Tag Archives: Florida singer songwriters

Will McLean: The Father of Florida Folk

Click here to hear full length archival interviews with Will McLean  (recorded by Donna Green-Townsend in 1985 & 1987)

CD cover for a live recording by WUFT of Florida's Black Hat Troubadour, Will McLean, just 5 years before his death in 1990.
CD cover for a live recording by WUFT of Florida’s Black Hat Troubadour, Will McLean, just 5 years before his death in 1990.

Will McLean is considered the “Father of Florida Folk.”  The “Black Hat Troubadour” travelled all across his beloved state writing hundreds of poems, songs and stories.  After his death in 1990 he was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.  Each year Florida singer songwriters gather at the Will McLean Folk Festival to honor him.  McLean wanted to save Florida through his music.  Each year the Will McLean Foundation holds a Best New Florida Song Contest to keep McLean’s mission alive.

Don Grooms sings 3 of his best songs late 70s or early 80s.mp4.Still005To watch archival video of Will McLean CLICK HERE:

Will McLean waiting to perform
Will McLean waiting to perform

Donna Green-Townsend interviewed McLean 5 years before his death in 1985 and again in 1987.  She also talked with some of the musicians who were inspired to write about Florida because of Will McLean.  (Scroll down to see the full feature transcript.  You can also hear Will’s most popular songs below)  

In 1988 Will McLean joined storyteller Cousin Thelma Boltin and his music buddy Gamble Rogers in Cross Creek, FL for the 50th Anniversary of “The Yearling” celebration at the farm of the late Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings.  See a few snippets from a rare video recorded at that event below:

Doug Gauss Gamble Rogers and Sanda Jemison 1 24 1990Here is the audio of the eulogy given by the late Gamble Rogers (inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 1996) at the memorial service for Will McLean in January of 1990 at the Thomas Center in Gainesville, FL.

Sign dedicated to Will McLean at Gore's Landing
Sign at Gore’s Landing

On January 24th, 1990, following the memorial service at Gainesville’s Historic Thomas Center in Gainesville, FL, friends gathered at Gore’s Landing to disperse Will McLean’s ashes into the Ocklawaha River.  Before he died, McLean told Margaret Longhill that he had hoped to light a small campfire one last time at Gore’s Landing by the Ocklawaha River in Marion County, his favorite campsite.  Some of those in attendance were Margaret Longhill, Don Grooms, Dale Crider and family, Donna Green-Townsend and family, Wayne Martin and Bobby Hicks to name a few.  In this brief recording, you will hear a small portion of that special ceremony at the river.

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Gamble Rogers speaking at the dedication at Gore’s Landing

A few months after the memorial service for McLean, friends gathered once again at Gore’s Landing for a special dedication. A special sign was placed at the site marking the place considered as Will’s favorite camping spot.  Speakers included Margaret Longhill, Gamble Rogers, Frank Thomas and Bobby Hicks among others. See additional pictures from the ceremony below.

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Margaret Longhill at McLean Hall of Fame Induction 1996In 1996 Will McLean was officially inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame. He was the first folk musician given this honor in Florida. Margaret Longhill accepted this award from then Secretary of State Sandra Mortham in Tallahassee. Performing some of McLean’s songs that day were Frank Thomas (who is also now in the Florida Artists Hall of Fame), Mary Ann Dinella and Wayne Martin. See additional pictures from the ceremony below.

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Transcription of the feature above:

Will McLean performing
Will McLean performing (photo courtesy of the Will McLean Foundation)

Will McLean, “It’s very important that Florida keep her past and I’m but one of the few writers and I have not even scratched the surface of the richness and the deepness of the lore and legends of Florida.” (Florida Sand)  

Singer Songwriter Pete Seeger, a good friend of Will McLean
Singer Songwriter Pete Seeger, a good friend of Will McLean

Musician Pete Seeger once wrote,  “Will McLean’s songs will be sung as long as there is a Florida.”  McLean lived a simple life, always steering away from fame and fortune just when it seemed he had achieved it.  Most of the time he travelled the state in dilapidated vehicles, only taking with him a bag of taters and onions, a fishing hook and a bottle of cheap wine, pawning many of his guitars.  In a never-before aired interview, McLean shared his story in 1985, just five years before his death.

Will McLean, “I’m a millionaire a million times over.  I’m not talking about money rich.  I’m rich in the beauty of Florida and nature.”

That earthy spirit lives on today in many of the Florida songwriters attending the annual Will McLean Music Festival named in his honor. Singer Songwriter from Windsor, Dale Crider, “I think he made a lot of people in Florida aware that they could write and sing and dance and perform Florida.”

Will McLean years ago holding something
Will McLean by his travel van (photo courtesy of the Will McLean Foundation)

Florida’s Black Hat Troubadour was known for his genteel manner, but his voice thundered on the marble stage of the Florida Folklife Festival in White Springs as he captured stories in song about green turtles laying eggs on the shores of St. Augustine (Conch Island)

and Sandhill Cranes in Payne’s Prairie, and some not so pretty stories about a wild hog in Gulf Hammock  (Wild Hog) 

and a panther chase resulting in a deadly encounter with a snake in Tate’s Hell. (Tate’s Hell)  

Don Grooms & Will McLean
Don Grooms & Will McLean sitting on stage. (photo courtesy of the Will McLean Foundation)

Singer-Songwriter Don Grooms was one of Will McLean’s closest musical buddies, “Will liked songs about individual human beings and if you pay attention to his repertoire of songs there was Cush Holston, Scotty the drummer, the guy in Tate’s Hell, Osceola.”  (Osceola)  

Will McLean inspired many songwriters to explore the heritage of the state and themselves.  Grooms, a Native American, remembers how McLean encouraged him to write the story of the bloody skirmish between the Spanish explorers and Native Americans in Payne’s Prairie.

Don Grooms,  “I came up with a five minute song called “Vitachuco” and I played it for Will and he said play that for me again and after I finished he said, ‘Grooms you have finally justified your existence.”  (Vitachuco)

Dale & Linda Crider years ago
Early performance photo of Dale and Linda Crider after he started writing Florida songs inspired by Will McLean. (Photo courtesy of Dale Crider)

One of the first singer/songwriters to carry on Will McLean’s love for Florida through song is musician and wildlife biologist Dale Crider.  Crider has entertained national and international audiences with his wildlife and wilderness songs, and he credits his beginning to Will McLean:  (Hold Back The Waters)  

Dale Crider,  “Hold Back the Waters was the song that started my whole career in writing about the environment.  Will was singing that on stage at the Florida Folklife Festival and I said, ya, ya, if it can be that good you know to sing about a place or a region or an object in Florida, I can do that.”

Both Dale Crider and Don Grooms helped to disperse Will McLean’s ashes into the Ocklawaha River on January 18th, 1990.  Dale emotionally recalls how his friend’s last wishes coincided so well with his on-going desire to return to the land where the wind is born.

Dale Crider,  “And I envisioned that that night there were herons and egrets that caught minnows that had Will’s ashes in them and flew him up to the tree tops and roosted him that night and actually his soul could have been transferred to something like a hawk.” (My Soul Is A Hawk)

 

Painting of Will McLean by Mary Ann Dinella
Painting of Will McLean by Mary Ann DiNella

The Will McLean Music Festival honoring the Father of Florida Folk is held each March at the Sertoma Youth Ranch located seven miles west of Dade City in Central Florida.  For more information go to the website www.willmclean.com.

Will loved to watch the Florida Sandhill Cranes “dance and prance” on Payne’s Prairie near Gainesville, FL.  One of his more beloved songs described the experience.  Here’s a video recorded of sandhill cranes produced by Donna Green-Townsend with Will singing his “Courtship Dance of the Florida Sandhill Crane” to music played by musician and luthier David Beede and Kate Kennedy (music recorded at one of Will’s last live recorded concerts at the historic Thomas Center in Gainesville in Nov. of 1985).

Will McLean and Cousin Thelma Boltin Share Christmas Memories  (aired on WUFT in December of 1987)

Lottie and Will McLean at young ages
Early photo of Will McLean and his sister Lottie (photo courtesy of the Will McLean Foundation)

Transcription of the Feature:  (Oh Christmas Tree)  Computerized teddy bears and video cassette recorders are a long way from the gifts of fruit and simple toys of Christmases past.  Folklorist Cousin Thelma Boltin and singer song writer  Will McLean share some of their most memorable Christmases.

Cousin Thelma Boltin:  “In early times everybody went out and cut their own Christmas trees.  It was unthinkable to buy a tree and there was no such thing as an artificial tree.  That would have been disgraceful to have an artificial tree.  And it was always a great day when we decided we’d go get the tree and we didn’t get it too long before Christmas.  But in the early days we’d go out with the horse and wagon and then in modern times we’d go out in the model T or in the Coca Cola Truck because my daddy was the Coca Cola man.  And we loved to get a Cedar, that was our favorite kind. But if we couldn’t find a Cedar, as they got scarce, um, we’d get a shortleaf pine.  It smells so wonderful in the house.  It’s a little more difficult to decorate than the Cedar and a Cypress was pretty but boy it was sticky and hard to handle and do anything with.  And once or twice I can remember, and this was before our Cedar was protected, and thank goodness it is protected, it’s against the law to cut Cedar down anywhere, I mean cut Holly, and we would get a Holly tree. And of course that was sticky, but it was beautiful because especially if it were full of berries.” (OH CHRISTMAS TREE).

Cousin Thelma Boltin
Cousin Thelma Boltin (photo courtesy of Will McLean Foundation)

Cousin Thelma Boltin:  “We never did decorate our tree until Christmas Eve and we used the parlor on state occasions and this was a state occasion so the fire would be built in the fireplace and the candles put on the mantlepiece and then we’d decorate our tree.  In early days, I don’t believe, we never did put candles on our tree.  Momma considered that too dangerous and we hailed with delight the day when we could get strings of electric lights to put on the tree.  And of course, it was easy to get pretty ornaments from Woolworths and from what was the other ten cent store, we had two in town, McCrowry’s  and get beautiful ornaments.  We never did string popcorn to go on our tree but we put ropes of tinsel on it.  And oh we just thought our tree was the prettiest one in the neighborhood of course.  A child asked me today if we ever slept in the living room you know with the tree and we said ‘oh no, Santy Claus couldn’t come if we stayed with the Christmas tree.  But of course we were up long before day to see what Santy had left us.” (Jolly ‘Ole St. Nick)

Early photo of Will McLean's grandparents
Early photo of Will McLean’s grandparents

Will McLean:  “Well, my first recollection is of a contraption bought that you could ride on.  I got a little ‘ole bitty, tiny kind of like a kitty car thing.  It was all painted up good uh, kind of a tricycle and I don’t know why I thought about that.  It was the first thing that came to my mind.  And of course over the fireplace we’d hang uh an old knit, Thelma you remember those old socks that uh they used to cost about a nickel a pair, old red and blue socks.  Kind of cotton socks.  We’d nail them up over the mantel and this was Christmas Eve.” (Silent Night)

Will & puppy
Will McLean, Florida’s Black Hat Troubadour (photo courtesy of the Will McLean Foundation)

Will McLean:  “Lady Boltin asked me once about if I could recall shootin’ firecrackers on Christmas.  And uh, I couldn’t remember ever at that early stage, early Christmases, shootin’ any kind of a firecracker or explosives.  But to get back to the stockin’ and Christmas mornin’, uh most the times I would have a little ‘ole 25 cent American Ace harmonica in the stockin’ wrapped in tissue paper and I’d have a piece of ‘ole peppermint stick candy and usually an apple, and an orange and a banana and I hope this won’t create any problems, three little nuts that uh, they were Brazil nuts.  You remember what we used to call them?(laugh) But anyway, that was Christmas and of course on Christmas Day the big ‘ole table in the dining room.  There’d be about 25 or 30 people there.  And kids runnin’ around everywhere.  All the families and mothers and their children there.  Uh, lord you could just smell the wonderful, wonderful and that, those were my Christmases up until I was about nine years of age.  And it’s good to go back there and think about it in time and place, be with my granddaddy and the people that I loved and who loved me.” (Chesnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)

Cousin Thelma Boltin, Gamble Rogers and Will McLean 1988 50th Anniv of The Yearling in Cross Creek (photo by Iris Greenfield)

Cousin Thelma Boltin:  “One of the things that we always got, we wore them out one year to the next were skates. We loved Skates and always asked Santy to bring us skates (laugh).  And always on Christmas Eve for supper we had oyster stew.  That was the Christmas Eve supper ‘cuz it was easy to fix and everybody liked it.  We could do it in a hurry and get in the living room to fix the tree (chuckle).  And that went on for many, many years.  And then I went off to college and I shocked the neighbors by not going to FSU or Florida State College for women in those days.  They weren’t allowed.  Ladies didn’t go to the University until the late 40s you know.  So I went to Emmerson College in Boston and that was truly Yankee land in everyway and so I had my first White Christmas up there.  (White Christmas) I was such a long way away that I stayed up there for the Christmas holidays and I had made friends with a fellow freshman.  Her name was Juliet Phillips and she took pity on me and invited me out to her home in Jamaica Plain and oh it was a thrill.  Everybody in Jamaica Plain it seemed to me put lighted candles in their windows from the attic to the basement and to get out on the street and see all those candles just after dark was a thrilling thing.  And we decided that we would go into Boston.  This was on Christmas Eve and up on Beacon Hill there was a tradition of having carol singers and bellringers and no cars were allowed up there.  Everybody walked.  And uh, many homes up there had open house and they’d be serving oh hot cider and goodies, doughnuts and the carol singers would be first on this corner and then on that corner.  And then we’d come upon the bellringers.  Then right at midnight over on the piazza a beautiful old Trinity church uh trumpeters stepped out and played ‘Oh Come All Ye Faithful’.” (Oh Come All Ye Faithful)

Many of Will McLean’s stories, poems, music recordings, correspondence and photos are now being housed in the Special Collections area of the George A. Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida.

Gallery of Photos below are courtesy of the Will McLean Foundation

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Click here to go back to the Will McLean Festival Website

Honoring the late guitar-picking, storyteller Gamble Rogers

Cousin Thelma Boltin, Gamble Rogers and Will McLean 1988 50th Anniv of The Yearling in Cross Creek
Cousin Thelma Boltin, Gamble Rogers and Will McLean in 1988 at the 50th Anniv. of The Yearling in Cross Creek (photo by Iris Greenfield)

Every spring St. Augustine  plays host for the annual Gamble Rogers Festival.  The festival honors the late singer songwriter who joins the late Will McLean in the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.

Rogers is known for his Travis-style guitar fingerpicking along with his storytelling which brings a mythical Florida county called Oklawaha into the national spotlight.

On October 10, 1991 Rogers lost his life while trying to save a drowning tourist off Flager Beach.

Sec. of State Sandra Mortham presenting Gamble's wife Nancy with the Artist Hall of Fame Award
Sec. of State Sandra Mortham presenting Gamble’s wife Nancy with the Artists Hall of Fame Award

On Memorial Weekend 1998, during the Florida Folk Festival, the then Florida Secretary of State, Sandra Mortham, publicly inducted the late Gamble Rogers into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.

Rogers has joined the likes of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Will Mclean and Ray Charles in the Florida Artists Hall of Fame. He already has a middle school, state recreation area and a folk festival named in his honor.

Donna Green-Townsend reports on the successful musical career leading up to the induction.

1998 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in 1988
1998 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

During the induction ceremony at the Florida Folk Festival in White Springs Dale Crider performed, “Song for Gamble,” written by Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen.  Crider was accompanied by Elisabeth Williamson on guitar and vocals and Barbara Johnson on bass.

Here’s audio of the trio practicing the song earlier that afternoon in the campground before the evening ceremony:

In this rare footage, taken by an amateur photographer at the 50th anniversary of “The Yearling” at the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings State Historic Site in Cross Creek in 1988, Rogers joined his folk colleagues, the late Cousin Thelma Boltin and the late Father of Florida Folk Will McLean, to share stories and songs.  The short video opens with McLean singing his beloved, “Florida Sand” followed by McLean introducing his friend Gamble.

Here’s a video of Gamble performing Black Label Blues:

In the following interview Gamble’s friends Steve Gillette, Cindy Mangsen and Dale Crider reflect on their long time relationship with the nationally acclaimed guitar player.

The Gatherings (26-Part Music Series Recorded at various Florida festivals and venues)

Musicians perform Apalachicola Doin' Time finale at the Florida Folk Festival in 2000The Gatherings – Folk and Blues From The Land of Flowers   26 part live-music series

(Producer- Bill Beckett and Host- Donna Green-Townsend)

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Program #1- Dale Crider & Roy Bookbinder 

Program #2 Al ScortinoCarrie Blackwell Lon and Lis Williamson 

Program #3 Sue Grooms & Ron and Bari 

Program #4 Mark Smith – Grant Livingston Paul Garfinkel

Program #5 James Hawkins & Frank and Ann Thomas 

Program #6 Valerie Caracappa – Boomslang Bobby Hicks 

Program #7 Under the Water Lilies – Rod MacDonald – Blue Velvet

Program #8 Patchwork & Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys 

Program #9 Steve Blackwell & Marie Nofsinger 

Program #10 Don Grooms Tribute

Program #11 The Spiritual Consolators & Pam Laws 

Program #12 Art Crummer & Bill Wharton and the Ingredients 

Program #13 The Spiritual Consolators & TC Carr and the Catch 

Program #14 Upsala and Sno Rogers

Program #15 Tammerlin 

Program #16 Mindy Simmons 

Program #17 Dinella and Gieger & Ken Skeens and Leigh Goldsmith

Program #18 Jeanie Fitchen 

Program #19 Clyde Walker 

Program #20 Magda Hiller 

Program #21 Sam Pacetti 

Program #22 Harvey Reid 

Program #23 Destination Still Unknown 

Program #24 CD Sampler

Program #25 Campfire Tapes 

Program #26 Studio Tapes 

“Song Weaver” Amy Carol Webb

Amy Carol Webb at the Will McLean Folk Festival March 2012
Amy Carol Webb at the Will McLean Folk Festival March 2012

Music critics have described Miami Springs singer songwriter Amy Carol Webb as passionate, powerful and profound.  The nationally acclaimed acoustic musician is known as a Miami Herald, “One to Watch,” a Billboard “Act to Watch” and New Times “Best Solo Artist.”  Donna Green-Townsend takes a closer look at just what inspires this award-winning artist in this interview that originally aired on WUFT-FM in September of 2004.

Amy Carol Webb’s, “I Come From Women,” is one of her most popular songs and typically gets the entire audience involved.

In 2015, on the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March, Webb joined a thousand others in Selma, Alabama to commemorate the event that capped several tumultuous weeks in the American Civil Rights Movement in 1965. She also put the experience into song at the Will McLean Festival.

In a tribute to the Matriarch of Florida Folk, Margaret Longhill, Webb performed, “Oh Margaret.”

Webb performing on the Old Marble Stage at the Florida Folk Festival on May 27th, 2012 during a pouring rain.  She received a request to do “These Are My Own.”  As you will see in the video, it presented quite the challenge to the interpreter for the hearing-impaired assigned to the stage.

The pouring rain coming down also seemed like the appropriate time for Webb to sing her song, “We Are Made of Rain.”

Amy Carol Webb and company at the Will McLean Folk Festival, 2012
Amy Carol Webb and company at the Will McLean Folk Festival, 2012
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Amy Carol Webb performing at the Sunday Sampler Series at the Old Train Depot in Dunnellon in the Fall of 2012.

These Diamonds

scan0005The late Will McLean spent his life writing songs to save Florida through music.  Now the foundation named after the father of Florida folk is marketing an environmental CD trying to continue McLean’s lifelong mission.  The acoustic CD features musicians from across the Sunshine State singing about a wide variety of environmental stories and issues.  As Donna Green-Townsend reports even the CD title, These Diamonds carries a story behind it.

Florida musicians included on the CD are:

The Eagles Fly – Mindy Simmons

Lullaby of the Rivers – Bob Patterson

Rose and the Gold – Mem Semmes

Cracker CowmanFrank Thomas

Florida Pines – Paul Garfinkel

Paw Prints in the Sand – Ken Skeens

These Diamonds – Grant Livingston

Turtle Tears – Amy Carol Webb

Rand McNally Map of Florida – Jim Bickerstaff

Plumes – Steve Blackwell

Apalachicola Doin’ Time – Dale Crider

Song For Our Children – Mary Ann Dinella

 

Deep Behind the Music- The Campfire Tapes from White Springs

Deep Behind the Music- The Campfire Tapes from White Springs

This one-hour special features music gathered from around the campfires of the Florida Folk Festival in White Springs.  Musicians include:  Gabe Valla, Greg Turner, Dale Crider, Raiford Starke, James Hawkins, Rod MacDonald, Becky Palmer, Clyde Walker, Lis and Lon Williamson and Frank Thomas.

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Songs in this program in chronological order:

1.  Gabe Valla, Greg Turner and friends jamming

2.  Sweet Sunny South- Dale Crider

3.  Girl From Immokalee- Raiford Starke

4.  Kiss Your Baby Goodbye- Becky Palmer

5.  Swept Away- James Hawkins

6.  Ballad of a Black-haired man- Rod MacDonald

7.  Gabe Valla, Greg Turner and friends jamming

8.  No Trouble Doc- Raiford Starke

9.  Devil Eyes- Becky Palmer

10.  Deep Down In The Everglades- Rod MacDonald

11.  Wind and Water- Clyde Walker

12.  Sweetheart of the Pines- Lis and Lon Williamson, Gable Valla and Greg Turner

13.  I Remember Gamble Rogers- Dale Crider (written by Steve Gillette)

14.  Macclenny Farewell- Clyde Walker (written by Will McLean)

15.  Old Folks at Home-  Frank Thomas & audience at Ann Gazebo stage (written by Stephen Foster)

16.  Bonus Track:  Did Bill Really Show Her His Willy- Rod MacDonald

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lis & Lon Williamson

Lis and Lon Williamson
Lis and Lon Williamson

Florida’s 89.1, WUFT-FM’s Donna Green-Townsend brings us up close and personal with Lis Williamson  from the Keystone Heights area who performs alongside her husband Lon in a variety of bands all over North Central Florida. (Aired on Sept. 23rd, 2011)

Lis and Lon Williamson
Lis and Lon Williamson

Lis Williamson on her first-time win of the Will McLean Best New Florida Song Competition: