Keep it Old-Time: Fiddle Music in Missouri from the 1960s Folk Music Revival to the Present 

For centuries, the violin has been both a “people’s instrument” as well as a “palace” instrument that spans the globe. Whether called “violin” or “fiddle” (they are the same, just with differing customs of learning and performance), it continues to be enjoyed across many different traditions and communities.
Howard Marshall, professor emeritus and former director of the Missouri Cultural Heritage Center at the University of Missouri, leads a talented group of musicians, offering examples of traditional fiddle music in Missouri today. They share the history and people behind the music. Marshall, himself a fiddler, is joined by Richard Shewmaker (violin), Amber Gaddy (piano accordian), Jim Ruth (five-string banjo, violin), David Cavins (guitar), Asher Ferguson (penny whistle, five-string banjo), and Kathy Gordon (acoustic bass). The program will include a set of Irish fiddle tunes by Linda Shumate (concertina), Heinrich Leonhard (guitar), and Kathy Gordon (acoustic bass), mainstays of the Irish music scene in Columbia. The musicians performed at the State Historical Society of Missouri Center for Missouri Studies in Columbia on Nov. 30, 2023. The concert program was photographed and edited by Thomas Gleason.
Marshall’s new book published by University of Missouri Press, "Keep It Old-Time: Fiddle Music in Missouri from the 1960s Folk Music Revival to the Present," is the third book in his fiddle history trilogy. The book, along with a companion CD of music by 36 fiddlers, is available at the State Historical Society of Missouri: shop.shsmo.org.