2018 Festival Workshops
Attendees at this year’s Old-Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival will be treated to a great schedule of musical workshops during the two-day event June 1 and 2. Artists who know the value of passing along the knowledge and joy of traditional music will share their talents with all who want to participate. Workshops will be held in the Dogwood Rooms at the West Plains Civic Center.
The two-day annual Festival in downtown West Plains, Mo., celebrates Ozarks music and culture. Admission to all festival events is free. Festival hours are 3-9 p.m. Friday and noon-9 p.m. Saturday.
This year’s Workshop schedule includes:
Friday – 3-4 p.m.
Fiddle – Jeremy Myers
With his small-town Missouri roots as a compass, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Myers artfully navigates this wilderness, stitching together his hopes, dreams, victories, and adventures in song to weave a vibrant tapestry of a distinctly American countryside that will make you feel right at home. From the small, curious child who taught himself harmonica to the dedicated adolescent who became a skilled guitarist, Jeremy has since captivated audiences with his skillful command of fiddle, mandolin, clawhammer banjo, and cello. His warm, silvery voice and expressive musicianship imbue his music with a comforting grassroots sound reminiscent of living-room jam sessions and Ozarks front porch storytelling.
Friday – 4-5 p.m.
Fiddle/Mandolin – Charlie Walden (Patt & Possum)
Charlie Walden began playing fiddle at age 14 when inspired by players in a fiddler’s contest at the Boone County Fair in his native Missouri. With the generous help and encouragement of older master fiddlers he went on to be recognized as one the best Missouri old-time fiddlers of his day. He has won dozens of local fiddle contests as well as major championships in Missouri, Illinois and West Virginia.
Charlie has taught fiddle and guitar to dozens of aspiring players. He has served as an instructor at the Bethel Youth Fiddle Camp, Festival of Fiddle Tunes (Port Townsend, WA), The Snowshoe Workshops/Allegheny Echoes (Marlinton, WV) Augusta Heritage Workshops (Elkins, WV), Montana Fiddle Camp and the National Folk School (Canberra, AUS). Intent on preserving and passing on the unique Missouri style and repertoire, Charlie organized the Bethel Youth Fiddle Camp in Bethel, Missouri, and directed camp operations and funding for a decade.
Major concert, contest and festival appearances either solo or with his wife Patt Plunkett, include: Missouri State Fair, Illinois State Fair, Smithsonian Festival of Folklife, Masters of the Folk Violin Tour, National Folk Festivals (Lowell, MA, Johnstown, PA, Bangor, ME), Frontier Folklife Festival (St. Louis), University of Chicago Folk Festival, Cuyahoga Valley Folk Festival (Akron, OH), Appalachian String Band Festival (Clifftop, WV), Galax Old-Time Music Festival (Galax, VA), Mother’s Day Festival (Gays Mills, WI), Ozark Mountain Festival (Mountain View, AR), Michigan Fiddlers Association North Central Region Fiddlers Convention, the Wheatland Music Festival (Remus, MI), St. Louis Irish Fest and the Richmond (VA) Folk Festival
Friday – 5-6 p.m.
No workshop scheduled. We hope all our performers will take part in the Fiddlers’ Frolic held on the outside stage on the East Civic Center lawn.
Saturday – noon- 1p.m.
Clog/Jig Dancing – Kim Roe
The Roe Family Singers are Quillan & Kim Roe, Eric Paulson (bass), Ric Lee (fiddle), Dan Gaarder (guitar). Pinecastle Records recording artists the Roe Family Singers are a good-time, Old-Time hillbilly band from the tiny community of Kirkwood Hollow, MN. Led by wife & husband Kim Roe (Best Female Vocalist, City Pages/Village Voice) and Quillan Roe, the band marries old-time sounds from barn-dances, fiddle pulls, and county fairs with the rock & roll passion of youth.
Featuring banjo, Autoharp, guitar, and Appalachian clogging, the band and family of fans have been regularly filling Minneapolis’ 331 Club every Monday night since 2005. They’ve shared the stage with Doc Watson, Ralph Stanley, Mike Seeger, Del McCoury, the Grascals, Jim Kweskin & Geoff Muldaur, Junior Brown, Asleep at the Wheel, and John McEuen & John Carter Cash. In 2011 the band was awarded the prestigious McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians; they won the title of “World’s Best Jug Band” twice, in 2010 & 2012 at the annual Battle of the Jug Bands; in 2012, won the Minnesota Duet Contest at the MN State Fair; in 2016 won the title of Entertainers of the Year from BMAI; and, in 2017, Kim won the Bob Holt Jig Dance competition at the Old-Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival, held in West Plains, MO.
The Roe Family Singers mix original music and contemporary takes on old-time, traditional, and gospel tunes into one roiling & rollicking river of fresh yet familiar American music. Every performance raises a ruckus.
Saturday – 1-2 p.m.
Banjo – Van Colbert
Old-time music has been a family tradition for generations for Colbert Brothers Leon, Van, Vernon and John, all of whom hail from Willow Springs, Mo. “Mom and Dad instilled in us the love of their music, and to this day we play, sing and remember,” said Van, who is known for his unique “two-finger” roll style on banjo.
The Colbert’s grandfather, Hall Colbert, moved the family from the Buffalo River region of Arkansas during the Depression years. He and his wife, Ethel, their four boys, Leon, Bob, Truett and John, and their four daughters, Geneva, Gladys, Jewell and Marge, traveled by horse and wagon to the Howell County community of Amy where they established new roots and Hall preached as a Baptist minister and sang.
The Colbert’s father, Joseph Truett, who was named for a famous turn-of-the-century minister, taught himself to play a banjo he built by stretching a groundhog skin over the hoop for a head. He taught Van’s older brothers to chord the guitar and enjoyed playing along once they could carry a tune. Mother Vernieca May (Easley) Colbert also was a beautiful singer and lady, Van said, and before she passed away, they could always encourage her to sing “Beautiful Brown Eyes,” “Red River Valley,” “Maple on the Hill” and “Wildwood Flower” to their accompaniment.
Saturday – 2-3 p.m.
Songwriting – Drifters Mile
Born from the Ozark Mountains, Drifters Mile plays, sings, and writes folk music in a Bluegrass Style. “We’re just regular folks playing good new-time music. We might not be siblings, but we are a family band all the same.”
Band members include: Deakin Mooney on banjo, lead, and backup vocals; David DeWitt on mandolin, lead, and backup vocals; Jake Norman on guitar, bass vocals; Eric Mathewson on fiddle, backup vocals; and Dave Smith on Bass.
Saturday – 3-4 p.m.
Bass – Eric Paulson of the Roe Family Singers
The Roe Family Singers are Quillan & Kim Roe, Eric Paulson (bass), Ric Lee (fiddle), Dan Gaarder (guitar). Pinecastle Records recording artists the Roe Family Singers are a good-time, Old-Time hillbilly band from the tiny community of Kirkwood Hollow, MN. Led by wife & husband Kim Roe (Best Female Vocalist, City Pages/Village Voice) and Quillan Roe, the band marries old-time sounds from barn-dances, fiddle pulls, and county fairs with the rock & roll passion of youth.
Featuring banjo, Autoharp, guitar, and Appalachian clogging, the band and family of fans have been regularly filling Minneapolis’ 331 Club every Monday night since 2005. They’ve shared the stage with Doc Watson, Ralph Stanley, Mike Seeger, Del McCoury, the Grascals, Jim Kweskin & Geoff Muldaur, Junior Brown, Asleep at the Wheel, and John McEuen & John Carter Cash. In 2011 the band was awarded the prestigious McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians; they won the title of “World’s Best Jug Band” twice, in 2010 & 2012 at the annual Battle of the Jug Bands; in 2012, won the Minnesota Duet Contest at the MN State Fair; in 2016 won the title of Entertainers of the Year from BMAI; and, in 2017, Kim won the Bob Holt Jig Dance competition at the Old-Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival, held in West Plains, MO.
The Roe Family Singers mix original music and contemporary takes on old-time, traditional, and gospel tunes into one roiling & rollicking river of fresh yet familiar American music. Every performance raises a ruckus.
Saturday – 4-5 p.m.
Fiddle Tune Accompaniment – Patt & Possum
Patt Plunkett first heard traditional fiddle music as played by her grandfather Carl. Her appreciation of the old fiddle tunes has made Patt the most sought after piano accompanist for old-time and Celtic music in the Midwest. Her piano style projects the high energy necessary for accompanying dance music.
Patt has been dancing, calling and teaching social dancing to others for many years and is an accomplished clogger and step-dancer. She is particularly interested in traditional square dancing, especially Western and Appalachian-type square formations. She once called the figures for the “World’s Largest Square Dance” held in Chicago’s Grant Park in conjunction with the WFMT Chicago Folk Festival. She is also a gifted singer and vocal instructor.
Patt has taught traditional music and dance at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Augusta Heritage Workshops, Allegheny Echoes Music Workshops, Montana Fiddle Camp, and at venues in Australia from New South Wales to Tasmania. Her many concert appearances include the University of Chicago Folk Festival, Cuyahoga Valley Folk Festival, Appalachian String Band Festival, Michigan Fiddlers Association North Central Region Fiddlers Convention, Milwaukee Irish Fest and Cleveland Irish Fests, Richmond Folk Festival, and the National Folk Festival (Australia).
Charlie “Possum” Walden is proof that regional fiddle styles still flourish in the United States. Both virtuoso performer and advocate for the Missouri style, Walden hails from tiny Hallsville in central Missouri. He was 14 when he heard the great old-time fiddler Taylor McBaine playing at a nearby gas station. The teenager got hold of a fiddle and started learning as much as he could from McBaine and the older man’s peers, such as Cyril Stinnett and Pete McMahan.
“Missouri fiddlers bow a lot when they play,” Walden explains. “There is a lot of alternate bowing or saw stroke employed, which makes the notes sound separated and makes the music sound lively and energetic…. Missouri fiddlers want to hear every note come out clearly and in tune.”
Slowly but surely Walden mastered this idiosyncratic style. He learned how to articulate each note distinctly, so the melody could be heard even at tempos fast enough to push the dancers around the floor. He learned the Missouri repertoire, which was heavy on Scotch-Irish jigs and reels but also included more waltzes than other regions. Soon Walden was playing house parties, dances, and fiddle contests, winning his fair share of the latter.
Just before he died in 1984, McBaine said of Walden, “You know, he’s nearly perfect.” As more of the old-timers died off, Walden became the dean of his home state’s fiddlers. He worked tirelessly to keep the style alive, playing with pianist Patt Plunkett as the duo Patt & Possum. Walden took on many students, wrote articles and gave talks, all to help Missouri fiddling keep its own identity. “I feel fortunate that I was able to experience the tail-end of an era of fiddle playing and old-time dancing which … is fading fast.”