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The Show-Me state hosts one of the oldest projects in the United States for sustaining traditional arts. Missouri’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program was launched in 1985 with grants from both the National Endowment for the Arts and Missouri Arts Council with administrative support from Mizzou.
In forty years, the art forms have been vast and multidisciplinary, from performative and material genres to occupational traditions—all passed down within communities in multigenerational settings from every region of the state. In the last 40 years, over 500 apprentices–hailing from rural, urban, and suburban communities–have participated in the project. Working with mentoring artists, the apprentices learn an array of skills rooted in deep cultural knowledge.
In 1985, ten teams were selected in five musical genres—gospel, jazz, polka, bluegrass, and old-time. The mentoring, or “master,” artists hailed from nine counties, from metro St. Louis and greater Kansas City to Missouri’s northwest and southwest corners.
The roots of the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program are reflected in the ten archival photos on exhibition.
Images were pulled from Missouri Folk Arts Program Records, 1982-2012 (C4035) at the State Historical Society of Missouri. These inaugural teams’ applications have been digitized, thanks to support from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the applications are linked below in each entry.
Row One
Old-time fiddler Taylor McBaine (Boone Co.) and apprentice Barbara Dutton. Listen on Soundcloud to Mr. McBaine play Kiss Me Again Waltz accompanied by John G. Stewart & Forrest Rose.
Button box accordion player Arthur Treppler (St. Louis Co.) and apprentice John Winkler.
Old-time fiddler Howe Teague (Dent Co.) and apprentice Clark Miller. Watch Mr. Teague in this Ozarks Watch Magazine episode from 2010, introduced and accompanied by Gordon McCann.
Row Two
Old-time fiddler Dean Johnston (Lamar Co.) with apprentice Mike McCluey. Listen on Soundcloud to Mr. Johnston play Waldo.
Bluegrass fiddler Delbert Spray (Clark Co.) in the hat with apprentice Michelle Ogle. Listen on Soundcloud to Mr. Spray play Quit Kicking My Dog Around.
Kansas City jazz fiddler Claude Williams (Jackson Co.) with apprentices and rhythm guitarist John G. Stewart in background. Watch Mr. Williams in this CBS Sunday Morning segment, an interview jazz pianist Billy Taylor.
Row Three
Old-time fiddler Leonard Smith (Newton Co.) with apprentice John Halden. Listen on Soundcloud to Mr. Smith play Osage Stomp.
Old-time fiddler Bob Walsh (Stone Co.) with one of four apprentices. Listen on Soundcloud to Mr. Walsh play Annie Laurie.
Gospel vocalist and pianist Doris Frazier (St. Louis Co.) with apprentice Alicia Jones. Check out the documentary Compositions of Life, recorded in 2017 with Mrs. Frazier and her grandson Cliff Frazier III.
Old-time fiddler H.K. Silvey (Ozark Co.) with apprentice Dale Silvey. Listen on Soundcloud to Mr. Silvey play Billy in the Low Ground.
Thanks to Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers Association for the SoundCloud playlist featuring tunes by several of the featured artists.
Sponsors
Missouri’s Traditional Apprenticeship Program (TAAP), funded by the National Endowment for the Arts since inception, is coordinated by the Missouri Folk Arts Program with support from the Missouri Arts Council, a division of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, and the Museum of Art and Archaeology at the University of Missouri.