You can listen to all of the Top Ten Songs if you scroll down past the Top Three winners. Winner- Jim Bickerstaff, “Sister Mary” All of the Top Three finalists will be performing their winning song at the Will McLean Music Festival scheduled for March 8th – 10th, 2024 at the Florida Sand Music Ranch … Continue reading Song Contest Winner and Finishers in the 2024 Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest
Category: Features
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and the Fiddia Family
The Yearling movie, and more importantly, the novel, may never have happened if it hadn’t been for Leonard Fiddia. Marjorie Rawlings met Leonard Fiddia in either 1929 or 1930 while on a hunting trip with a mutual friend. It was Leonard Fiddia who introduced her to Calvin Long in the “Big Scrub.” Calvin Long shared … Continue reading Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and the Fiddia Family
From Novel to Movie: The Yearling in Florida
To see the full 58-minute documentary online click here: PBS.org The documentary is also available on the PBS app by typing in the word Yearling in the search box. You can also view the documentary on the WUFT-TV passport. PBS stations can download the broadcast version from NETA. From Novel to Movie: The Yearling in … Continue reading From Novel to Movie: The Yearling in Florida
Artist Features
(Click on an artist’s link to view and hear a feature about them) Jessie (Townsend) Armstrong The Currys Garrison Doles Willie Green Chris & Red Henry Mike Jurgensen Will McLean Walter Parks Punch Brothers Gamble Rogers Pete Seeger Shana “Banana” Smith Tom Shed Walter Strauss Lee Townsend “Doc” Watson Jesse Winchester The Bills De Lions … Continue reading Artist Features
Archive of the Winners and 2nd and 3rd place finishers of the Will McLean Song Contest Since 1992
The late Father of Florida Folk, Will McLean, wanted to save Florida through music. For more than 25 years, a festival named in his honor, has sponsored a song contest to help facilitate McLean’s passion. Each year a winner and two top finishers are selected by a panel of judges and are given the opportunity … Continue reading Archive of the Winners and 2nd and 3rd place finishers of the Will McLean Song Contest Since 1992
Song Contest Winner and Finishers in the 2023 Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest
To hear all the Top Ten Songs scroll down past the Top Three Winners Singer/songwriter Daniel Childs calls the Florida Gulf Coast home, performing roughly 250 live shows per year. Originally from Tennessee, Childs says he began writing and performing music at a young age, and by 30, he had traveled the breadth of the continental … Continue reading Song Contest Winner and Finishers in the 2023 Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest
Passing on Will McLean’s legacy to the next generation
During the 2022 Will McLean Festival, five-year-old Emeline made her first major stage appearance singing the Will McLean song, “Cryin’ Bird.” It’s a song about Florida’s Limpkin, a bird that has disappeared from many areas of the state because of the loss of the apple snails that they depend on. Emeline has loved this song … Continue reading Passing on Will McLean’s legacy to the next generation
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings: Video Highlights of Events at the MKR Historic State Park
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings is best known for her novel The Yearling which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939 and was made into a major motion picture. She penned many other books including Cross Creek, South Moon Under, Golden Apples, The Sojourner and Blood of My Blood. Rawlings died on December 14th, 1953 but her legacy lives on and continues to inspire writers around … Continue reading Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings: Video Highlights of Events at the MKR Historic State Park
My Friendship With “The Black Hat Troubadour” Will McLean
By the time I met Will McLean he had already penned most of the hundreds of songs and poems he has become famous for. He’d already performed at Carnegie Hall and made friends with the late Pete Seeger. His glory days performing on the “Old Marble Stage” at the Florida Folk Festival were long since … Continue reading My Friendship With “The Black Hat Troubadour” Will McLean
Song Contest Winner and Finishers in the 2022 Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest
To hear all the Top Ten Songs scroll down past the Top Three Winners The winner of the 2022 Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest is Jim Terry from Napa, CA. The song highlights a dark time in Florida’s history when the 1928 hurricane ravaged the communities surrounding Lake Okeechobee. Terry says, “As a … Continue reading Song Contest Winner and Finishers in the 2022 Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest