Broken Bow Fiddle Co.

I've been digging through some of John Hartford's old Missouri field recordings lately, and this one sent me down another rabbit hole. Walter Alexander was a fiddler from Leasburg, Missouri, born in 1890 and gone in 1974. There isn't a whole lot of information about him left behind, which is a shame. Thankfully, John Hartford had the good sense to turn on his Wollensak and record him in 1958. The more I listen to Mr. Alexander, the more I hear something that reminds me of Roy Wooliver. There's nothing polished or precious about the playing. It's raw, rhythmic, and completely unapologetic. Just a fiddler playing a tune the way he knew how to play it. And his repertoire is a good reminder that these old Missouri fiddlers weren't nearly as concerned with the boundaries we've put around "old-time music" today. Popular tunes, dance tunes, hornpipes, local tunes and anything else worth playing all had a place. That's one of the things I love about th...