In a previous post, I introduced my idea for “On-the-Go Research Guides” – a modern adaption of the traditional library research guide. These guides are intended for users who want to learn more about a specific topic when they’re on their commute, preparing meals, or on-the-go. Our access to information has expanded to an extent that is plausible to become proficient on a topic without dedicating time to physically reading. Librarians should consider how they can appeal to these types of users by organizing and filtering quality scholarship through mediums that have little quality control, namely, YouTube, podcasts, and social media platforms. Librarians should make it easier for on-the-go users to become experts on topics without sacrificing quality.
Introduction to Topic
The traditional arts play an important role in helping us connect more closely with the history of our communities. Appreciating activities that relate to traditional music, dance, and crafts leads to a richer understanding of how culture has impacted the lives of the past and present. While many traditional arts came from necessity, they were also significant because they represented how people shaped the world around them – reflecting beliefs that are usually relevant to understanding our world today. The art of old time fiddling, a style of folk music that was brought over to North America beginning with the earliest European settlers, is especially enlightening for users researching the influence of the upland south on the culture of Indiana.
Indiana’s earliest forms of government, most notably the state’s 1816 constitution, was largely shaped by pioneers who had migrated from the Appalachian Region of the United States. The laws they introduced were products of beliefs and customs brought over from Kentucky, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee. The art of old time fiddling was an extremely common form of entertainment among upland southerners, who had inherited the jigs, reels, and waltzes from previous generations of English, German, Irish, and French settlers. Tracing the proliferation of old time fiddling in Indiana is one way of linking early Hoosiers who played an important role in shaping the state to their old country roots. The music serves as a tool for understanding their customs and how many of their traditions survive in the state today.
Research Guide
There are many opportunities to learn about the traditions of old time fiddle music in Indiana through podcasts, videos, and social media sites. Below is a list of YouTube channels, audiobooks, podcasts, and websites that will allow you to explore the topic on-the-go. Notable experts on the topic, who also have an online presence, include Jon Kay, director of Traditional Arts Indiana, and Grey Larsen, a folk musician who specializes in old time fiddle music from the Ohio River Valley.
Databases
- Jon Kay & Traditional Arts Indiana YouTube Channel
- Traditional Arts Indiana is an organization dedicated to preserving folk art and other creative practices for the benefit of Hoosiers young and old. They offer a wide range of initiatives, which funds the preservation and dissemination of traditional arts across the state. TAI has a robust YouTube channel where they post videos of lectures and interviews on a wide range of topics that relate to Indiana folk practices. Jon Kay, the director of Traditional Arts Indiana, also has his own YouTube channel where he posts similar projects associated with TAI. Fiddlers associated with the Fiddle Contest at the Indiana State Fair, which TAI funded up until the COVID pandemic, are often featured on both channels.
- Hoosier History Live on WICR 88.7 fm
- Hoosier History Live is a weekly call-in radio show, which features interviews with authors and experts on a variety of historical topics. They publish a weekly newsletter that accompanies each show and each show is found anywhere you listen to podcasts. The host, Nelson Price, is an author of Indiana history books and was a long-time writer at the Indianapolis Star, offering expertise on a wide range of historical topics. Relevant episodes include exploring the Cumberland Gap, early German settlers, pioneer food customs, and spotlights on famous Hoosier pioneers. Most notably, Hoosier History Live recorded an episode on pioneer music.
Audiobooks, Podcasts, & Videos
- Get Up in the Cool Podcast Episode (2017) (https://getupinthecool.fireside.fm/31)
- Get Up in the Cool is joined by Deb Shebish, who shares the songs she learned from the Bloomington-based old time fiddler, Joe Dawson. Dawson had a unique finger style and excellent repertoire of fiddle tunes, which he had growing up in Lawrence County, Brown County, and Monroe County. Dawson became an important part of the local music scene in Bloomington, where he held musical gatherings every Thursday in his home.
- Hoosier History Live: Pioneer Music in Early Indiana (https://hoosierhistorylive.org/mail/2013-09-07.html)
- Hoosier History Live explores the history of pioneer music in Indiana. They explore pioneer instruments, such as jaw harps, banjos, and fiddles. Erik Peterson, Indianapolis musician and historian, joins Nelson Price to discuss the impact of Irish music on our perception of old time music. Search anywhere you find podcasts for episodes of Hoosier History Live.
- Jon Kay YouTube Channel: Indiana Fiddlers Video Playlist (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLStkKGmEmw&list=PLo9JTkk6T2CqmAFmFgPfmVHZKigofnS3w)
- Jon Kay organized this YouTube playlist of Indiana fiddlers playing and talking about their journeys in old time music. John W. Summers and Lotus Dickey are the most notable fiddlers in this collection of videos.
- Jon Kay YouTube Channel: Noble Melton, Old-time Fiddler (State Fair Master, 2007) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy2WZvRODBk&t=41s)
- Noble Melton, an Indianapolis fiddler, was interviewed by Traditional Arts Indiana about how he has been featured in the Indiana State Fair fiddler’s competition. Melton describes how he picked up fiddling and how he was introduced to fiddling again later in life.
- Traditional Arts Indiana YouTube Channel: Webinar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVFUzvdRGo4
- Indiana Traditional Arts hosted a webinar on the importance of preserving folk customs and how these traditions hold special meaning for many Hoosiers. Jon Kay covers topics ranging from old time music to traditional recipes used by Indiana natives.
- Grey Larsen and Cindy Kallet YouTube Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1tqxxPQ20U
- Grey Larsen and Cindy Kallet are local Bloomington musicians who often record renditions of old time fiddle songs. They were both proteges of Joe Dawson, a Bloomington-based old time fiddler. Larsen and Kallet describe the influence of Dawson and how his music was representative of the Ohio River Valley. They end by playing renditions of several tunes from Dawson’s repertoire.
Music Albums
- Lotus Dickey: Down the Pike and Other Fiddle Tunes from Orange County, Indiana (2021) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ntV7Nbto4dNaGMwUisrZVxLlPfmRGdERU
- Lotus Dickey was an Orange County native who became locally famous for his large repertoire of old fiddle tunes. Unlike other Indiana fiddlers, Dickey is largely well known by today’s old time folk musicians because of his exposure through commercial recordings. This is a collection of jigs, reels, hornpipes, and waltzes Dickey picked up largely through his childhood.
- Indiana Fiddlers Gathering CDs https://www.indianafiddlersgathering.org/
- The Indiana Fiddlers’ Gathering is an old time music festival held in Battleground, Indiana. They attract folk musicians from all across Indiana and beyond. They have several CDs of past shows available on their website. This gives researchers an idea of how old time fiddle music exists today in Indiana.
- John W. Summers: Indiana Fiddler (1984) https://www.discogs.com/release/4813615-John-W-Summers-Indiana-Fiddler
- John W. Summers was an Indiana fiddler who was well known in the 1960s for performing in fiddling contests across the midwest. Folklorist Art Rosenbaum recorded Summers in 1984 for the Rounder label. Most fiddle tunes featured are unaccompanied.
- Folkways: Fine Times At Our House (ca. 1960) https://folkways.si.edu/fine-times-at-our-house-traditional-music-of-indiana-ballads-fiddle-tunes-songs/american-folk-old-time/album/smithsonian
- Published by Smithsonian Folkways, this is a collection of Indiana folk songs collected by Art Rosenbaum and Pat Dunford in the 1960s. Several fiddle songs are featured, namely, John W. Summers is recorded for the first time by Art Rosenbaum.
Wayne's Wonder-Room 