Ozarkian Folk Chronicles

Ozarkian Folk Chronicles

Come with us as we dive head first into the titillating tales of Ozarkian folklore and discuss the origins and obscurities of these stories. From Curtis Copeland and Hayden Head, this is Ozarkian Folk Chronicles. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

Episode 78: Part One: Jason Harmon's Wild Ride with Marijuana Moonshiner, Dave McElyea

July 16, 2025 • 68 mins
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 thousand dollars meant something. ...

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Episode 77: The Story of the Scots Irish Settlers in the Ozarks: A Conversation with Todd Wilkinson and Champ Herren

July 9, 2025 • 81 mins
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 the deep South and then to the Ozark...

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Episode 76: Meet the Pilgrims: Loving the Land, Preserving the Culture, and Raising a Family in the Ozarks

July 2, 2025 • 48 mins
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 the earth." Some folks dream of li...

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Episode 75: Photographer Henry O. Head talks about his new book and coming of age in the Ozarks

June 25, 2025 • 63 mins
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 both preserves and advances the uniqu...

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Episode 74: Todd Wilkinson and the Magic of Montauk

June 18, 2025 • 56 mins
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 also a master storyteller with a rem...

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Episode 73: The Bizarre Case of Adam God

June 10, 2025 • 54 mins
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 the very stuff of folktales! Even m...

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Episode 72: Rose O'Neill, Renegade of Folk

June 4, 2025 • 66 mins
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 homes in Connecticut, Greenwich Vi...

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Episode 71: Todd Parnell and the fight to save Ozarks rivers

May 28, 2025 • 61 mins
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 has turned his outrage at corporat...

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Episode 70: Big Smith: Legendary, Lyrical, Kin

May 21, 2025 • 76 mins
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 lyrics. As one fan put it, Big Smith...

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Episode 69: Champ Herren and the Lynching of Dick Cullen

May 14, 2025 • 63 mins
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 have come from this morning's news...

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Episode 68: Hoss Braden: Legendary Actor, Storyteller, and Iconic Ozarker

May 7, 2025 • 58 mins

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. Now it's your turn to listen in on ...

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Episode 67: Introducing the Renegades of Folk: Vance Randolph

April 30, 2025 • 66 mins
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 at these men and women of the earl...

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Episode 66: Stories from the James River: A Conversation with George Scott and Tom Koob

April 23, 2025 • 56 mins
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 live on, and for that we can be than...

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Episode 65: Saving the Ozarks One Creek at a Time: A conversation with the Kipfers

April 16, 2025 • 56 mins
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 flowers, trees, and other plants in t...

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Episode 64: Crescent Dragonwagon and Her Life in the Ozarks

April 9, 2025 • 64 mins
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 reminiscences will both inspire and cha...

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Episode 63: The Creek Rocks and the Vance Randolph Folksong Collection

April 2, 2025 • 35 mins
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 Chronicles are proud to partner with ...

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Episode 62: Comic Songs of the Ozarks with Emalee Flatness-Combs and Lillyanne McCool

March 26, 2025 • 57 mins
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, open the windows, and enjoy this li...

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Episode 61: Loving the Ozarks to Death (The Kimmons Family: Part Two)

March 19, 2025 • 40 mins
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. They also recall the successful eff...

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Episode 60: Loving the Ozarks to Life (The Kimmons Family: Part One)

March 13, 2025 • 66 mins
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 daughter, Kasey, was born, they moved i...

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Episode 59: An Invitation to the Circle: Photographer Andrew Kilgore on Life, Art, and the Ozarks

March 5, 2025 • 58 mins
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. S...

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