This week, radio & television legend and Country Music Hall of Fame member Grandpa Jones with his wife, Grand Old Opry star Ramona and family recorded live at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. Also, interviews and a live performance from the Jones Family. Aubrey Atwater presents “The Mother of Folk Music” Jean Ritchie, and Mark Jones offers an archival recording of Ozark original, Jim Bullard.
Grandpa Jones was a performer during the golden age of radio, and later found success as a cast member on the syndicated television program, “Hee Haw.” After years of living near Nashville, TN, Grandpa moved to Mountain View, Arkansas in the early 1980’s. Along with his wife Ramona, they ran the Grandpa Jones Dinner Theater. The theater employed many musicians, many of whom are still around the Ozarks today including their son Mark and guitarist Danny Dozier. We’ll dig deep into the archives this week for a set of music, featuring some of Grandpa’s finest performances at Ozark Folk Center State Park.
“The Jones Family Band” features a cast of all-star musicians, including Alisa and Mark Jones. This performance from the Jones Family Band was the last one recorded at the Ozark Folk Center State Park before Ramona passed in late 2015.
Renowned folk musician Aubrey Atwater profiles influential folk music icons Jean Ritchie and the Ritchie Family, as well as explores the traditional Appalachian music and dance that the Ritchie Family helped to perpetuate into the modern American folk lexicon. This episode focuses on Jean Ritchie as a songwriter, and features Jean’s performance of her original song “Black Water.”
Mark Jones' “From the Vault” segment features a rare recording of Ozark original Jim Bullard, performing the traditional song “Glory Land,” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives.
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This week, radio & television legend and Country Music Hall of Fame member Grandpa Jones with his wife, Grand Old Opry star Ramona and family recorded live at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. Also, interviews and a live performance from the Jones Family. Aubrey Atwater presents “The Mother of Folk Music” Jean Ritchie, and Mark Jones offers an archival recording of Ozark original, Jim Bullard.
Grandpa Jones was a performer during the golden age of radio, and later found success as a cast member on the syndicated television program, “Hee Haw.” After years of living near Nashville, TN, Grandpa moved to Mountain View, Arkansas in the early 1980’s. Along with his wife Ramona, they ran the Grandpa Jones Dinner Theater. The theater employed many musicians, many of whom are still around the Ozarks today including their son Mark and guitarist Danny Dozier. We’ll dig deep into the archives this week for a set of music, featuring some of Grandpa’s finest performances at Ozark Folk Center State Park.
“The Jones Family Band” features a cast of all-star musicians, including Alisa and Mark Jones. This performance from the Jones Family Band was the last one recorded at the Ozark Folk Center State Park before Ramona passed in late 2015.
Renowned folk musician Aubrey Atwater profiles influential folk music icons Jean Ritchie and the Ritchie Family, as well as explores the traditional Appalachian music and dance that the Ritchie Family helped to perpetuate into the modern American folk lexicon. This episode focuses on Jean Ritchie as a songwriter, and features Jean’s performance of her original song “Black Water.”
Mark Jones' “From the Vault” segment features a rare recording of Ozark original Jim Bullard, performing the traditional song “Glory Land,” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives.
This week, a sampling of Ozark original stringbands recorded live at the Ozark Folk Center State Park’s 2024 Stringband festival held annually in Mountain View, Arkansas.
Each Fall, the Ozark Folk Center State Park holds its annual Stringband Festival featuring internationally touring musicians as well as local stringbands. In 2024, the headliners were The Lonesome Ace Stringband from Toronto and Dirk & Amelia Powell from Louisiana. Both these internationally touring acts were featured recently on Ozark Highlands Radio. In this episode, we’ll spotlight the authentic local Ozark stringbands that round out our festival. Featured are Lillyanne McCool & Ozark Legacy, The Creek Rocks, Bug Shuffle, The Riggsville Ramblers, and Salem Plateau.
Lillyanne McCool & Ozark Legacy is a five piece string band that straddles the line between oldtime and bluegrass musics. Led by award winning banjo virtuoso Lillyanne McCool, Ozark legacy is based in Mountain View, Arkansas. Joined by her brother Jared on mandolin and her mother Crystal on upright bass, Lillyanne has grown up on the Ozark Folk Center stage. Esther Exley joins in on fiddle and Emalee Flatness-Combs brings the guitar.
The Creek Rocks from Springfield, Missouri are Cindy Woolf and Mark Bilyeu. Cindy Woolf was raised in Batesville, Arkansas along the southern foothills of the Ozarks Mountain region. Mark Bilyeu hails from Springfield, located atop the Ozarks Plateau. They began their musical collaboration in 2003 with Mark at the helm for Woolf’s debut CD “Simple and Few.” They married in 2013 and have endeavored together on a mission to breath new life into traditional Ozark folk songs, a mission that’s carried them all the way to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival!
Bug Shuffle is a traditional oldtime stringband trio based in Mountain View, Arkansas. The band consists of husband and wife Scott & Shay Pool and our very own Dave Smith, the host of Ozark Highlands Radio. Shay Pool is an oldtime fiddle contest champion and educator in the Ozark Folk Center’s Music Roots program. Scott is a renowned guitar accompanist and talented luthier. Together, they own and operate Mountain View Music, an old fashioned retail music store and local landmark.
The Riggsville Ramblers are another Mountain View fixture. This four piece Ozark original stringband can be heard regularly in the craft grounds at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. The Ramblers are husband and wife Jenny & Tom Sartain on banjo and guitar, Joe Roe on fiddle, and Carl Adkins on resonator guitar. With a sound plucked right out of the 19th century, the Riggsville Ramblers will have your toes tapping and your hands clapping.
Salem Plateau is an oldtime husband and wife duo made up of five time Arkansas CMA winner Grace Stormont-McCarthy and multi-instrumentalist Joseph McCarthy. With a penchant and a voice for ancient ballads, Grace grew up on the Ozark Folk Center stage singing and playing everything from upright bass to guitar and banjo to fiddle. Not only a talented multi-instrumentalist, Joseph McCarthy is a human encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to traditional Ozark music.
In this week’s “From the Vault” segment, OHR producer Jeff Glover offers an archival recording of Ozark original stringband Squirrel Heads in Gravy performing a medley of “My Own House Waltz and Come on with Dinah,” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives.
In this week’s guest host segment, renowned traditional folk musician, writer, and step dancer Aubrey Atwater discusses the folk song Lazy John.
Ozark Highlands Radio
This week, radio & television legend and Country Music Hall of Fame member Grandpa Jones with his wife, Grand Old Opry star Ramona and family recorded live at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. Also, interviews and a live performance from the Jones Family. Aubrey Atwater presents “The Mother of Folk Music” Jean Ritchie, and Mark Jones offers an archival recording of Ozark original, Jim Bullard.
Grandpa Jones was a performer during the golden age of radio, and later found success as a cast member on the syndicated television program, “Hee Haw.” After years of living near Nashville, TN, Grandpa moved to Mountain View, Arkansas in the early 1980’s. Along with his wife Ramona, they ran the Grandpa Jones Dinner Theater. The theater employed many musicians, many of whom are still around the Ozarks today including their son Mark and guitarist Danny Dozier. We’ll dig deep into the archives this week for a set of music, featuring some of Grandpa’s finest performances at Ozark Folk Center State Park.
“The Jones Family Band” features a cast of all-star musicians, including Alisa and Mark Jones. This performance from the Jones Family Band was the last one recorded at the Ozark Folk Center State Park before Ramona passed in late 2015.
Renowned folk musician Aubrey Atwater profiles influential folk music icons Jean Ritchie and the Ritchie Family, as well as explores the traditional Appalachian music and dance that the Ritchie Family helped to perpetuate into the modern American folk lexicon. This episode focuses on Jean Ritchie as a songwriter, and features Jean’s performance of her original song “Black Water.”
Mark Jones' “From the Vault” segment features a rare recording of Ozark original Jim Bullard, performing the traditional song “Glory Land,” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives.
