Fiddler’s Rag

In this issue: PagePresident’s Note 1About the SCVFA/Contact Info 2’bout Time: Oct. Featured Performer 2New North Bay District 10 3Article: Pioneer Fiddlers (Part Two) 5

Santa Clara Valley Fiddlers AssociationCelebrating 39 Years!

September 2012 (Vol. 40, Number 9) Next Jam: September 2

President’s NoteBy Richard Brooks

On September 2 we’re back at the Hoover School. Our August 5 jam was another perfect-weather day in the Rose Garden Park with a big turnout. Peter Tommerup’s mountain dulcimer workshop was a huge success, with sixteen attendees. Thank you, Peter!

Beginners Circle

Tom Clausen will lead the beginners circle. Let him know if there’s a tune you’d like to learn.

Featured Performer October 7

The ’bout Time! bluegrass band will be our Featured Performer at the October 7 jam. Check them out at www.bouttimebluegrass.com.

A Little Self-Promotion

Rhythm Roundup, my band, will play bluegrass and western swing at noon on September 28 at 101 California Street, SF. It’s the People In Plazas series. Joining me are Jeanie and Chuck Poling and Tom Drohan. RhythmRoundup.com has a brief description.

Still Waiting

• I’mstillwaitingforsomeonetoemailaphotoofme,SamMorocco, Chip Curry, Steve Kirtley, and Jim Dinkey playing in the park on July 1.

• Wearestillwaitingforavolunteertobeournewslettereditor.

• I’mstillwaitingforyourideasabout: 1) attracting youths, 2) attracting new attendees, 3) retaining current members, and 4) increasing publicity.

Youth Fiddle Contest on November 4

Jaclyn Chiew volunteered to be our Youth Fiddle Contest Chair. It’s a big job and she can certainly use your help. Let us know if you can help her before or during the contest.

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Two great guitarists at the August jam: Don Amick and Jonathan Horne.

The Fiddler’s Rag is published monthly by the Santa Clara Valley Fiddlers Association and is provided to members of the Association. The Santa Clara Valley Fiddlers Associa-tion (SCVFA), founded in 1973 in San Jose, California, is anonprofit,volunteer-operatedorganizationdedicatedtothepreservation, teaching, and enjoyment of traditional music. Thefirstmembership inahousehold includes theFiddler’s Rag; additional members sharing the newsletter are steeply discounted. To join the SCVFA, sign up at the jam or visit www.fiddlers.org/join.

Officers and ChairsPresident-Trustee Richard J. BrooksVice President OPENTreasurer Janet JohnstonMembership Pete ShowmanRecording Secretary Dinah ShowmanNewsletter Editor Mary Larsen (OPEN)Newsletter Publisher Charlotte PraterWebmaster (PeteShowman,acting)Playout Coordinator Paul ClarkeYouth Activity Coordinator Mary KennedyYouth Fiddle Contest Jaclyn ChiewPublicity Tom ClausenTrustees Seat 1: Pete Showman Seat 2: Gorden Gibson Seat 3: Paul Clarke Seat 4: Charlotte Prater Seat5:DaveWilliams Seat6:TomClausen

Newsletter banner art by Hilary Cole

To Contact the SCVFA:Mail:P.O.Box2666,Cupertino,CA95015-2666Email:president at fiddlers.orgPhone:(650)328-3939Newsletter Submissions & Comments:Email:newsletter at fiddlers.orgWebsite: www.scvfa.org or www.fiddlers.orgCopyright 2012, Santa Clara Valley Fiddlers Association

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Check out www.fiddle.com for hundreds of fiddle-related links, excerpts from Fiddler

Magazine, videos, and more!

’bout Time! Band – SCVFA’sFeatured Performer on October 7

On Sunday, October 7, the ‘bout Time! bluegrass band will be the Featured Performer at the Santa Clara Valley Fiddlers Association’s jam in San Jose. Their show will start at 3:00 or 3:30 PM and last about 30 minutes. Visit www.fiddlers.org for details.

The ’bout Time! sound comes from the blended harmonies of Mark Searles (guitar), Pete Hallesy (banjo), and Linda Williams(mandolin);duetsbyLindaandDaveWilliams(bass); and the rhythm guitar of Mike Omodt. Formed in 2005 by jumping ship from a Jack Tuttle jam class, they

are regular performers throughout Northern California. Their venues include the South Bay Yacht Club, Vintage Vehicles, Los Altos Relay for Life, Family Festival in Palo Alto, and farmers’ markets.

Their traditional repertoire is steeped in the classic songs of Bill Monroe, Jimmy Martin, Lester and Earl, and Ralph and Carter. But they also venture into newer material from sources like AKUS, Lonesome River Band and Lynn Morris. Their upcoming schedule includes gigs at Mission Pizza in Fremont, and farmers’ markets in Campbell, Palo Alto, and Sunnyvale. –– Dave Williams and Richard Brooks

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meeting periodically in Lake County at a regular time to be announced.

Two members have local public radio shows in Lake and Sonoma Counties devoted to bluegrass and old time music. MyshowisonKOWSFM107.3,currently from3-5pmonMondays.DonCoffin’s show runsonKPFZ88.1FMin Lakeport, from 7-9 am with a rebroadcast on Saturday from 5-7 am. Both shows can be streamed by going to their respectivewebsites,KOWS.comorKPFZ.comandclickingon the live broadcast icon. [Ed. note: Gus Garelick also has aradioshow,called“TheFiddlingZone,”onKRCB.]

The Cloverdale Fiddle Festival (www.cloverdalefiddles.com) will be May 4-5, 2013, and it is now more than an old timefiddlecontest.Weaddeddivisionsforyouthandadultmandolin and guitar, and several workshops.

The fiddle judges for 2013will be JanetDuncan, BlaineSprouse and VivianWilliams.We are extremely excitedabout this. Janet Duncan is a well known dance fiddleplayer and teacher in Sonoma County. Blaine Sprouse has beenthefiddleplayerforanumberofhighprofilebluegrassbands, including the Osborne Brothers and Bill Monroe and theBluegrassBoys.VivianWilliams first arrived onthe California Bluegrass Association stage as the fiddleplayer in the Seattle, Washington-based bluegrass bandTall Timber in the 1970s. She is the foremost authority on PacificNorthwestOldTimeFiddleplaying.

An old time jam at our August jam at the San Jose Rose Garden. Top L to R: Herb,Rudy Posch, Sam Morocco, Dave Wunsch. Seated: Gary Breitbard and Jena Rauti.

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New North Bay District 10By Mark Hogan

Greetings from the North Bay Area. The California State Old Time Fiddlers Association has a new district: District 10.Wehadourfirstgeneralmeetingandconcludedallthebusinessnecessary toofficiallybecomeamemberdistrictin the CSOTFA. The area we encompass includes Sonoma, Mendocino, and Lake Counties.

On July 22, we met at the Cloverdale Historical Society andelectedourofficers andboardmembers.Theofficersare Mike Drayton (president), Colleen Hogan (secretary), Chris Carney (vice-president), Mark Hogan (membership secretary), Katy Bridges (state-wide district representative), Doug Laurice (treasurer), and an advisory committee of Don Coffin, Gus Garelick, and Janet Duncan. You mayknow Mike from the Road Oilers band.

We are very excited about this new development withinthe CSOTFA. We were previously part of District 9,which went from San Luis Obispo County to the top of MendocinoCounty.We hope by sectioning off a portionof the aforementioned counties into a new district that we canbetterservethearea.Wealreadyhaveovertwentynewmembers who were not previously CSOTFA members. You don’t have to be a resident of the district to be a member of our new District 10. If you want to join or participate please call me at 707-829-8012.

The immediate goals of the new district will be to develop an interest in old time fiddle playing amongthe youth. The tri-county area already boasts several events which can help achieve our goal. Within District 10’sarea, we have the Anderson Marsh Bluegrass and Old Time Festival slated to return in 2013, and the Cloverdale Fiddle Festival which will be happening at a new date, May 4-5, 2013. We also have a very wellattended old time fiddlejam at the Redwood Cafe in Cotati, California from 4-6pm on the fourth Sunday of everymonth.Wewillalsobe

More Scenes from the August Rose Garden Jam

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Old time jam. Left to right: John Durbin, Sydney Roberts, John Gregorin,Warren Campbell, Tom Clausen, Steve Goldfield.

Playing bluegrass at the August jam.

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[This article, contributed by Steve Kirtley, tells the story of Texas fiddlers in the area near Fort Worth, Texas in the mid to late 1800s. The fiddling ancestors of Arthur Kee and Steve Kirtley lived in this exact area at this time, and may well have known the characters mentioned in this story. Part I appeared in the July 2012 issue.]

Some Pioneer Fiddlers ofParker County, Texas, Part II

By T. U. Taylor, Austin, Texas

ThethirdoldParkercountyfiddlerinthisarticlewillhavetobeknownasthe“UnknownFiddler.” I sawhimonly once. ItwasChristmasEve night, 1870.The saloon in Cleburne was crowded with good humored spirits; everybody was happy, but nobody drunk. Egg-nogg was on the side board. For some reason the unknownfiddler had landed inCleaburne broke, hungry, homesick, and blue.Theegg-noggwas ina largebowlfree toeverybody.MonroeWrenwashost.The scene was in the middle of the block on the north side of the public square. About11o’clockthecrowdsbegandispersingandtheunknownfiddlersatinastiff chair by the wall and anybody could see that he was unhappy to a degree. He was offered many drinks, took some of them but these could not cure the dreadful case of nostalgia of which he was suffering. He told of his grandfather’s home in Parker and the next day they would all meet at a big dinner at his father’s home. He almost began to sob and the whole crowd of frontiersmen were affected. And some fiddler took up his old fiddle and began to play softly the “Drunkard’sHiccoughs.”

“I eat when I am hungry,I drink when I am dry,If a tree don’t fall on me,IwilllivetillIdie.”

Then he swung into a chorus, new and heart-rending:

O-l-d Parker, O-l-d Parker,God bless her old soul,O-l-d Parker, O-l-d ParkerShe is better than gold.

And when I dieAnd cease from toilOh, bury me deep,In old Parker’s soil.

Afterthefiddlerscreamedoutthechorusthelasttimehisheaddroppeddownandhe was sound asleep. In a few moments, a smile spread across his hungry face and it took no stretch of the imagination to know that he was back in old Parker, even only in his dreams.

Therewere several otherverses that theunknownfiddler sang thatChristmasnight in Cleburne, but I can recall only a few words. One verse paid tribute to the “Parkergirlswiththeiryellowcurls.”Ithasbeentwo-thirdsofacenturysinceIheardtheunknownfiddlerpourouthishomesicksorrows.

[Originally published in Frontier Times, Volume 14, No. 9, June, 1937, Bandera, Texas.]

Santa Clara Valley Fiddlers AssociationP.O. Box 2666Cupertino, CA 95015-2666

Next Jam: Sunday, September 2, 1-5 pmHoover Middle School, San Jose

Damaged or Missing Issue? Call us,or email to: newsletter at scvfa.org

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SCVFAJamonthefirstSundayofeachmonth.Location:HooverMiddle School, 1635 ParkAve.,San Jose. The school is at the corner of Naglee and Park. Cafeteria parking is on the Naglee side.

High fives from Peter Tommerup’s Mountain Dulcimer workshop at the August jam.