This weekend, the annual Newport Folk Festival is taking place in Newport, Rhode Island. Officially, the event is the Dunkin’ Donuts Newport Folk Festival , a weekend long series of concerts at Fort Adams State Park and the Newport Casino at the Interntaional Tennis Hall of Fame.

The Newport Folk Festival became synomous with Folk Music during the 1960’s. It became THE event for the showcasing of the legends of folk music and their apprentices. While the commercial aspect of the festival was evident, care was taken to present various regional styles and the individuals who were keeping the traditions alive. The mix of “professional” and “amateur” created a unique festival that others would emulate.

Glancing at a program from the 1968 Newport Folk Festival, there were afternoon workshops held in 22 separate areas. If you were interested in country blues, city blues, Gospel, bawdy songs, songs of Jimmy Rodgers, Freedom Songs, Eastern Music or if you were looking for instruction on banjo, you would have found at least one workshop of interest.

By 1971 the festival was cancelled. The Newport Jazz Festival had experienced crowd control problems, and Newport was not embracing a return of the folk festival. While folk music was diminishing from the limelight, the Newport Folk Festival began incorprating acts like Johnny Cash, Big Brother & The Holding Company (with Janis Joplin), B.B. King and other “mainstream” performers. While “purists” complained, the festival continued to draw crowds right up until the end.

After a 15 year hiatus, George Wein reintroduced the festival. Today, the music centers on the mainstage. Back in the 1960’s, there were dozens of workshops.

Today, the festival represents an opportunity to catch performances from artists like The Meters, the Indigo Girls, Cherish the Ladies, Odetta, Rosanne Cash, Ronan Tynan and many others. There are three stages at Fort Adams State Park, but instead of “workshops” the focus is showcase performances of about an hour or less.

Admittedly, I have not attended Newport in a few years. My last impression of the event was that while there were great performers on the schedule, the event lacked the atmosphere and value of similar events like the Philadelphia Folk Festival or Falcon Ridge. If you really would like a glimpse back at the way Newport used to be, check out the film “Festival!”, now on DVD from Eagle Rock Entertainment. This documentary by Murray Lerner captures outstanding performances from artists like Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Son House, Mississippi John Hurt, Judy Collins, the Georgia Sea Island Singers and many others. Also, on Sunday August 13, I will be offering three hours of live recordings from the original Newport Folk Festival on WFDU-FM’s TRADITIONS.

All of this brings me to the topic of this column, the 1963 Arkansas Folk Festival. This was an event held at the height of the Folk Revival, yet it had a unique approach that would be difficult to replicate in this day and age. The memories of this festival serve as a reminder of the beauty and purpose of folk music.

The first Arkansas Folk Festival was held in Mountain View, Arkansas on April 19th and 20th, 1963. The festival was actually a series of concerts held over the two nights on the stage of a high school gymnasium. Unless you lived in the area, there were very few “artists” whose name you would recognize. The overwhelming majority of the performers did not make a living with this music, nor did they even consider it a second job. They performers were farmers, housewives, store keepers, students, teachers and other residents of the area. What they put together was an example of the music and culture that existed in the Ozarks at that time. Folk music was not a fad, it was part of their lives, as it had been for generations.

Mountain View is located in Stone County, Arksansa – in 1963 it was one of the poorest regions of the country. The almost exclusively white population of the area had deep roots in the region. The songs and tunes that they played were passed along in the folk tradition from generation to generation. The music represented their source of entertainment.

Faced with overwhelming poverty, the local officials were trying to come up with a way to bring some money and recognition to the region. The local and regional representatives of the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service had planned to stage a crafts show, but they were soon convinced to add a music program to the event. Teaming up with a local organization, the Rackensack Folklore Society, they decided to stage a series of Friday evening concerts that culminated in the first Arkansas Folk Festival.

Stone Country native Jimmy Driftwood was enlisted to emcee the event. Driftwood was a recognized celebrity in the region. In the late 1950’s his song “Battle of New Orleans” helped him achieve fame well beyond the Stone County borders.

The organizers of the Arkansas Folk Festival thought that Driftwood might arrange for his friends in Nashville to perform. However Driftwood was a devotee of old-timey styles and saw the music that was rich in the region was enough to support the event. Soon, a lineup of locals was put together to create a sampler of the wonderful music that was thriving in the area.

To the surprise of everyone involved, over 4000 people crowded the auditorium during that first weekend for the music festival, and officials estimated that over 10,000 people visited the town during the weekend for other events.

The performers offered a program that documented the music they made in their homes and everyday lives. Many of the songs that were presented would be considered folk standards – pieces like “Get Along Home, Cindy”, “John Henry”,”Old Joe Clark”, “Soldier’s Joy”, etc. What made the performances unique were the unassuming styles of the performers and the participation of the audience. Often dancers would accompany the music and whole families would be on stage making music. As Driftwood would say, the musicians were “timber cutters, farmers, housewives and all plain people of the hills.”

Among the performers would be Abbie and Apsie Morrison, twin brothers who were born in 1876 and both would pass away within two years. There were other members of the Morrison family on the stage as well, giving an example of how the music was kept alive by families in the region.

Haskel Avery played music on a homemade steel guitar – the metal supposedly coming from an old car! Benson Fox entertained the crowds with a mouth bow and an instrument made from the jaw of an ass.

Many of the songs that were shared at the festival were learned from other family members. While some songs were very common versions, others were unique – such as Fleecy Fox’s version of “My Son Johna”. Other songs were learned from artists like the Carter Family, as evidenced by housewife Martha Hollister’s rendition of “Wildwood Flower”. The music included dance tunes, play songs, folk songs from the British Isles, bluegrass music, old-timey, Minstrel and much more.

While most of the performers would not be known outside of the region, there were two other artists (besides Jimmy Driftwood) who would bring their music beyond the Arkansas borders – Almeda Riddle and Glenn Ohrlin

Almeda Riddle would go on to record for several labels, including Vanguard Records. Born in Heber Springs, Arkansas in 1898, Almeda was introduced to music by her father who was a fiddler and teacher at a singing school. She married H.P. Riddle and settled down in Edgemont, Arkansas, but in 1926 a cyclone would destroy her home and take the lives of her husband and infant son. Almeda was left to raise three small children. In 1952 she met folklorist John Quincy Wolf, Jr. who wouldas her to record some songs she knew. Wolf’s recordings would bring her to the attention of other folklorists, including Alan Lomax. For the next two decades she would record songs and travel the nation sharing her music.

Glenn Ohrlin was not a native of Arkansas. He was born in Minnesota in 1926 and lived in California during the depression. There he would develop in an interest in ranching and the rodeo, as well the music of cowboys. He bought a ranch in Arkansas in 1954 and continued his interest in music. He would eventually write a book “The Hell-Bound Train: A Cowboy’s Songbook” as well as record several albums, including “A Cowboy’s Life” on Rounder Records.

As for Jimmy Driftwood, he will always be recognized for writing “The Battle of New Orleans”. Driftwood, born James Corbett Morris, was a school teacher and he wrote “The Battle of New Orleans” to teach a history lesson. He recorded the song in 1957, but it was Johnny Horton’s 1960 recording of the song that would bring Jimmy fame and fortune. During his career, Driftwood would write over 6000 songs, including “Tennessee Stud” and see his music recorded by artists like Johnny Cash, Eddy Arnold and Odetta. He would also be invited to perform for Nikita Krushchev as an example of the America’s traditional music.

Driftwood had joined the Grand Ole Opry and moved to Nashville, but he returned to his home of Arkansas in 1962. The Arkansas Folk Festival became Driftwoods’ opportunity to share the folk music he loved.

Jimmy Driftwood learned from his father, Neal Morris, who also performed at the festival. Morris was the oldest singer at the festival, and he would pass away in 1965 at the age of 78. Morris performed “The Nightingale Song” at the festival, a song that he would also sing for Alan Lomax (the recording appearing on an album called “The Ozark Frontier”).

Luckily, we can relive this event. The festival was recorded on reel-to-reel tape by John Quincy Wolf, Jr., the same man who “discovered” Almeda Riddle. Wolf was a 61 year old college professor and folklorist. He spent a decade recording the music in and around Stone County. His purpose in recording the festival was not to create a commercial album, but simply to preserve the performances. A mic was placed on an onstage table and the recordings captured everything. Surprisingly, the quality of the recordings was very good.

After his passing, Wolf’s widow (who still lives in Stone County) gave his tapes to Lyons College in Batesville, Arkansas. Dr. Brooks Blevins, who teaches at the schools Regional Studies Center, approached Wolf’s widow a few years ago with the idea of creating a CD from the recordings. She agreed, and in 2005 a two CD set was issued titled “Sounds of Ozark Folk: The 1963 Arkansas Folk Festival“.

Listening to the songs and tunes recorded at the 1963 Arkansas Festival serves as a reminder of the power of folk music. Unlike the festivals that would spring up, mainly for commercial reasons, this festival offers up wonderful music that was made for the pleasure of the performer, not to please an audience. It works.

Music is not meant to be something that buy a ticket to WATCH. It is something that we can make in our own homes using the voices we were born with.

At the same time, we can learn a lot from listening to recordings like this. This recording has become one of my most listened to CD’s. It is sort of a “booster shot” for me. Brooks Blevins did a marvelous job producing this two CD set, and while it is a limited edition, there are still copies available. Go to www.lyon.edu/wolfcollection to find out more!

Last but not least, it should be noted that the Arkansas Folk Festival continues to hold annual festivals. In the 1970’s the festival would draw 100,000 or more for a weekend! While the focus of the festival has changed over the years, it still offers a great opportunity to witness music of the Ozarks and beyond. It is held annually on the third weekend of April. Click here for more information.