Van Colbert – SouthArts/Mid-America Arts Alliance Folklorists Retreat

Posted on February 27, 2012 by yarnspinnerpress

Splendid Band News! Van Colbert of the famous Colbert Brothers and our esteemed banjoist, has been invited to perform on stage at the SouthArts/Mid-America Arts Alliance Folklorists Retreat April 21 in Memphis. Are you folks in for a treat. Our Van has been playing banjo for 40-some years and has taught in the Missouri Folk Arts traditional music masters and apprentice program for three seasons. He is also the quintessential hillbilly, and we’re all very proud to be working with him. I’ll be going, too, but just to jam and hang out with the folks, and do some politicking on behalf of our infant record label. Memphis is always a good time, but this one will be special.

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Radio News

Posted on February 27, 2012 by yarnspinnerpress

RADIO NEWS: “These Ozarks Hills,” a monthly series of essays on Life in the Ozarks broadcast on KSMU-FM regional public radio in the Ozarks, is moving from its traditional time slot on the last Friday of each month to the FIRST Friday of each month. That’s why the story you expected to hear last week (Friday, Feb. 24), will air instead on Friday, March 2. Station administrators said the move was being made necessary because the series, which runs in prime time (7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.) was being booted out of its time slot too often by scheduling conflicts, and the “first Friday” slot would give the show a more stable base. We’re fine with it, so long as listeners have enough warning to make the change. So consider yourself warned. KSMU can be found throughout Southwest and South Central Missouri and Northern Arkansas on your FM dial at 91.1 in the Springfield area, in Branson at 90.5; West Plains – 90.3; Mountain Grove – 88.7; Joplin – 98.9 and Neosho – 103.7. Outside the area, the broadcast is streamed live at http://www.ksmu .org, and archived episodes are also available on that site by clicking on “These Ozarks Hills,”  on the sidebar.

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Arts Alive; Art News from West Plains Council on the Arts

Posted on February 10, 2012 by yarnspinnerpress

June 15 & 16, 2012

Second Annual Dutch Oven Cook-Off

The term Dutch Oven generally is used in reference to a cast iron pot or kettle with a flat bottom having three legs to hold the oven above the coals, flat sides and a flat, flanged lid for holding coals. The versatile and portable cooking tool has been used for more than 300 years and was shipped and traded worldwide from its original manufacturer in Holland and an English firm who altered and improved the design. It became the cooking tool of choice in places as far removed as the American west and the South African coast. George Washington’s mother bequeathed several of them among her “iron kitchen furniture” to her heirs. Native Americans were also captivated by the ability of the pot to cook food literally inside the fire. In the Ozarks, the Dutch Oven became a mark of civilized living, and lifted the chore of providing meals for a family from drudgery to art. Those arts will be challenged this year for entrants, who will be asked to bring their own kettles and ingredients, as well as the preferred fuel for cooking with them. This year the seasoned masters of Ozarks Dutch Oven cookery will be asked to try their hand at desserts – made from scratch. The competition will be held at the festival’s Cooking Stage and is free to compete and free to attend. Audience members are encouraged to sample, so if you are curious about the operation and the results from this marvel of iron kitchen furniture, plan to get your seat early.

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Gigs and Such

Posted on February 8, 2012 by yarnspinnerpress

Two things I’ve been meaning to tell you about and it keeps slipping my mind, and if you were in my mind you’d understand why. I’m still juggling way too many balls, ten-pins and jackrabbits to keep one from sailing off out of reach now and then. But let’s don’t go there. Instead, here are the two things.

First, we are just now into the process of booking engagements for the upcoming year, and many of you don’t know that I do another gig, and I am available to come to your area for an hour of storytelling and informative speaking on all kinds of subjects, from history to gardening to anything related to the Ozarks and its unique culture. I have performed at all kinds of events – conferences, meetings, symposiums etc. and I host a regular program on Ozarks Public Radio delivering essays under the title, These Ozarks Hills. I’d love to come and visit with you. For bookings, contact Sarah Denton at moonmooring@yahoo.com

Click here to hear a sample radio essay.

Second, every year in West Plains, Mo., the town I now call home, there is a music festival with an awkward name. It’s the Old Time Music Ozarks Heritage Festival, and it features, along with some of the best music you’ll hear anywhere, a mule jump, goat races, old time crafts and artistry, and a cooking stage featuring everything from homemade doughnuts to squirrel pot pie. No kidding. We (Blackberry Winter Band) will be there, the old time square dancers will be there, the shape note singers will be there, and you should be there too. It’s the Friday and Saturday of the third weekend of June, every year. Come see us.

Check us out on YouTube!

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This just in from Roots Music Review

Posted on February 8, 2012 by yarnspinnerpress

We just got word of this review from Duane Verh in the Roots Music Report.

“Marideth Sisco’s voice is an instrument pure and true, delivering a bounty of unvarnished emotion on a captivating set of masterful play and graceful arrangements, firmly grounded in heartland tradition. Whether conveying her power through understatement, as on Tom Waits’ “The House Where Nobody Lives”, through a high fever- Buffy St. Marie’s “Codine”, or via her warm-hearted, co-penned originals, Ms. Sisco never fails to convince the listener. Her bandmates provide splendid pickin’ and vocal support. Fiddler Billy Ward snags his share of the spotlight. Their version of Natalie Merchant’s “Motherland” is not to be missed.

Reviewed By: Duane Verh”

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Whizzing around and singing. Nawt!

Posted on January 31, 2012 by yarnspinnerpress
It’s a bad day to reconnect with friends old and new on this bog, er, blog. Don’t misunderstand. It’s not a bad day everywhere or for everyone. I just have a cold the size and quality of which is called in my family the Dread Gombu. Coughing spells that leave one weak and sore-sided. And expectorants, even with cough suppressants, just make it worse, causing the wheeze and gurgle once commonly associated with galloping consumption. No fever. No stuffy nose. Just the cough. I should be grateful, I know. It could be worse. I don’t want to hear about it. Actually, I can’t hear about it. I’m too busy coughing. And recovering from coughing. And getting ready to cough. AArrgh! (ouch). This is what a case of the surlies sounds like, and I’ve got it bad. Somebody send me whiskey and lemon! just kidding. I’ll get over myself. I really will. Maybe tomorrow. Or next week. I’ll let you know.
blog post – Of a Sunday, let’s just say a little of this goes a long way. Still coughing. Still waiting to get better.  Still bummed.
Monday — a little better but now my voice is in the basement doing frog imitations. I’m a joy to behold.
Ok – It’s Tuesday. I’m noticeably better, at least to me. Sarah’s here and said i sound terrible. Probably, but she missed three days of godawful, and so did you. Be glad. Be very glad. I predict that tomorrow I’ll be on the mend no matter what. My favorite acupuncturist is making a house call, and soon I’ll be whizzing around and singing like Mary Poppins. Well, not — I mean — it’s a figure of speech, eck-tually. Stay tuned. I’ll be giving a post-poke report soon.
-m
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Sunday Morning at Gaileys

Posted on January 3, 2012 by yarnspinnerpress

Great breakfasts and really fine harp music. What a fun way to spend a Sunday morning especially on New Years Day.

Marideth Sisco, Drew Holt, and Dennis Longwell. Taken at Gaileys in Springfield, MO on New Years morning 2012.

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