Other fiddlers I recorded on that trip in November 1975 included Art Galbraith, Glen Rickman, Taylor McBaine, and Lonnie Robertson. In 1975, I was living in Noblesville, Indiana, and employed at an outdoor museum called Conner Prairie Pioneer Settlement, and spending most of my nights trying to finish my dissertation under Henry Glassie at Indiana University my mind was focused on old buildings and tangled theories, but I couldnвЂ™t resist RinzlerвЂ™s request that I do a bit of field recording of Missouri fiddlers. That session was recorded during a trip back to Missouri on brief assignment from my colleague, the inimitable Ralph Rinzler, to visit and record a sampling of Missouri fiddlers who might be invited to perform at the Festival of American Folklife on the Mall in Washington the following July. Along with hearing some fine music and stories, I enjoyed the kind of gentle hospitality and trust accorded to strangers for which the rural and small town Midwest is famous. As the hours grew late, Judy sang a few country songs with LeeвЂ™s fiddle accompaniment. But his daughter, Judy Vanderville, was handy, and the session turned out nicely, with just Lee playing tunes on one of the twenty-five violins he had made in a room off the kitchen, and his charming daughter accompanying him on old-time finger-style banjo.

Stoneking had invited his son, Fred, to come play backup guitar, but Fred couldnвЂ™t make it. On a chilly, clear evening in November 1975, I had the opportunity to record and photograph the fiddler Lee Roy Stoneking at his home in Clinton, Missouri, a few miles from the farm where he was born.

Lee stoneking death