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Natural Heritage |  |
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History, Culture & Craftsmanship
• Music |
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| Music Index • Pretty Miss Norma Jean • Family Recollections (from John Tilden) • Music in the Ozarks (A Word from Louis Darby) • Harold Morrison (from the Ralph Foster Museum archive) • The Fiddle In Missouri (from Greg Bailey) _______ Culture Index • Agriculture • Book Learning • Cooking • Craftsmanship • Faith in the Hills • History • Music • People of the Hills • Storytelling • Tourism |
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I didn't start playing fiddle until I was about 20. Part of it was because of my heritage and I had my great grandfather's fiddle. Playing the fiddle and living in this area I got to know a guy named Bob Walsh, who was recognized by the University of Missouri as a one of the masters of old-time fiddle and it had been handed down in his family. The Walshes — well, there are parts of Ireland where that name is real prevalent and we ran into it when we were over there and found people who were running for office who were named Walsh.
Bob had moved down to this area from Eminence, Missouri, and Bob's dad was named Otha Walsh and he ran the store in Eminence for years and years and years. And of course, Otha was a fiddle player and his dad was a fiddle player. I don't know how far back the family came from over there but Bob was like my second dad. And he taught me lots of tunes and we played ever week and did some recording together.
But the thing about Bob, Bob was also the head of conservation around here — the conservation district. He was the boss of all the game wardens so he had political connections in Jeff City. And Bob was instrumental in getting the fiddle made — and he considered it — this area — the State of the Ozarks. Not Arkansas and Missouri, but this was an independent State of the Ozarks.
And Bob got the fiddle put in as the state instrument of Arkansas and the state instrument of Missouri. And Bob's father's fiddle, Otha's fiddle, is on display at the capital building in a wooden case. So if you ever get to Jeff City, you ought to go check it out. It's there in the rotunda and it's on display and it's the state instrument of Missouri and that's how that came about to be.
For the ceremony at Jeff City, we all took turns playing on a stage there in the capital rotunda and I got up and was trying to think what to play and I decided to play an old song named Redwing, but I introduced it as Rightwing since it was a political event.
Bob died in, I think it was '91, if I remember right. He was quite a guy.
Handed down within the family, this fiddle was given to Bob in 1933 by his father, old-time fiddler, Otha Walsh.
The Walsh family came from Ireland in 1853 and settled in Shannon County, Missouri.
Photo credit, J. Heston. Lucky13Studios® Archive.
Photo credit, J. Heston. Lucky13Studios® Archive.
October 20, 2007 Reprinted with permission from MidWestIrish.com