This book, which includes 308 tune transcriptions, is organized around individual fiddlers who typically combine Appalachian-style fiddling with rags, pop standards, Midwest-style fiddling and sometimes a touch of Western swing to create a style often identifiable as Ozarks. Thirty Ozarks fiddlers and their lives are highlighted with biographical sketches, photographs, and tune histories. Another 50 great Ozarks fiddlers are presented in a similar manner but with less detail. The book and accompanying audio (with 37 tunes, many recorded in the field) emphasize the older fiddling traditions connected to the square dances and community events more than those connected to bluegrass music and modern contest fiddling. Some of the tunes in the collection are old standbys such as "Bile Them Cabbage" while others such as "Finley Creek Blues" are unique to the region.

The book is the result of years of work by two respected researchers. Gordon McCann won the prestigious Missouri Arts Award in 2002 for his decades of work documenting, studying, and accompanying Ozarks fiddle music. Drew Beisswenger, a music librarian at Missouri State University with a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology, has published three other works about fiddle music and is known for his strong transcription and analysis skills. Includes access to online audio.

Preface by W.K. McNeil

Historical Overview

Map of the Ozarks

 

Index of Tunes:

 

A & E Rag

Annie Laurie

Arkansas Hop

Arkansas Traveler

Arkansas Turnback

Arkansas Two-Step

Around the World on a Dime

Baby with Black Face and Shiny Eyes

Back in ’89

Bath House Blues

Battle of New Orleans

Bay Rooster

Bear Creek Sally Goodin

Betty Lou Waltz

Big Muddy

 Bile Them Cabbage

Bill Cheatum

Billy in the Lowground

Birdie in a Snowbank

Birmingham

Black Jack Davy

Blackberry One Step

Blackberry Waltz

Bluebird Waltz

Boatin' Down the River

Bonaparte’s Retreat

Branson Rag

Breakdown in A & D

Brickyard Joe

 British March

Broken Down Gambler

Broken-Legged Chicken

Brown Leaf Rag

Bunker Hill

Burt County Breakdown

Buster Fellows Tune

Butter the Other Side

Buzzard in a Pea Patch

Caney Mountain Hornpipe

Carroll County Blues

Charleston No.1

Cherry Blossoms

Chinese Breakdown

Chinky Pin

Clark Waltz

Cluckin' Hen

Coleman Waltz

Coming Thru the Rye

 Coming Up the Pike

Corn Dodger #1 Special

Cornwallis's Surrender

Cotton-Eyed Joe

Cripple Creek

Cripple Turkey

Crystal Stream Waltz

Daddy Blues

Dance Around Molly

Darkies' Dream

Darky's Dream

Delaware County Blues

Devilish Mary

Dixie Blossoms

Doc Brown's Dream

Doc Jessup’s Schottische

Down Home Rag

Down Home Waltz

Drowning Creek Blues

Drunkard’s Hiccoughs

 Dry and Dusty

Durang’s Hornpipe #2

 Durang’s Hornpipe

Dusty Miller

Dutch Hop

East Tennessee Blues

Echoes of the Ozarks

Eighth of January

Eminence Breakdown

Everybody Schottische

Everything

Fan Me While I Dream

 Fat Meat and Dumplings

Fiddler's Blues

Finley Creek Blues

Fire on the Mountain

Flock of Birds

 Flop-Eared Mule

Florida Blue

Flowers of Edinboro

Flunky Butt

Forgotten Waltz

Fort Smith

Forty Drops

Fred Kirchner’s Tune

Frisky Jim

Ft. Smith Breakdown

George Booker

Going Across the Sea

Going Down the River (E2)

Goodbye, My Honey, I'm Gone

Got a Little Home to Go to (1)

Got a Little Home to Go to (2)

Grand Picnic

Granny Will Your Dog Bite

Green Valley Waltz

Grey Eagle

Guignolee

Hamilton Ironworks

Hawk’s Caught a Chicken

Hazel’s Quadrille

Hazy Hills Waltz

Helen’s Waltz

Hell Among the Yearlings

Hog House Rag

Hog-Eye

Hold Old Bald While I Dance w/ Josie

Hollow Poplar

Home Brew Rag

Hop Up, Kitty Puss

Horse and Buggy-O

Humansville

I Don’t Love Nobody

I Hung My Jawbone

In Old Arkansas

Irish Washerwoman

Jasper County Breakdown

Jaw Bone

Jeff City

Jericho

Jinny Nettles

Jump Fingers

Kaiser Waltz

Kansas City Reel

Kate-Kaylee Breakdown

Katy Hill

Kiss Me Waltz

Knocking Around the Kitchen

Ladies Fancy

Lady of the Lake

Lady on a Steamboat

Lantern in a Ditch

Last Waltz

Laughing Boy

Liberty

Lighthouse

Little Creek Rag

Little Dutch Girl

Lone Star Rag

Lonesome Polly Ann

Lonnie's Breakdown

Lonnie's Hornpipe

Look Out Gal I See a Booger

Lost Indian

Lost Indian

Lost Indian

Maggie

Malindy

Mama Blues

 Maple Sugar

Marmaduke’s Hornpipe

Mason's March

Mate to the Hog Waltz

McCraw’s Ford

Milk Cow Blues

Mississippi Sawyer

Missouri Mud

Missouri Rag

Missouri Waltz

Molly Put the Kettle On

Money Musk

Muddy Water

Muddy Weather

My Pretty Little Girl’s Gone

Napper

Natchez Under the Hill

Natchez Under the Hill

Natchez

Natural Bridge Blues

Needle in a Haystack

Nelly Gray

New Five Cents

Newhouse

Nine Mile

Ninth of January

Nubbin

Oklahoma Wagoner

Old Bald Eagle

Old Blue Mule

Old Cajun Waltz

Old Charlie

Old Country Waltz

Old Gray Goose

Old Grey Eagle

Old Indiana

Old Joe Redbird

Old Judge Parker

Old Leather Bonnet with a Hole in the Crown

Old Man Portell’s Tune

Old Parnell

Old St. Joe

Old Stillhouse Burning Down

Old Time Breakdown in A

Old-Time Waltz

On the Rock

Orvetta Waltz

Ozark Moon

Ozark Mountain Waltz

Ozark Waltz

Paddy Won’t You Drink Some Cider

Paddy Won’t You Drink Some Good Old Cider

Peacock Rag

Pickin' Cotton Down South

Piedmont

Pig Ankle Blues

Pike’s Peak

Plow Boy Hop

Polk County Breakdown

Possum Trot

Puncheon Floor

Quail Is a Pretty Bird

Rabbit in the Pea Patch

Rachel

Rag in C

Ragged Bill

Ragtime Annie

Ranger Waltz

Rattler Treed a Possum

Rattlesnake

Razorback Waltz

Red Hills Polka

Robinson County

Rock All the Babies to Sleep

Rocky Mountain Hornpipe

Rocky Road to Denver

Rolling Stone Breakdown

Rose Nell

Rosebud Reel

Roses of Ava Moore

Rover

Rugged Road

Saddle Old Kate

Sadie

Sally Goodin

Sally Johnson

Sally Went A-Hunting

Salt Creek

Sam Moore Waltz

Sam Taylor’s Tune

Sandy Land

Seabolt Quickstep

Searcy County Rag

Seneca Square Dance

Shamus O’Brian

Sharecropper’s Blues

She Ought to Been a Lady

Shoe Cobbler’s Blues

Six by Eight

Sleepy-Eyed Joe

Snowbird in the Ashbank

Soap Suds

Soldier’s Joy

Soppin’ the Gravy

Spokane Waltz

Spotted Pony

Steamboat Blues

Sugar Betty Ann

Sugar in the Coffee

Sunday Night Reel

Sunflower Hornpipe

Taney County Breakdown

Taylor Brown

Ten Nights in a Bar Room

Tennessee Grey Eagle

Tennessee Wagoner

Tom and Jerry

Tom and Jerry

Turkey Knob

Turkey Tracks

Twinkle Little Star

Uncle Henry

Uncle Joe Will Your Horse Pack Double?

Uncle Joe

Unnamed Tune

Valley Forge

Victory Waltz

Virginia March

Wabash Foxtrot

Waldo

Walk Along John

Waltz of the Ozarks

Waltz of the Ozarks

Wang Wang Blues

Waverly

We’re Gonna Hunt the Buffalo

Westphalia WaltzWhiskers

Whistling Rufus

White River

Whoa Mule

Willott’s Hornpipe

Wink the Other Eye

Winter Flower Polka

Wolves A-Howling

Woody’s Hornpipe

Yellow Gals

Zack Wheat’s Piece