Summary: Ozark Highlands Radio is a weekly radio program that features live music and interviews recorded at Ozark Folk Center State Park’s beautiful 1,000-seat auditorium in Mountain View, Arkansas. In addition to the music, our “Feature Host” segments take listeners through the Ozark hills with historians, authors, and personalities who explore the people, stories, and history of the Ozark region. This week, it’s Dulcimer Weekend! A whole host of mountain & hammered dulcimer national champions perform live at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. Also, interviews with mountain dulcimer mavens Tull Glazener, Jeff Hames, and Debbie Porter discussing the origins, resurgence of popularity, and appeal of this humble mountain musical instrument. For over 35 years, the Ozark Folk Center State Park has hosted the annual Dulcimer Jamboree. The annual event takes place in mid-April and features three days of specialized instruction and performances from the country’s top mountain and hammered dulcimer players. The mountain dulcimer remains one of the more popular folk instruments today. Its celebration in the Mountain View, Arkansas area as a core folk instrument has never waned over the years, with an active community of players and instrument makers. With origins dating back to Biblical times, the hammered dulcimer is a unique instrument in the percussion family. Like the mountain dulcimer, it found a home in the Ozark region among folk musicians and instrument makers alike. Music this week includes highlights from the 2016 event, including performances by Ted Yoder, Rick Thum, Bing Futch, Jeff Hames, Tull Glazener, Jess Dickinson, and Judson Steinback. In this week’s “From the Vault” segment, musician, educator, and country music legacy Mark Jones offers an archival recording of Ozark original Dee Johnson singing the rare traditional lullaby “Buttercup Meadows,” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives. From his series entitled “Fine Fiddlers of the Ozarks,” old time and Ozark fiddle aesthete Roy Pilgrim profiles the legendary Ozark fiddler Jim Means. This installment features archival recordings of the classic fiddle tunes “Pretty Polly, The Girl I Left Behind, Rose of the Garden, and The Blue Bells of Scotland.”
