Proclaimed the “Official Traditional Illinois Old-Time String Band” by the state’s 82nd General Assembly, the Indian Creek Delta Boys of Charleston, Illinois were active from the 1970s through the 1990s. The band’s backbone was formed by brothers Garry and Steve Harrison. Garry began fiddle at age 16 with instruction from his father Cliff while Terry, […]
Lynn “Chirps” Smith was born and raised in downstate Illinois. As a young man, he played with the Indian Creek Delta Boys (FRC607) and learned fiddle tunes directly from old-timers, including Harvey “Pappy” Taylor and Noah Beavers. This homemade music was transported to the Midwest by homesteaders who, bringing their fiddle tunes with them, multiplied […]
See The Indian Creek Delta Boys (FRC607) Known for the many fine and obscure fiddle tunes learned from senior players in their own geographical area, the Indian Creek Delta Boys of Charleston, Illinois were an influential string band from the 1970s through the 1990s.
Since FRC started in 2004, we have made available the recordings of many collectors of traditional music. To date these include (with CDs they contributed to):
Excerpts from the November 2003 Banjo Newsletter interview with Ray Alden BN: Did you grow up with Appalachian music? RA: Mountain music wasn’t exactly the rage with the southern Italians from my Bronx neighborhood. Do-wop was the music I grew up with. Just ahead of me in school were Dion and the Belmonts. A guy […]
Chirps Smith (FRC608) By Lynn “Chirps” Smith – November 15, 1995 I was born October 11, 1952 in Pekin, IL. I am the fifth generation of my family in Illinois. My great-great grandfather Mervill A. Smith moved to southern Illinois, from New York state, in the late 1830’s and settled around Mt. Vernon in Jefferson […]
Teodar Jackson – African-American Fiddling from Texas – FRC728 by Dan Foster Teodar Jackson (1903-1966) was an old-time fiddler with deep roots in Texas. He was born in Gonzales County where his family had farmed since his grandfather came there from Mississippi sometime after the Civil War. African Americans numbered roughly a third of the […]