperQuilts/photos/a.339428676191956/339429649525192/?type=3&theater   

83 of 200 

Art Galbraith, TAAP Master Artist: 1988, 1989, 1990 

Art Galbraith was born in the Ozark region between Missouri and Arkansas in 1909. He learned the Ozark style of fiddling at an early age from his Uncle Tobe, who learned from his grandfather Andrew Galbraith, a veteran of the war of 1812, who had migrated to Missouri from Tennessee in 1841. Rounder Records produced an album of Art Galbraith playing nineteen tunes. Occasionally, the LP can be found for sale on the web.  

In his first two apprenticeships Mr. Galbraith taught Justin Bertholdie, better known in Nashville these days as Justin David, an award-winning touring artist. That first year, Galbraith’s good friend and backing guitarist Gordon McCann recorded the master fiddler and his apprentice in St. Louis during a site visit by a representative of the National Endowment for the Arts, which funds the project.  Missouri State University’s Digital Collections made that recording available for everyone to hear on YouTube here: https://digitalcollections.missouristate.edu/digital/collection/McCann/id/858/   

84 of 200    

Historic Bethel German Colony, Inc., Missouri Arts Council Folk Arts Grantee 

In addition to historic preservation of its unique village, Historic Bethel German Colony is the non-profit host of the annual Bethel Youth Fiddle Camp, which kicked off yesterday and runs throughout the week. After a year hiatus due to the pandemic, young fiddlers and master musicians have gathered in the historic town in rural Shelby County to sustain old-time music via a full week of daily one-on-one lessons. This year’s instructors represent a mix of long-time master artists and previous campers all-grown-up. 

And, don’t miss Adult Fiddle Camp, coming this October 2021. Contact information below to register!  

85 of 200  

Gordon McCann, Community Scholar and Old-time Musician
While Gordon McCann was born in Joplin, he has spent the vast majority of his life in Springfield, working professionally until retirement in 1996 at the blueprint company founded by his father. Mr. McCann’s avocation, though, has been as a community scholar, defined in the mid-1990s by the Smithsonian Folklife as “an individual who has shown a significant contribution to the collection, preservation, and presentation of traditional culture in a community or region, without formal training in folklore or an allied field.”
There is likely no one as prolific, meticulous, and passionate about documenting the folklife of the Ozarks, formally trained in folklore or not, than Gordon McCann. He made audio recordings of traditional music at jam sessions, fiddle contests, house parties, and festivals–for decades. He catalogued and stored the collection in his basement systematically and with the utmost care until he transferred much of it to Missouri State University Libraries. We have linked to more than one of McCann’s digitized recordings during “200 Stories,” and we will again. His impetus for recording was initially to master rhythm guitar in old-time music (a goal he achieved, especially in backing his friend, the late Art Galbraith). We’re always happy to see he’s still playing out in jam sessions like McClurg Jam.
  • Drew Beisswenger and Kaitlyn McConnell (Ozarks Alive) have both written thoughtful and thorough profiles of Gordon McCann, so we’ll link to both stories here for friends to read.

86 of 200  

Robert Ault, TAAP master artist: 1988 

Robert “Bob” Ault (1949-2012) was a professional performing artist, touring the country and the world who taught in the third annual Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. Mr. Ault often performed ragtime banjo and piano via our Missouri Performing Traditions project in the 1990s. He and MPT roster artists toured Missouri venues to engage audiences in the array of the state’s living traditions.  

Bob Ault performed often at ragtime festivals, working to sustain Missouri’s ragtime legacy and to elevate the memory of pianist John William Boone (1864-1927), known professionally as “Blind” Boone.  

Recently, Columbia, Mo. visual artist David Spear completed a mural of Boone on College Avenue and shared video of his finished project, with audio of Bob Ault playing Blind Boone’s tunes.  Look and listen at the link. https://fb.watch/61Wevk0ymZ/   

87 of 200  

Marideth Sisco, TAAP master artist: 2013, 2017, 2018
As we continue to share 200 stories over the course of 52 weeks in 2021, we occasionally will feature guest portraits composed by community scholars. Previously, we shared a story by Marideth Sisco about the late Jennie Cummings, founder of the Missouri Cowboy Poetry Festival. That story was based on interviews and research that Sisco conducted in 2019. Additionally, our recent post about the Old-time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival was deeply informed by Sisco’s research report.
By the way, Marideth Sisco with Mary Alexander recently launched a new album of stories and songs: “An American Front Porch: Stories and Songs from the Missouri Ozarks.”

88 of 200  

Vesta Johnson, TAAP master artist: 1989, 1990, 1995, 1996, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2015.
Vesta Johnson was born in 1922 on a farm in Linn County, Mo. She learned fiddling as a child, during a time when it was considered inappropriate for girls or women. Johnson, her mother, sister, and daughter all played the fiddle though. Over the years, Johnson taught hundreds of fiddlers, including many girls and young women.
Vesta Johnson participated in our apprenticeship program nine times over the years. It was a point of pride that her final apprentice in 2015 was her great-grandson, James Hall. Into her nineties, Vesta enjoyed regular jam sessions, workshops, and performances in Missouri and beyond backed on rhythm guitar by her grandson Steve Hall.
Recently, Missouri Folk Arts was included in the late Professor Michael Budds’ _200 Memorable Missouri Musical Moments: Commentary, Historical Photographs and Video Clips_. We were thrilled that a photo of Vesta Johnson and Steve Hall performing at TAAP’s 25th anniversary celebration was included to illustrate our entry!
Earlier this year, Central Rockies Old-Time Music Association (CROMA) Festival shared a video compilation of Vesta and Steve performing at the 2012 festival. She is missed by so many.

http://https://youtu.be/5Bw81bGSBlY

 

89 of 200 

Steve Hall, TAAP master artist: 1996, 1997, 2006, 2016, 2017
A sixth-generation old-time musician, Steve Hall has been playing backup guitar for over fifty years and has been around old-time music all his life. His grandmother, Vesta Johnson, first taught him to play when he was seven years old. Mr. Hall plays backup rhythm guitar, mandolin, and (yes) fiddle. He has also branches out, playing electric bass in local rock bands. With his grandmother, Hall has been very involved with the non-profit organization Missouri Fiddlers and Country Music Association, founded by his grandparents in 1974. Through the organization, he has organized regular jam sessions, fiddle contests, and festivals. Like his grandmother, he has taught at Bethel Fiddle Camp for several years.
In 2015, Field Recorders’ Collective digitized and released a CD of forty tunes by Vesta and Steve from the recordings of Brendan Doyle.

Vesta Johnson with Steve Hall – North Missouri Dance Fiddling – FRC715 – Field Recorders Collective  

90 of 200 LLH 

Lois Amburn, TAAP master artist: 1989
Lois Johnson Amburn participated in the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program in 1989 as a master artist teaching jig and clog dance to her apprentice, while Guy Cummings taught another apprenticeship in jigging and clogging. Both teams lived in the Salem, Mo. area and actively worked to sustain old-time traditional dance and music—traditions that Ms. Amburn was steeped in. As the daughter of Missouri Fiddlers and Country Music Association founders, the late Steve Johnson and Vesta Johnson, Ms. Amburn comes by her love of dance honestly. Fun, and amazing, fact: her family members mark the only “TAAP family” with four generations of participation!
In 2013, Lois Amburn joined family and friends at the Missouri Capitol to celebrate her mother’s Individual Artist Award from the @Missouri Arts Council. After Vesta Johnson’s speech, there was a bit of music and dance in the Rotunda.

Photo description: In a 1989 archival photo, Lois Amburn dances.

91 of 200  

Faye Dant, Hannibal, community scholar
In 2012, during a community scholars workshop in Hannibal, Faye Dant introduced us to her labor of love—documenting the rich history and deep traditions of African Americans in Hannibal. At that time, she had installed a special and temporary exhibition at the Hannibal History Museum. Later, she made a home for the collection in a historic rock building on North 3rd Street, Jim’s Journey: The Huck Finn Freedom Center, which Ms. Dant still manages and curates.
Today, she and people throughout the region are celebrating Hannibal’s 24th Annual Juneteenth starting at 2 pm.

Courtesy of Faye Dant

92 of 200 

Ozark Mountain Music, Missouri Arts Council Folk Arts Grantee
Ozark Mountain Music Association (OMMA) was founded in 2006 “to preserve and promote traditional music of the Ozarks for future generations.” A small non-profit with a volunteer staff since inception, OMMA is most notable for hosting two music camps a year, typically a beginners’ camp and a camp for more advanced youth musicians.
OMMA has been around long enough that the founding directors, the McGills, passed the torch to the next generation of leaders, including current director Wendy Wright. Additionally, the camp hosts a roster of outstanding instructors, including previous OMMA camper (and previous TAAP apprentice) Brett Dudenhoeffer.
This summer, OMMA shifted a bit to create a Bluegrass Camp that kicks off in Branson this Sunday, June 28th, and culminates with a concert showcasing campers from 7-9 p.m. Follow the link for all the details!

https://www.facebook.com/events/174003871331842/   

93 of 200  

Octavio Nieto, TAAP Master Artist: 2007
St. Louis traditional dancer Octavio Nieto hails from Guadalajara, Mexico. In his life, he has mastered a variety of dance traditions from Mexican folkloric and Spanish/Flamenco to tap, jazz, ballroom, ballet, and modern. Mr. Nieto studied with Mexico’s national dance company–as well as at the Royal Academy of Dancing in London, the American Ballet Center, David Howard Studio, and the New York Conservatory of Dance.
Mr. Neito came to St. Louis to dance with the St. Louis Ballet, and he joined the faculty of Alexandra School of Ballet in 2010. During that same time frame, he founded Alma de Mexico St. Louis, where he performs, teaches, and serves as artistic director. Nieto has taught traditional Mexican dance in a variety of cities throughout the U.S. and Mexico. He and Alma de Mexico perform throughout the year at festivals and cultural celebrations, from Cinco de Mayo, Hispanic Heritage Month, and Dios de los Muerto to the International Institute St. Louis’s Festival of Nations.
In the video linked below, he is dancing on the right side of your screen.

https://www.facebook.com/1624804137795104/videos/1809671522641697    

94 of 200 

Roger Curry, TAAP master artist: 1989
Roger Curry (Salem) hailed from the Gibson-Curry basketmaking family in Northwest Arkansas. He later married Bessie “Betty” Smith, who hailed from the Derryberry basketmaking family. Together, during their lifetimes, they worked together for years turning out baskets in the traditions they inherited and teaching those traditions to others, in their families and beyond.
In a brochure the Currys shared, they note that Roger Curry’s family tradition was traced back to his great-grandfather Christopher Columbus Gibson: “Legend says that the elder Gibson would walk through the woods to the general store. On the way, he would cut down an oak tree, split it and shave off some splints. Then, as he walked, he wove the splints into a basket to be traded at the store for whatever provisions the family needed.”

Photo description: In this photo from the Missouri Folk Arts archives (ca. 1986), Mr. Curry holds up a basket handle he’s crafted.

95 of 200     

John W. Glenn, TAAP master artist: 1996, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2006, 2007
John W. Glenn (1926-2017) began practicing blacksmithing in St. Joseph, Mo. with his father. The town itself was known as the last stop for wagon repairs for those traveling West, so the history in the area for blacksmithing is vast. Later, he applied his blacksmithing skills during his military service.
Mr. Glenn worked hard to develop a teaching style that showed his apprentices the importance of working safely, possessing knowledge of metals, handling fire, and shaping metal. His long list of apprentices includes family members like his grandson, and son, who praised Mr. Glenn’s ability to assist them in their making of specialized tools used to keep old and historic buildings intact.

https://mofolkarts.missouri.edu/exhibits/john-glenn/?fbclid=IwAR0WzoYwDYkQckbxP11AO_lBbB3AUkTCzQFB9djtJSDuLPi9CTSs5YPpkSk  

 

96 of 200  

Travis Inman, TAAP Master Artist: 1996, 1997, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
A 1989 TAAP apprentice to his friend, Kelly Jones, Travis Inman spans the era between fiddling for dances and more performance-based events. Of course, he excels at both, but Inman found his home on the fiddle contest stage, small and large, managing to play with some aplomb through the chaotic and joyous noise of fairs and festivals. Now, he is a Missouri State Fiddle Champ (and a TAAP master artist) SEVERAL times over.
Participating in competitions and playing every chance he got, Inman met many well-known fiddlers and gathered all the knowledge he could from them. He has a particular fondness for teaching the next generation of fiddlers and has taught at Bethel Youth Fiddle Camp as well as other camps in southwest Missouri.
In 2011, he recorded a CD of two dozen tunes on Voyager Records, backed by Charlie Walden and Patt Plunkett in 2011. https://www.voyagerrecords.com/LN376.htm

In the video below, Inman’s friend Jr. Marriott backs the fiddler on guitar at the 2016 Missouri State Fair.

http://https://youtu.be/Vn9DbUkhY_w

Published July 9, 2021 by Missouri Folk Arts Staff