Joe Bone

I became aware of Old Time Music in about 1938 when my dad bought a Silvertone battery radio and I first heard the National Barn Dance and later the Grand Ole Opry. It took me a long time to get over wanting to play cornet in a Dixieland Jazz Band, but after I heard Flatt & Scruggs during my service in the U. S. Army in Germany, I began to listen to Bluegrass and go to some festivals. Finally, in 1982, I bought a dulcimer kit at Mtn. View, put it together and learned to play it, (the old time way, with a noter).

Folk music as played in the Ozarks had a special attraction for me. I like the sounds of acoustic instruments and the vocal harmonies that go with it. I also like the historical side of the old ballads and fiddle tunes. My Granddaddy Bone (who died before I was born) used to play fiddle for dances before he joined Mt. Olive church and laid his fiddle down. My older brother inherited that fiddle, but I managed to try to play it a few times. My mother and sister both played the piano and I can remember our family singing together at home as well as at church. Two of my sons have played drums and guitar in rock and blues bands,

With the following exceptions, I have been a listener, not a picker. During Christmas 1954, I was on a troop ship headed for Germany. I played cornet with a small combo for a Christmas dance for the dependents (families) on board.

Later on that spring I played with another group and we won a talent contest. (This got me on the "music detail" instead of K.P.) In recent years, I have played and sung at senior citizens clubs, churches, retirement homes, etc.

Since retirement from Kellwood Company in 1994, I have been manager of the Davy Crockett Cabin/Museum at Rutherford and have had oldtime music there as part of our annual Davy Crockett Days. I have helped to edit and write a couple of local history books. When we had the Dyer Music Lovers' Club, I was always asked to come up with an annual folk music program. This gave me the opportunity to get some friends to come in to pick and sing the oldtime tunes.

Back in the 1990's my wife and I would sometimes go to the Old Country Store on Thursday nights and listen to the oldtime music. It was not until Coley and Marilyn Graves came by the Cabin and invited us to come down and play with them that we started attending and soon joined the Club. Sue and I have made a lot of good friends who enjoy the music as much as we do and who share many of the same values that we hold. Old Time Music has created many friendships that would never existed without it.

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