Mar. 12: Drove to Springfield and spent the night at a friend’s house.
Mar. 13: Drove to airport (new facility, never been there before. In the dark and rain got into the wrong lane and ended up in short term parking. I’ll be eating $50 of the $90 parking fee)
American Airlines to Austin. Taxi from airport to Irene’s where I was let in and given a key by a neighbor. Dropped off luggage and took the bus downtown where I registered and picked up info at the convention center, then caught a shuttle over to the Hideout Theater, where I saw “Reel Injun.” I wanted to see “Dirty Pictures” afterward, but Injun ran late and I missed it, along with the late bus. Taxi back to Irene’s.
Mar. 14: Downtown by bus to see “Earthling.” Lunch at theater and bus back to Irene’s. By car with Irene and Bob to Alamo South Lamar for WB screening. Bob’s comment on our treatment: “I’ve never felt this important before.” They dropped me off at the Paramount theater where I saw “Mr. Nice.” Missed the late bus again, taxi to Irene’s.
Mar. 15: Bus downtown after breakfast at Rio café (around the corner from Irene’s. Good Brazilian coffee). Tried to see “Tiny Furniture” but couldn’t get in. Stayed in line at the Ritz and saw “The Happy Poet.” Grabbed a cab to Chuy’s (best tex-mex in America) where I met Irene for dinner. Took bus back downtown and caught shuttle to Alamo South Lamar to see “All My Friends are Funeral Singers.” Taxi back to Irene’s.
Mar. 16: Cold and raining, so took a cab to Bess Bistro (Sandra Bullock’s restaurant) for the Chicken&Egg Films breakfast. Cabbie couldn’t find it, so I ended up walking three blocks in the rain. Worth it. Good breakfast and good connections (long chat with Karen Durbin of Elle Magazine that got me written up in her SXSW report) She said: “My favorite on-screen act was the silver-haired Missouri English teacher and folklorist Meredith Sisco. In Winter’s Bone, the Sundance grand prizewinner that opens in June and showed out of competition at SXSW, Sisco sings “Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies” in a low alto so pure and strong it gives you shivers. Asked to sing again at a festival breakfast for women filmmakers, she politely transfixed us with the song’s first verse, then tucked into her Eggs Benedict before they got cold.”
I staggered out of there stuffed to the gills and caught a bus back to Irene’s, where I chilled for a few hours before heading back to the bus stop and downtown again for the awards ceremony. Met up with Karen D. again on the way out of the theater, along with Variety film critic Peter Bart, and we strolled over to Sixth Street for the Wrap Party at Maggie May’s. Too loud, too smoky and too very young, so we parted from Peter and found a bus stop bench over on Congress St., where we talked for another hour or so. Too late for the last bus again, caught a cab to Irene’s.
Mar. 17: Irene’s friends arriving for music festival, so had to clear out. After a late breakfast at Rio’s, Dusty picked me up at Irene’s, put my luggage in his car, and dropped me downtown, where I saw “For the Sake of the Song,” a lovely, historic documentary on Anderson Fair, the seedy, volunteer-run long time haunt of such luminaries as Guy Clark, Nancy Griffith, Lyle Lovett and Townes Van Zandt.
Back with Dusty, we were off to Alamo South Lamar for the second screening of WB., then Dusty left to go hear a friend’s band, and I stayed for the screening of “The Sound of Insects.” Got a lift from Dusty to the hotel and a return trip the next a.m. to the airport for an uneventful flight back to Springfield, where I got my truck out of hock and drove to Licking for class and a long drive home.
See Marideth’s schedule.
Listen to or read the narrative of the latest installment of the classic Ozarks commentary by beloved Ozarks singer and storyteller Marideth Sisco, host of the long-running series, These Ozarks Hills.
my life and times 
I saw Winter Bone this evening, loved the songs you sang and now can’t wait to find your music to buy!
Hello My Friend,
It’s been going on to forty years since I last hear your voice at the Club Zayante.
“My, my, my the rivers they run dry.
All I can do is sit down and cry…
or “I hear the greyhound bus and I look to my past
oh how I wish that I never had left home.
Fields on my right and on my left
I can’t sleep at night,
Bus driver please take me back
from where I come from…”
How your voice and words still ring in my ear.
But the joy when I was watching “Winter’s Bone”
had me up late into the evening talking with my
present partner all about the “Cookie” and the healing
your music did to my fractured soul after the war.
I still remeber sharing the lover’s notes left in the old
pickup truck with you next to the Davenpost depot.
I hope you are well and in good health.
If your ever this way you always have a home to stay.
As Always your friend…Fred
Ah, me lad. So very very good to hear from you and to go back in memory to those earlier days. I am so glad we both survived that time. You sound happy. Are you still in the Santa Cruz area? I will certainly give you a shout if we head that way. Tour plans are being discussed, but are still in the early stages. If you subscribe to this little blog, we’ll keep you updated on these strange turns of events. SO glad to hear from you.
So great to see you and hear you perform at the gastropub in springfield. Your voice is still amazing and so happy great things are coming your way. Well deserved. If you are ever in the area would love to get together. Hope this year brings even more amazing things to you.
I’ll be home from the coast on the 6th and will have a busy month ahead. However, I’ll be in Springfield April 7 to 10 and again April 14-16 doing recordings for another album, and we’ll not do much work after 6 p.m. any of the evenings. Let’s try to get together sometime then.
Hi – I knew you way back when…you were called Sam by close friends in those days, but I would never have had the nerve…I was a year behind you at CHS and we didn’t really run in the same circles. I loved your singing then, but again I never had the nerve to speak to you. The last time I heard you sing was in some little place in Springfield during my freshman year at SMS (1962- 63) and I was so proud to tell my friends that I knew you.
It is great to see that you have had such a wonderful life and never stopped singing.
Jeanie Hayes
You make me sound quite formidable, when in fact I was this green country kid who’d lived all over and didn’t know how to make friends except by knowing all the popular songs. I was lucky to fall in with Judy Marchbanks, who made the others put up with me. I remember you as quite a spunky lass. Failing the nerve to speak to me, you shoulda kicked me in the shins and told me to stop making so much of myself. I expect it would have done me a world of good. My mother used to tell me I’d stop worrying about what others thought of me if I realized how seldom they did… I’m glad you finally spoke up. Sounds like you’ve gotten to see a bit of the world also.
Dear Marideth
we listen you fot first time in Winter´s Bone film, last month.
Your voice is very nice, we have in love it.
We are from argentina, White Bay. This is a cost city, with a comercial port. It is 450 millas from Buenos Aires.
My boyfriend and I want to invite you to a our city ( White Bay ) and know de area.
We send you a big kiss
We love you so much
Jose and Nelly
Loved the movie, excellent work. The songs and your voice was a first for me and likely the rest of the audience … saw the movie in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. I think it wasn’t just me but everyone in the theatre was taken aback by the lyrics and your smooth tones. Will be searching for your album.