Its been a long time coming. After all the years of writing on this site and other locations, I can officially say “I’ve been published”. The Ozarks Mountaineer is a local magazine focused on content that relates only to the Ozarks region. This being said, its scope is very general in nature.

The Ozarks Mountaineer is the only Ozarks-wide magazine in all 50 states, and a few foreign countries as well. The magazine offers histories of people and places, folklore, out-of-the-way places to see and visit, arts, crafts, pioneer skills, folk music and much, much more. In addition to articles, there are columns featuring cookery, poetry, humor, events, gardening, then and now, folk music, reviews of recordings and reviews of books.

Below is an excerpt of the article. Please take a look at the whole article on the Ozarks Mountaineer’s website and consider subscribing to this one of a kind magazine.

McClurg: Old Timers, New Timers, and First-Timers Keep the Music Alive

The screen door slams closed revealing the shapes of musical instruments cut into the hardwood door frame. The first bounce of the screen door startles most people, causing a glance at the commotion. The second bounce reveals timeseasoned hands holding a crock pot of beef stew in a savory marinade of broth along with carrots and potatoes. It is their arrival that is greeted by an excitement not only for what was made but for the maker, as well.

A passerby would hear from the old concrete porch the rumble of voices inside the old McClurg Mobil gas station, the clanks of silverware, and an occasional impatient pluck on an instrument before eating. A visitor would be rewarded with the smell and taste of fried chicken, lasagna, and of cooked sausage that the musicians and their spouses brought for the potluck.

Walking in, one gains a sense of nostalgia at the sight of the shelves still supporting inventory that was sold at the time of the gas station’s closing, though now a bit cluttered by 10 plus years of “put it wherever.” Looking to the right of the one-room open floor plan, the student of history would see images of the giants of the past hanging just above the couches spanning the wall: images of those musicians who had once been regulars at the store and some who to this day are still there. The pictures, taken and framed by local Ozarks Music Folklorist Gordon McCann, are a step down the “halls of history.” READ MORE…