Show Me Folk

We are saddened to learn that storyteller Vivian Hawkins of Hannibal, Mo. has died. She apprenticed, along with Deborah Swanegan and Samuel Williams, in 1993 with Gladys Caines Coggswell in Missouri’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. Ms. Hawkins…

‘Winter’s Bone’ soundtrack contributors to open Jefferson Landing concert series

  Performing as TAAP artists on our stage this year are master John Williams and apprentice Jessie Perrigo on fiddle, with master Kenny Appleby and apprentice Brad Roby on backup guitar.

Missouri Arts Council would lose key funding if budget approved

In 2017, we also shared the sad news that old-time fiddler Cliff Bryan of West Plains died on March 12. The tribute we wrote about Cliff is published in a PDF, and you can access…

We’ve received sad news from our colleagues at Northwest Folklife that Phil Williams passed February 16, 2017. Missourians may recall that Phil and Vivian Williams’ Voyager Records has turned out CDs with/of Missouri old-time fiddlers…

A lovely tribute (with more links) to Alan Jabbour, born in Florida, from our colleagues at Florida Folklife Program: We are saddened to hear of the passing of Dr. Alan Jabbour, folklorist, scholar, and founding…

In early January 2017, we learned the saddest news. Master blacksmith John “Preston” Williams, Sr. died in a tree cutting accident. The tribute we wrote at that time is published in a PDF linked below….

In December 2016, we were incredibly saddened to learn that Donivan Bailey, a 2015 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program master artist, had died unexpectedly. Linked below is a PDF with the tribute we published when we learned the…

Thanks to our friends at History Museum on the Square, we’ve learned of the loss of Homer Boyd of the famed vocal group the Philharmonics. The Springfield News-Leader shared an in-depth story about Mr. Boyd’s contributions…