Ozarkian Folk Chronicles - Your Podcast About the Ozarks

When journalist and author Jason Harmon began digging into the alleged crimes of Sheriff Ralph Baker four years after the lawman's death, his research led Harmon to "marijuana moonshiner" Dave McElyea. In Harmon and McElyea's book When Money Grew on Trees, McElyea describes Baker in great detail as a law officer on the take. Other, more powerful men suspected something similar because the FBI was...

Author, journalist, and historian Jason Harmon wrote When Money Grew On Trees in collaboration with David McElyea, a Michigan transplant to the Ozarks in 1980 whose goal was to create a marijuana farm. After he was busted by local enforcement, Dave formed a relationship with the local sheriff, and together they colluded in a venture that would make them thousands of dollars. And that's back when a...

Champ Herren and Todd Wilkinson share a deep love of our Ozarks hills. As far back as their time at MSU (then SMSU), they read everything by Vance Randolph they could get their hands on, and for some years, they presented these stories around campfires to various groups. Now Todd and Champ are together again in this podcast about the Scots Irish immigration to the States, first to Appalachia and t...

Roy and Aviva Pilgrim were invited to participate in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival because of their talented musicianship and authentic life in the Ozarks. Roy is a logger who cares about sustainable forestry, and Aviva is a luthier, gardener, and artist who cares about preserving the best of Ozarks culture. Their life and livelihood could serve as a model for those who want "to walk gently on...

Henry O. Head has taught workshops on photography in the US, Greece, and Ireland and his photos have been exhibited in places as diverse as South Korea and Rogers, Arkansas. Some of his recent photos were featured in the Guardian. His masterpiece, however, is his debut book Twelve Acres, a photographic exploration of coming of age in the Ozarks and the depths of teenage friendship. Henry's work bo...

Curtis and Hayden travel to Dent County, Missouri, to talk with their good friend, Todd Wilkinson, about Montauk Spring, the headwaters of the Current River, and the state park that bears its name. Todd is the Assistant Superintendent of Montauk State Park and has a passionate for the rivers and streams of the Ozarks, having taught canoeing, kayaking, and river conservation for many years. He is a...

The Ozarkian Folk Chronicles posts its very first episode, "The Strange Case of Adam God," a story recorded by Vance Randolph in Haldeman-Julius's Little Blue Books and confirmed by contemporary newspapers. From the Call he received while plowing his field to parading naked through the streets of Oklahoma City to his hardy old age, James Sharp, aka Adam God, is one of those strange figures who is...

Famous for her creation of the Kewpies, Rose O'Neill was much more than an illustrator of children's cartoons. Rose was a daring woman in an era of male domination, and her courage in forging her own path remains an inspiration. She traveled to Europe several times and spent time in London, studied painting in Paris, and hobnobbed with the likes of Booth Tarkington on the Isle of Capris. She owned...

Todd Parnell, former bank president, president of Drury University, and advocate for our Ozarks environment, talks about floating the entirety of the Buffalo River twice and the remarkable influence of the Buffalo on him and his sons. Todd has served on the boards of various organizations whose mission is the preservation of clean water and pristine rivers in Missouri. Perhaps most important, Todd...

In this extra-special episode, Mark Bilyeu, Jody Bilyeu, and Rik Thomas talk about their legendary group, Big Smith. Not only do they perform live versions of some of their most iconic songs--"Trash," "Backwater," and "Whip-poor-will," among others--but they describe growing up in the Ozarks, the importance of family, the influence of folk, bluegrass, and Gospel music, and the message behind the l...

Champ Herren, the OFC's official "renegade newscaster," digs back into the Ozarks archives and unearths the story of Dick Cullen, who murdered his four-year-old step-brother but didn't live to tell about it. Sometimes, people make damned sure that crime doesn't pay. Champ is a master storyteller and a diligent researcher, and he applies his talents to this nearly hundred year old story that could...

Hoss Braden, born and bred in the Ozarks hills, has turned his life into art, both in the Legend of the Lost Silver Mine that played in Branson West and currently, in the long-running Shepherd of the Hills drama at the Shepherd of the Hills Adventure Park. Hoss has lived a storied life, but he has also learned stories, dozens of them, that he shares with the audience in the character of Ol' Matt....

The word "folk" conjures up people rocking back and forth in cane bottom chairs and dipping snuff, and though that's an admittedly enviable lifestyle, it's not the whole story. The early folk song and folktale collectors were largely from "off" and belonged to an avantgarde circle of artists, socialists, and bohemians, in short, renegades. Our new series, the Renegades of Folk, takes a closer look...

Ozarkers love a good story, and George Scott and Tom Koob have some great ones! From Leonard "Shock" Short, moonshiner, bank robber, and husband of George's Aunt Lillian, to Vance Randolph, who fell in love with Lillian after Shock's death, to the myth of Virgin Bluff, and all the way back to the Civil War with George's great-grandfather, George and Tom remind us that the old stories will always l...

Bob and Barb Kipfer retired from lucrative jobs in the medical field to the hard work of natural conservation. From their initial purchase of 80 acres on Bull Creek to their current preserve of 400 acres, the Kipfers have restored the riparian field, shored up the banks, and planted trees and other vegetation along beautiful Bull Creek. Barb has also planted some 90 indigenous species of native fl...

Join Curtis and Hayden when they sit down with author, chef, and innkeeper, Crescent Dragonwagon! Since her arrival in the Ozarks over fifty years ago, Crescent has published over fifty books in several genres including novels, children's books, and cookbooks. She has embraced the hills as her home, and the hills have embraced her right back! Crescent is a story teller par excellence, and her remi...

When Mark Bilyeu and Cindy Wolf visited the archives at the Library of Congress, they discovered and returned home with a treasure trove of folksongs collected by Vance Randolph himself. On this episode, you'll hear original tracks from well-known Ozarkers like May Kennedy McCord, Rose O'Neill, and Vance himself, as well as lesser known figures. We Ozarkers have always loved our music, and the Chr...

Emalee Flatness-Combs, performer with the Homestead Pickers at Silver Dollar City, and Lillyanne McCool, national old time banjo champion, bring the old songs to life with their beautiful voices and superb musicianship. From the wife so mean the devil threw her out of hell to the whimsical "Froggy Went A-Courtin'," Emalee and Lillyanne will waft you away to a simpler time. So, turn up the volume,...

Like so many beautiful regions in the Ozarks, the Little Red River and the towns along its banks face unprecedented challenges from reckless recreators, greedy corporations, and the failure to protect a fragile environment. Kasey and Ginny Kimmons describe the challenges from ATVs that tear up river roads to the pollution that destroys precious river ecosystems to landowners that strip the hills....

In the early 70s, Tom and Brandy left Columbia, Missouri, where Tom was teaching at Mizzou, for the deep woods on the banks of the Little Red River, not far from Shirley, Arkansas. With nothing but a chainsaw, a hammer, and an auger, Tom built a cabin that still stands today. For ten years, Tom and Brandy lived in the cabin, and their first daughter, Ginny, was born there. Before their second daug...

At 84, Andrew Kilgore is still photographing, still learning, and still excited about exploring the world through the lens of his camera. Andrew shares his story of moving to the Ozarks in the heyday of the 60s, and the joy he's had in photographing the portraits of over 30,000 Arkansans. We know you'll enjoy this inspiring episode of the Ozarkian Folk Chronicles. Hosted on Acast. See acast.c...

The Chronicle's own true crime historians--Tammy Morton and Angel Wolf--are back to tell the macabre and tragic story of the murder of Charlie Cobb. The web of conspiracy spreads out to include wives, friends, and lovers, and Tammy and Angel reveal the previously sealed account of the case by prosecutor Doug Mahnkey, the legendary Ozarks lawyer. Fascinating and disturbing, this episode sheds new l...

Mark and Cindy are back to share their adventures in Ozarks folk music. They received a grant to research and arrange Ozarks folksongs collected by Sidney Robertson in the 20s and 30s and housed at the Library of Congress. Then Mark and Cindy returned with a treasure trove of beautiful folksongs that they have already begun to arrange and perform, and some of them are featured right here on t...

Wayne Glenn, the Old Record Collector, joins Curtis and Hayden for a survey of Christian County history. From Clarence and Roscoe to Buff Lamb, Wayne is an encyclopedia of history and lore.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Curtis and Hayden are joined by Jeff Michel, David Arnold, Esther Exley, and Coy Stephan, members of the Mountain Grove School House Jam who play some old time mountain music tunes. Jeff explains the good work of the Ozarks Mountain Music Association and the ongoing efforts of "old timers" to teach a new generation of musicians in the traditions and techniques of music that goes back centuries. Ho...