Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 16

Howard Marshall smiles as he listens to Richard Shewmaker
play his fiddle during a presentation at Missouri
River Regional Library in Jefferson City promoting his
most recent book " Keep It Old-Time: Fiddle Music
in Missouri from the 1960s Folk Music Revival to the
Present. " The book is the third and final volume on fiddling
in Missouri. Howard has presentations in the fall
including Oct. 7 at Woodneath Library in Kansas City,
Oct. 19 at the Missouri State Archives in Jefferson City,
Nov. 18 at The Focal Point in St. Louis and Nov. 30 at
The State Historical Society of Missouri in Columbia.
Fiddling is in Howard's blood. There's been a fiddler in
his family for at least five generations and his grandfather
was the chief fiddler when he grew up in Moberly. " In my
teenage years, I got interested in other things, " he says.
" But I always had fiddling in the back of my head. "
After serving in the Marine Corps, Howard returned to
mid-Missouri and went to Mizzou. " I got back to Columbia
in 1968 as the folk music revival and bluegrass music
were blossoming and the music scene expanded in the
1970s when there seemed to be young fiddlers everywhere, "
Howard says. " I had this memory of my grandfather
playing old fiddle tunes and thinking I could never do
that, but I just discovered it and it became my passion. "
Howard says the fiddle became the Everyman instrument
due to its portable nature and its infectious tone.
" Fiddle music is music that is meant to be danced to, " says
Howard, a member of Callaway Electric Cooperative. " And
people want to dance; they like to dance. You know, push
all the furniture to the corner of the room and dance for
two or three hours before you go home. "
That rhythm and flow between the fiddlers, his or her
fellow musicians and dancers is what makes the jam sessions
he's so fond of memorable. " The fiddler uses his or
her imagination, memory and ears to play their tunes, " he
says. " A fiddler may never play the same tune exactly the
same way twice. "
Howard describes his 20-year-old self as an " amateur
archivist " when his fiddling passion began. He couldn't
find much information on fiddling, so he started scribbling
notes on 3-by-5-inch index cards he kept in his pocket
whenever he'd hear new fiddling stories or meet musicians.
That interest in preserving history led him to graduate
school at Indiana University and eventually a job at the
Library of Congress before returning to Mizzou. " It's
given me this professional interest in figuring out how to
conserve and carry on traditions that could otherwise be
lost, " he says. " If a tune is played and not recorded it may
be forgotten. I've been recording with reel-to-reel tape to
cassettes and now digital media. "
16 RURAL MISSOURI | JULY 2023
Howard's in-depth trilogy chronicling Missouri's fiddling
history started in 2012 with his first book. That one began
with the French fiddlers in Ste. Genevieve in the 1700s
and moves forward to later generations. His next book in
2017 picks up in the 1920s and goes until the 1960s. His
final book takes readers on fiddling's history during the
time he began playing in the 1960s to present time. Howard
says that time period made " Keep It Old-Time " a bit
more personal for him to research and write.
" However, I know many of the fiddlers who appear in
the first two volumes as well as those in the new book, " he
says. " And I knew personally about and was involved in
many of the historical themes in all three. "
" Keep It Old-Time " chronicles fiddling's rise in the '60s
and '70s and the user-friendly Suzuki method that became
popular in the '80s allowing kids to learn without needing
lengthy, formal violin lessons. " They just started playing
fiddle tunes and by the '90s, music teachers just decided
they needed to let those students play a fiddle tune or
two, " he says. " It's grown today that the folks in the fiddling
contests are so different than in the '50s, '60s and
'70s. Their skill level is quite high. "
Howard has performed shows around the state for each
of his three fiddling books, including more this year. He
keeps music as local as possible so he invites local fiddlers
and accompanists to join him as he mixes fiddling history
with his stories and tunes as well as audience questions.
This back-and-forth helps cement the fiddling legacy
Howard has built over decades.
" I think it's important to know where things come from
and why we love them, " he says. " That's
how we know how to carry it on. "
Millersburg
For more information or to buy any
of Howard's books, call 800-621-2736
or visit upress.missouri.edu. Contact
Howard at howard.marshall1944@
gmail.com. See future performance
dates in photo caption above.
http://upress.missouri.edu

Rural Missouri - July 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rural Missouri - July 2023

Contents
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - Cover1
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - Cover2
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - Contents
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 4
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 5
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 6
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 7
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 8
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 9
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 10
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 11
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 12
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 13
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 14
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 15
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 16
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 17
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 18
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 19
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 20
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 21
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 22
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 23
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 24
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 25
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 26
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 27
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 28
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 29
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 30
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 31
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 32
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 33
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 34
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 35
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 36
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 37
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 38
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 39
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 40
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 41
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 42
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 43
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 44
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 45
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 46
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 47
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 48
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 49
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - 50
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - Cover3
Rural Missouri - July 2023 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202410
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202409
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202408
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202407
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202406
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202405
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202404
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202403
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202402
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202401
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202312
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202311
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202310
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202309
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202308
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202307
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202306
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202305
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202304
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202303
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202302
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202301
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202212
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202211
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202210
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202209
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202208
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202207
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202206
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202205
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202204
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202203
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202202
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202201
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202111
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202110
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202109
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202108
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202107
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202106
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202105
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202104
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202103
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202102
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202101
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202012
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202009
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202008
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202007
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202006
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202005
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202004
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202003
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202002
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/202001
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201912
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201911
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201909
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201908
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201907
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201906
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201905
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201904
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201903
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201902
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201901
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201812
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201811
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201810
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201809
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201808
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201807
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201806
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201805
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201804
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201803
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201802
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201801
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201712
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201711
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201710
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201709
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201707
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201706
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201705
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201704
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201703
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201702
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201701
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201612
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201611
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201610
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201609
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201608
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201607
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201606
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201605
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201604
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201603
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201602
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201601
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201512
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201511
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201510
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201509
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201508
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201507
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201505
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201504
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201503
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201502
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201501
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201412
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201411
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201410
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201409
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201408
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201407
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201406
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201405
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201404
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201403
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201402
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201401
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201312
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201311
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201310
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201309
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201308
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201307
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201306
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201305
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201304
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201303
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201302
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201301
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201212
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201211
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201210
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201209
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201208
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201207
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201206
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201205
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201204
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201203
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201202
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201201
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201111
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201110
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201109
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201108
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201107
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201106
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201105
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201104
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/videotest
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201103
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201102
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201101
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201012
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ruralmissouri/201010
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com