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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
Song Contest winner Daniel Childs
Siesta Key

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 United States playing music.  The state of Florida had always captured Daniel’s intrigue, and in 2014 he and his wife Norma made it their permanent home, settling in Pinellas County.

In early 2020 Daniel made the decision to quit his day job and pursue playing music full-time.  Since that time, he has become a regular performer in Tampa Bay. In 2021, Daniel produced and independently released his first original album, “Escape.” The Florida beach life is heavily reflected in this collection of songs, which is unmistakable in anthems like “Siesta Key” which won first in this year’s song contest (out of 82 entries) and “Sanibel Day which placed eighth.” 

“My goal in releasing ‘Escape’ is to provide people with an escape from the stresses of life, because that’s what writing these songs did for me,” Daniel wrote in reference to the project. Whether through his recordings or live performances, Childs’ says the message in his music is of freedom, hope, and a deep love for Florida.

“I wrote “Siesta Key” during a time of intense stress.  The job I was working at the time was stressful, and its demanding nature would often leave me unable to feel at ease, even when I went home at night.  My only real escape from stress was to explore the beauty of Florida with my wife.  When possible, on weekends we would make overnight trips to various places we were interested in.  That’s when we discovered the beach town of Siesta Key, and I fell in love with the vibe of the place.  

“Siesta Key’ was the first song I completed in that time period, and it’s one of my very favorites to sing. My favorite line in the song is in the second chorus.  It says ‘life is crazy, life is short, and life feels wrong… until you find where you belong.’  I think that’s a truth that Siesta Key, Florida helped me realize.”

You can follow Daniel online through Facebook, Instagram, Spotify and his official website at www.danielchildsmusic.com.

Second Place Finisher Chad Spikes
Rosewood

Chad Spikes is a native of Florida whose experience in music is diverse. He has played and performed in bands since the age of 12. He’s spent the last 25 years in American and Bluegrass bands such as Sawgrass Flats and Born Lonesome. He has shared the stage and line-up with national recording acts, performed in various opera roles at FSU, composed and produced the soundtrack for the Emmy Award winning documentary informational film, “Exploration Florida.” Chad says for him music has always been a family affair. Family sing-alongs were a regular feature in his life, exposing him to Doo-Wop, Rock and Roll, Blues, Country, Bluegrass and various other styles of music.

Chad was born and raised in Tallahassee, currently residing in Tampa.  His main instruments are guitar and vocal but says he dabbles in mandolin and piano. His second place song in this year’s contest is, “Rosewood.”

“I was inspired to write “Rosewood” to bring this historic event back to light for its 100-year anniversary. I think it’s important we recognize and memorialize those who lost their lives as a result of this horrific tragedy. It’s also important to recognize how far we have come as a nation but not lose sight that we still have a lot of work to do.”

Chad hopes to release an album in 2023.

Third Place Finisher Sarah McCulloch
Sugartown

Sarah McCulloch is a Country/Americana Singer-Songwriter from Davie, FL. Born in Miami, Sarah was raised in the Big Cypress Swamp in a house her family built with hand milled cypress from her Father’s sawmill. Sarah was homeschooled for most of her formative years and drew songwriting inspiration from her colorful childhood, surrounded by the Seminole Tribe and Florida pioneers.

“My father was a force of nature, he was a pioneer who thought outside the box and was always growing spiritually,” says McCulloch. “He taught me the meaning of hard work and perseverance.”

After living in upstate New York for over a decade McCulloch has returned to her homeland of South Florida.

“Songwriting has been a transformative power for me. It not only helped me heal but transition to a new life.   I’m most proud of my Florida songs, “Sugartown,” “Sawmiller’s Daughter” and “29 South.” They were all born out of homesick blues for my home state and have drawn me the most attention . . . . so far. ” 

Her album, Sawmiller’s Daughter, produced by Jim Bickerstaff, was entirely written by McCulloch except for, “I’m Just An Old Chunk of Coal” written by legendary outlaw songwriter Billy Joe Shaver. She says it was a labor of love and describes the album as an evocative collection of stories rooted in strength, spirit, and family.

​McCulloch’s debut album, Strawberry Moon (2018), gained top recognition as a nominee for Country Album of the Year at the Independent Music Awards in NYC in the Country category, in which McCulloch was the only female artist to be nominated.  Her third place song in the this year’s Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest, Sugartown, was written at a time when she was living in a cold northeastern climate and was really missing home.

Sugartown is about the small town of Clewiston, Florida on the south rim of Lake Okeechobee. I grew up just south of the area in the Everglades but was bussed in to attend school there. I graduated from Clewiston High School and made wonderful lifelong friends and memories there. Sugarcane is the main industry there and this song is also about the community of farmers and hard workers. It’s about the nostalgia I had for my childhood and the people and places I left behind when I moved away. The song is a taste of small town America.”

“My favorite line is “they’re still raisin’ cane there on Friday night, them Okeechobee boys still looking for a fight.” It’s a great line because it can either be about the big Friday night parties we went to, where it wasn’t unusual for a fight to break out. But more commonly that line is associated with Friday night lights high school football, the rival team of Okeechobee coming to play. I have many fond memories of both the football games and the parties after. It was a great time and that town is full of good, hard working people that I have tremendous respect for.”

You can follow Sarah on Facebook at “Sarah McCulloch Music” or on Instagram @sarahmacsongs or Channel, Facebook (Sarah McCulloch Music), Instagram (@sarahmacsongs) and visit www.sarahmacmusic.com.

4th PL “Thousand Mile Walk” by Tom Lubben, Royal Palm Beach, FL
Tie 5th PL “I Love The Everglades” by Grant Livingston, Miami, FL
Tie 5th PL “The Music Has A Home” by Mike Worrall, Tampa, FL and Jane Fallon, Dunedin, FL
Tie 6th PL “Gainesville” by Edan Archer, Orlando, FL
Tie 6th PL “Florida’s Brigadoon” by Al Scortino, Sebastian, FL and Paul Garfinkel, DeLand, FL
7th PL “Hooked On The Easy Life” by Terry Cassidy, Brooksville, FL
8th PL “Sanibel Day” by Daniel Childs, Largo, FL
9th “Henry and His Railroad” by Terry Cassidy, Brooksville, FL
10th “Freedom” by Paul Smithson, Eustis, FL

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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
1st Place winner Jim Terry
Mercy In The Storm

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 songwriter, one thing that has become increasingly clear to me is that you never know when or how inspiration will arrive in your mental inbox. The inspiration for Mercy in the Storm came from an unusual source for me – from a piece of art in the form of a sculpture.”

Terry and a companion were strolling the grounds of the Storm King Art Center in Hudson Valley, New York. Stacked on a peninsula extending into a lake were two towers of tambourines, perhaps 30’ high and painted white. It was a sculpture by a young New York artist, Allison Janae Hamilton. The sculpture is entitled “The people cried mercy in the storm.” The title is a lyric from a song called “Florida Storm” by Judge Jackson which became popular in 1928 following the Okeechobee Hurricane. That storm killed thousands of people when the levies of Lake Okeechobee breached, and is reported to be the second deadliest hurricane in US history. Terry says, “So many people died that they couldn’t be buried. The few white people who died were properly buried.” Many black migrant workers were buried in mass graves. Terry added,

“As I was contemplating the stack of tambourines, I started thinking about Hurricane Katrina and the similarities between Okeechobee and what happened in New Orleans 77 years later when the levies of Lake Pontchartrain breached. There it was, the inescapable trifecta of systemic racism, climate change and those tambourines representing the role of folk music in building resilience in an oppressed culture. This was subject matter for a song. Allison reminded me in an email that it was a song that inspired the sculpture and now, full circle, the sculpture inspired a song.”

Terry is part of a family band. “It began with a tiny violin presented to my oldest son James, then 3 1⁄2 years old.” It wasn’t long before Jim, a guitarist himself, began playing along with his three sons, teaching them lyrics to popular songs. “Our favorite song was ‘Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road’ which we sang at our first official gig at the UC Alumni Camp Lair of the Bear,” says Terry.

Now, years later, the Terry Family Band is comprised of Jim and sons Clark and Graham (son James lives in Atlanta and sometimes joins the band). The music comes from the complex experiences of life, the country, and the world, while the roots of American folk music are prevalent in their playing style. Clark and Graham are multi-instrumentalists (violin, mandolin, bouzouki, guitar, vocals) while Jim writes the music and handles lead vocals while keeping the rhythm pulsing in the background with his acoustic guitar. Graham toured nationally as the bass player for Tornado Rider, a power rock group featuring Grammy nominated Rushad Eggleston on cello. Graham and Clark are also members of the Bay Area based Indie Folk group Middlesleep. Bass player Rob Wright is a versatile musician with jazz, classical, and deep bluegrass roots having shared the stage with the likes of David Grisman and Tony Rice.

The Terry Family has won 29 West Coast Songwriters (WCS) awards, including the 2018 Napa chapter Song of the Year “Fire in the Wind” and the overall winner of the WCS Song of the Year in the 2019 WCS Grand Finals competition at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley for “The Walls Stand On and On,” a stirring account of the story of Emmett Till. Terry Family’s debut album “Hometown Tragedies” is currently being released and promoted to North American folk radio by Art Menius.

2nd Place Finisher Joshua Reilly

The second place finisher in the 2022 Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest is Joshua Reilly from Clearwater, Florida. Reilly says he is a songwriter whose music flows seamlessly through and around the edges of the folk, country, and blues genres. Originally from the Midwest, Reilly makes his home in the Tampa Bay Area and continues to write music and showcase his raw delivery and undeniable connection to the spirit of his songs. His song is called, “Gibsonton” written from the perspective of someone who is a part of the carnival community in Gibsonton.

Gibsonton

“Gibsonton is a song that was the product of several different points of inspiration,” says Reilly. “I chose the topic of “Florida” Songs as the theme of an ongoing songwriting group that I facilitate. My wife suggested that I write a song about Gibsonton, FL and its close connection to the circus. I loved the idea.” Before even writing the song, Reilly went on air with WMNF on The Florida Folk Show to promote the event where his group would perform their new “Florida” tunes. The other guest that day was John McEuen of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Reilly says, “At breakfast, following the program, I spoke with John about my desire to write a song about the circus-folk from Gibsonton. I told him I was having a tough time finding a way to approach the song. He thought for just a moment and said, “Joshua… if you write the song as if you were one of them, I don’t see how you’ll have any trouble at all.” 

Here’s how Reilly describes his music, “Every now and then, a song, a voice, a lyric, splits your soul right in two and then proceeds to feed both sides. Raw yet refined, mournful yet optimistic, heartbroken yet inspiring… such is the dichotomy, the paradox, and the musical delivery of Joshua Reilly.” Reilly says he was born, raised, and marinated on the cornfield-lined country roads of central Illinois, and then cultivated, ripened, and baked on the beaches and concrete swamps of Florida.” He says he understands hard times, he knows redemption, and this unfiltered honesty pours out through his music. It’s a slice of life served clever and real.


Reilly has performed around the country, including a national tour in support of his 2017 album Mercy on the Strange. He has opened for acts such as Billy Joe Shaver, Robbie Fulks, and Slaid Cleaves. And while deepening his roots as a family man in Florida, Reilly has become one of the most respected and beloved musical acts in the Tampa Bay area. 
Reilly’s style and message are all his own. His lyrics and music convey the poignant truth that life can be brutal or grand as we navigate the road ahead and face up to the road behind. As New York Times best selling author Tom Robbins wrote, “Vocally and instrumentally, Joshua Reilly has a delivery like the last train out of Real Town before the android invasion. Clear the tracks!”

3rd Place Finisher Joe Virga
Key West Time (Manny’s Song)

Florida musician, philanthropist, singer/songwriter, and Florida Folk Community Member Joe Virga placed third for his song “Key West Time.” Virga moved to Florida from New York where he had been part of the Greenwich Village Music Scene. He was an accomplished guitarist and singer-songwriter who was known for his passion for helping fellow singer-songwriters attain performance opportunities in the Cup Of Joe Songwriter Stages at the regional Folk Alliance Festivals. His Facebook page is full of tributes attesting to his kindness through the years. Sadly Joe passed away in early December before learning of his placement in the song contest. The photo montage below and video featuring Joe’s song are thanks to Gail Carson. RIP Joe.

4th Place, tie, Cindy Bear, Jacksonville, FL, “Cow Ford”

4th Place, tie, Paul Smithson, Eustis, FL, “Freedom”

5th Place, Jane Fallon, Dunedin, FL, “Seminole Cowboy”

6th Place, tie, Cindy Bear, Jacksonville, FL, “Firehouse Brigade”

6th Place, tie, Andy Cohen, Darlington, SC, “Fine Florida Day”

6th Place, tie, Panayotis League, Tallahassee, FL “Golden Harvest”

7th Place, Bill & Eli Perras, DeLand, FL, “Happy Jack”

 8th Place, David Ross, Naples, FL, “On Florida’s Old Shoreline”

9th Place, Craig Carlisle, Gainesville, FL, “Protect Mother Earth”

10th Place, tie, Kim Blackburn LeCouteur, Hawthorne, FL, “Sweetwater Preserve”

10th Place, tie, George Gray, Tallahasse, FL, “Boondocks in Miami”

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Song Contest Winner and Finishers in the 2021 Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest

To hear all the Top Ten Songs scroll down past the Top Three Winners
Winner Scott Jackson (photo by Gail Carson)
Florida Highway

Scott Jackson from Summerfield, FL works as a dentist by day and a musician by night and any other free time he has. Jackson is the 2021 winner of the Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest with the song, “Florida Highway.”

“Florida Highway came to me as I was thinking about going home and where I grew up,” says Jackson. “The feelings of a place familiar, but also realizing that the friends and family associated with a certain place, is what really makes it home.” He placed fourth in the contest in 2020 and performed the song on the Cypress Stage during a “Songwriters In The Round” set.

Jackson also won second place in this year’s contest with his song, “Freedom Had to Wait,” a civil war tune about the bloody “Battle of Olustee.”

Freedom Had to Wait

“The battle took place 100 years before I was born, yet there are similarities that take place today,” says Jackson. “The way this year has been going, not only with division, but with social unrest, made me think that even though we have come a long way, we still have a ways to go.”

Jackson was born in Hialeah, Florida. He says music was an instant part of his life, “Our father was a guitar player, as well as a banjo player. My dad taught me how to play the banjo when I was five years old and I played a lot of bluegrass music growing up. As I got older, my sister turned me on to acoustic folk music, which included James Taylor, Jim Croce, and Paul Simon.”

He says he started playing the guitar as a teenager and really grew attached to the folk music scene. He only started writing within the last 10 years or so, and then, only a handful of tunes. He is looking forward to playing at festivals either solo, or with his music buddy and orthodontist, Andy Cohen, in the group Wound Tight

Third Place Finisher- The Duo “Bear and Robert

Cindy Bear and Franc Robert

The third place finisher in the 2021 Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest is the duo, “Bear and Robert” with the song, “7-Mile.” Cindy says, “7 Mile” was written as a song of healing for the son and family of an old friend, who left us too soon this year,

“It was inspired by the story of his extraordinary life as an avid fisherman, a Veteran, and to how much he loved his son, his family, and returning to his Florida home. His dream of teaching his boy how to fish began to come true when he was still in diapers, and the first time he took him fishing in the Florida Keys shortly after that was one of the proudest days of his life. They shared a lifetime of adventures while fishing all over Florida, but their trips to the Keys were always extra special.”

She adds the song also explores the parallels of how fishing is a lot like life,

“No matter the weather, if you are following your passion with someone you love, you will always remember those times as the best days of your life. 

Together the acoustic sound of “Bear and Robert” has been described as a deep well of Folk, Blues and Americana with a high-energy je ne sais quoi! They have played Folk, Blues, and Acoustic music festivals, house concerts, charity fundraisers, and venues all over Florida, the Mississippi Delta, at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee, and internationally in Canada. Franc has also toured solo and with his previous bands from the Southeastern U.S. up through Canada. They also both love performing with their electric blues-rock band, the “Black Water Swamp Band.” 

The singer-songwriter duo also placed 9th in the contest with the song, “Pollen Rag,” a song Cindy describes as a funny take on pollen in Florida which has an apocalyptic effect on our olfactory senses! She says The song was born on the ukulele, and inspired by the extremely heavy pollen season in Florida this year, and written after camping for 5 days at a music festival in the spring.

Pollen Rag

“The pine pollen was so thick on our blue van that it literally turned green! When we tried to rinse it off before we left, there were these huge, endless clumps of yellow pollen and brown catkins that kept sloughing off to the ground, and all we could think of was how many pounds of pollen we had shaken off that weekend every time we sneezed!”  

Bear and Robert released their first acoustic CD, “Hearts in Blues” in 2019, and Franc has recorded and released six solo/band CD’s with the Back Alley Blues Band, and the Box Car Tourists. A CD of Cindy Bear’s original folk songs is currently in motion!

Cindy and Franc are active volunteers and supporters of Florida folk music by bringing artists and opportunities together across the state as active board members of the North Florida Folk Network (NFFN). Cindy is also a board member for the Florida Music Food Initiative (FMFI), which helps feed the hungry and homeless in Florida. She says, “Be the change, one song at a time.” 

The “Top Three” contestants in the Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest usually perform at the annual Festival in March. The pandemic caused the cancellation for 2021. Scott Jackson and “Bear and Robert” will perform at the next Will McLean Festival scheduled for March of 2022.

Here is the list of the Top Ten Songs for 2020.

Scroll down to hear the audio of all the Top Ten Songs.

Listen to all the songs in the 2021 Top Ten:

1st place, Florida Highway by Scott Jackson, Summerfield, FL
2nd place, Freedom Had to Wait by Scott Jackson, Summerfield, FL
3rd place, 7 Mile, Cindy Bear and Franc Robert, Jacksonville, FL
Tie for 4th place, Okeechobee by Razz Taylor from Arcadia, FL
Tie for 4th place, Take Care of the Santa Fe by Jane Fallon of Dunedin, FL
5th place, State of Confusion by Paul Smithson, Eustis, FL
6th place, Old Marble Stage by Bob Patterson, St. Augustine, FL
7th place, The Fountain of Youth by the Lubben Brothers, West Palm Beach, FL
8th place, Ancient City Moon by Don Cooper, St. Augustine, FL
9th place, The Pollen Rag by Cindy Bear and Franc Robert, Jacksonville, FL
Tie 10th place, Saving Safety Harbor by Jane Fallon, Dunedin, FL
Tie 10th place, Rosewood by Greg Thomas, Inverness, FL
Tie 10th place, The Old Man and the Sea by Bertie Higgins, Tarpon Springs, FL

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2020 Winner and Finishers of the Will McLean Best New FL Song Contest

Winners of the 2020 Will McLean Song ContestGalen, Jimmy and Tommy Curry
Gulf Coast Home

The Currys have been staking their claim within the Americana music scene for years, cutting their teeth in the oyster bars and listening rooms of the Florida Panhandle. Brothers Tommy and Jimmy Curry and cousin Galen Curry have been praised for their “tight-as-a-rubber-band” harmonies and “infectious” songwriting.

Their winning song in the 2020 Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest, “Gulf Coast Home,” is a song about lost love, but it’s also a love song for home. The country-tinged nostalgia of the lyrics pays homage to the Currys’ roots in the Florida Panhandle. In the wake of Hurricane Michael, the band offered a free advance download of the song in exchange for donations to disaster relief efforts. To date, the campaign has raised nearly $8000.

From left to right Galen, Jimmy and Tommy Curry

The Currys have three full-length albums to date: their studio debut “Follow” (2014) and “West of Here” (2016). Their new release, “This Side of the Glass,” once again features their tight vocal harmonies, but the album has ambitions, at times straying beyond the borders of the folk/singer-songwriter tradition. The trio shares songwriting duties, each in turn offering his take on the time-worn themes of life and love. For more on The Currys visit their website: https://thecurrysmusic.com/

(Note: Scroll down below the third place finisher and click on the video to see live performances by the 2nd and fourth place finishers as well as the presentation giving recognition to the first two scholarship winners announced by the Will McLean Foundation. Thanks to Gail Carson for the production.)

Second Place Finisher John Butler
Bridge to Sanibel

The second place finisher is John Butler from Matlacha in South Florida with a song called, “Bridge to Sanibel.” Butler says the song is a tribute to one of the most beautiful, laid-back spots in Florida, Sanibel Island: the beaches, the Ding Darling preserve, the hospitality culture and the “no hurry” atmosphere.

Butler is no newcomer to the Will McLean Festival. This is the third year the he has placed in the Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest. In 2018 he placed second for his song, “Miami Bound.” In 2015 he placed second for, “Oh Miami.”

Most of Butler’s song writing is inspired by what he describes as serendipity, “…a random phrase uttered by a stranger, a simple gesture evincing a strong emotion, seeing a symbol that conveys a vivid meaning, and sometimes juxtaposing in my head elements of the rational and the absurd into a whole that makes me laugh out loud.  Sometimes the song just blasts out of me, and sometimes the initial impulse has to marinate for years before I begin to develop it into a song.” Butler adds he loves story songs, ” They’re like a three-act play compressed into just a few minutes.  But I also love songs that are more evocative than informative, that create an atmosphere for contemplation.”

Butler is well known in South Florida from playing in a number of bands through the years.  For more than two decades he composed music for industrial marketing films.

His songwriting achievements also include being selected as a winner in the 2018 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters at the Kerville Folk Festival, winning first place in the 2011 North Florida Folk Festival Americana song writing contest, a first place in the 2014 “Hope by Song” song writing competition in southwest Florida, and a win (as one of three co-equal winners) in the 2015 South Florida Folk Festival song writer competition. One of Butler’s songs was included in the soundtrack of the 2013 feature film, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3-D.”

Third place finisher Jim Bickerstaff
Jim Billie, Chief of the Seminole

The third place finisher in the 2020 Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest is Jim Bickerstaff from Southport, NC with his song, “Jim Billie, Chief of the Seminole.” Bickerstaff co-wrote the song with Pete Gallagher from St. Petersburg, FL. (Gallagher hosts the Saturday morning “Florida Folk Show” on 88.5 FM, WMNF, a community radio station in Tampa.) Jim Bickerstaff also tied for 7th with a song called, “Sister Mary.”

As a four-year house engineer for legendary producer, Johnny Sandlin, Bickerstaff has worked at the top of the music business as an audio engineer for groups such as Widespread Panic, Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit & The Dixie Dregs on releases by Capricorn Records and Warner Brothers Music.

Additional projects and artists include Scott Boyer, Tommy Talton, Chuck Leavell, Butch Trucks, Eddie Hinton, Loretta Lynn, Roger Hawkins, T Lavitz, David Hood, John Hiatt, Ry Cooder, Gladys Knight, Kelvin Holly, Spanky Alford, and many others.

As an independent producer and engineer, Bickerstaff has worked with Jupiter Coyote, Jeannie Fitchen, Mindy Simmons, Raiford Starke, Joey Errigo, Clyde Walker, Sam Pacetti, Vassar Clements. John McEuen, Bela Fleck, Upsala, and hundreds of other Indie artists.

“Most of my music career has been behind the console, but I have always been a writer,” says Bickerstaff. “The opportunity to play with so many great musicians while working at Johnny Sandlin’s studio and traveling in a mobile studio created a chance to cut some of my songs.”

Bickerstaff’s latest CD entitled, “Florida” began as a concept project in early 2018 when he decided to return to writing and recording after a long hiatus.

“I wanted to capture the essence of a Florida I have come to love from the people and places you don’t see on the tourist maps,” says Bickerstaff. “This is a Florida I have seen through the eyes of the Seminole people, Margaret Longhill, Frank Thomas, Don Grooms, and J.U. Lee, absorbed through countless nights recording and picking music around campfires. It is a Florida you feel while sitting on the bank of the Withlacoochee, paddling through the mangroves in the Keys, or camping in the middle of the Everglades.”

Here is a video produced from the live performances at the Will McLean Festival on March 13th of not only the first two scholarship winners from the Will McLean Foundation, but also the winner and two of the finishers of the 2020 Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest produced by Gail Carson.

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2019 Winner and Finishers of the Will McLean Best New FL Song Contest

Winner of the 2019 Will McLean Song Contest Bob Patterson
Bob Patterson’s winning song “Silver Springs”

Bob Patterson  from St. Augustine is the 2019 winner of the Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest for, “Silver Springs.” The song has a musical message about the current plight of not only one of the largest artesian springs in the world, but one of the most beautiful springs in Florida located in Marion County. Patterson recalls the day he first saw the spring.

It was in the early 70s when Gamble Rogers showed up at his house in St. Augustine in his old Mustang pulling a boat. Will McLean was with him. The three headed to Gore’s Landing north of Ocala, launched the boat into the Ocklawaha River and headed down to the Silver River and into the headspring.

At the time said Patterson, “It was producing 99.8% pure artesian spring water. Now it’s polluted and it’s getting worse and worse. So there was a sense of urgency about writing that song.”

Patterson didn’t start out writing environmental songs. He recalls a night around 1969 when Will McLean stayed at his house. During a late night music session Patterson sang one of his songs for Will.

“They were kind of those “Baby, Oh Baby” kind of songs,” recalled Patterson. “Will, who was always so ingratiating, would say, “Aww, that’s just wonderful. That’s beautiful Bob. Why don’t you write songs like that about Florida.”

McLean would be proud of Patterson’s songs today. In 2005 he placed in the top three of the Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest with a song called, “Lullabye of the Rivers.” It’s become somewhat of an anthem around the state. More importantly, it’s been used by educators to teach students about the natural history, geography, ecology and the state of health of Florida’s Rivers.

“The idea is if we don’t teach the kids about the environment, we can’t expect them to grow up wanting to protect it,” said Patterson. He hopes to obtain funding to create a DVD that could be used in schools to teach more educators how to utilize music in their science and history classes.

Patterson, along with the second and third place finishers of the song contest will be featured at the 2019 Will McLean Festival March 8th thru the 10th at the Sertoma Youth Ranch near Brooksville. This year he also tied for fourth place with his song, “Me and Margaret,” a song referring to the longtime Matriarch of the Florida folk scene, the late Margaret Longhill. Longhill died in 2018, just a few days before the 29th Will McLean Festival, the festival she started thirty years ago.

As one of the original founders of the Gamble Rogers Folk Festival, Patterson has functioned as the event’s Artistic Director for 24 years. In 2011 the Stetson Kennedy Foundation awarded him the ‘Fellow Man and Mother Earth Award’ for his work in actively keeping folk culture alive in Florida.

Patterson was a 2011 first place winner in the North Florida Folk Network song writing contest in the category of Best Florida Song. In 2014 he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Florida Storytelling Association.

He has been a featured performer at the annual Florida Folk Festival at White Springs for more than 45 years and was recently inducted into the St Augustine Music Hall of Fame. In addition to critically acclaimed CDs Patterson has authored two books, Forgotten Tales of Florida, and, Dorothy. Both books are loaded with Florida folk lore and history and have become very popular in the folk community and beyond.

2nd place finisher Paul Smithson
Paul Smithson’s 2nd place song “Ninety-One Days”

Paul Smithson, is the 2nd place finisher in the 2019 contest for his song, “Ninety-One Days” about the late former Governor Lawton Chiles and the way he was known for walking across the state of Florida as he campaigned for office.

Smithson spent his early years in New York. He relocated in his early teens and considers Florida his home.  He has lived most of his life (aside from a 10 year hiatus in California) in Lake County, Florida.  Smithson, who lives in Eustis, Florida says his first memories of the Sunshine State were the citrus groves that used to dominate the landscape.  He watched these groves freeze out in the 80s, to be replaced by strip malls and subdivisions.

At 56, Smithson says he has witnessed the state he fell in love with evolve into something other than what it was, but he also knows that Florida is persistent.  There remains the swamps, prairies, and pined forests of Ocala, the Canaveral Seashore, and the numerous lakes of central Florida, to name only a few of his favorite haunts.

He has taught literature and composition since 1998, beginning at the University of Central Florida, sojourning through California, and ending up back in central Florida.  He currently teaches AP Literature and AP U.S. History at his Alma Mater: Eustis High School (class of 1980).

Smithson says his musical/songwriting influences include Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark, Billy Joe Shaver, and Steve Earle.  His interest in Florida history began with Gilbert King’s The Devil in the Grove, a book documenting the story of political corruption and racial injustice in 1940s-1950s Lake County.  Smithson says he was so moved and inspired by the book that he composed, recorded, and released a CD by the same title.  The CD contains songs that provide both a narrative and a variety of points of view of the major and minor players.

Smithson’s song, “The Last Train Out of Fernandina,” tied for fourth place in this year’s contest. He currently performs with John French as Smithson & French.  This duo focuses on songwriting, harmonizing, and generally simply having a good time doing it. 

3rd place finisher Razz Taylor
Razz Taylor’s 3rd place song “Arcadia Cowboy”

Razz Taylor is a singer-songwriter and performing independent recording artist living in Arcadia in south Florida.  He was raised along the shores of Lake Okeechobee in South Florida and began singing for friends and family when he was just six years old.

Taylor’s 3rd place song, “Arcadia Cowboy” is about living in a small town in Florida and not wanting to be tied down. 

His song, “Okeechobee,” which placed sixth in this year’s contest, is an autobiography about growing up hunting and fishing on the big water of Lake Okeechobee and the yearning of wanting to return to those childhood days.

Taylor says he is deeply influenced by traditional country music with a twist of the Oklahoma and Texas sound of red dirt country music.  You can find his music on cdbaby, iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music and You Tube. You can find him on Facebook at RazzTaylor and the Mystic River band.

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Winner and finisher of the 2017 Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest Named

Mean Mary 2
“Mean Mary” (Mary James) Winner of the 2017 Will McLean Best New FL Song Contest

The winner of the 2017 Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest  is Mary James, better known as “Mean Mary,” in the music world.  Though she resides now in Tennessee, her roots are in Florida and Alabama (Her family lived in the North Florida area when Mary was born, but the nearest hospital was in Geneva, Alabama!).

James, who also plays banjo, fiddle, guitar and eight other instruments, is no newcomer to the folk music scene.  She began playing the guitar at age four, could read music and wrote her first song at age five, and recorded her first album when she was six.  Her extensive performance schedule soon made school attendance difficult, so at the end of the second grade she went into home study and began appearing daily on the Country Boy Eddie Show, a regional TV program out of Birmingham, AL.  At that same time she also appeared regularly in Nashville, Tennessee at the Elvis Presley Museum, on the Nashville Network, and on Printer’s Alley.

Mean MaryWhen Mary and her frequent music partner,  brother Frank James, grew weary of the commercial, country-music scene, they started a tour of historic folk and Civil War era music. It wasn’t long before they were one of the most sought after historical folk groups in the country. Their careers eventually took them to the bright lights of Hollywood, California where they were involved in various areas of the film industry

James is now based in Nashville, Tennessee from which location she tours extensively across the US and internationally. She has her own Nashville TV show, Never Ending Street—a documentary/reality type show depicting a touring musician’s trials and joys. She is an endorsing artist for Deering Banjos—Deering has named her their Goodtime Ambassador. She writes and produces music for herself and other artists, and has recorded 14 albums, her latest being, “Sweet.”

Her winning song in the 2017 Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest “Choctawhatchee Waltz” was directly influenced by her family’s gypsy lifestyle. While growing up, her family lived close by the Choctawhatchee River in North Florida. The river’s name was taken from the Choctaw Nation and the Choctaw word hacha (river), literally the “River of the Choctaws.”

“It was so wild and undeveloped—like undiscovered territory. As a kid I could imagine I’d stepped far back in time or into a magical place. Those memories bring back a rush of longing for those wild and simple times. It was something I had to capture with my music,” said James.

Mean Mary” also scored a second-place finish in the 2017 contest with a song she co-wrote with her mother, Jean James, (a 40-year Florida resident currently living in Tennessee) entitled, “We Never Hear The Song.”  The song tells how people are surrounded by the music of “Mother Nature,” but maybe never realize what they are hearing.

Their song was inspired by Jean’s time hunting snakes and other reptiles, some of which were milked to make antivenom, some went to zoos, and some were shipped overseas for farm rodent control. Part of the reptile money supplied her daughter Mary with musical instruments. At times Mary would accompany her mom on those excursions.

“I saw beavers and otters and giant turtle slides,” Mary explained. “In the river waters I could watch the sturgeon, a fish whose ancestry dates to prehistoric times. It was a real chance to see and hear nature—unbroken and untouched.”

Mary and Jean James have also co-authored five books, two of which have won first place awards: “Sparrow Alone on the Housetop” (P & E Reader’s Choice award) and a Florida novel, “Wherefore Art Thou, Jane?” (Readers Favorite International Book Award winner for best mystery novel.)

3rd Place Finisher in the 2017 Will McLean Best New FL Song Contest, Jeff Parker
3rd Place Finisher in the 2017 Will McLean Best New FL Song Contest, Jeff Parker

The third-place finisher in the Will McLean Best New Florida Song is Jeff Parker from Jacksonville.

Parker, who recently moved to Yakima, Washington, has played finger-style and flat-pick guitar and mandolin professionally for more than 30 years. Starting in the mid 70’s, he played with the bluegrass band, “Surewood” around the Seattle area. He later moved to Alaska and worked as a solo performer and professional mariner in the fishing industry out of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. With years of working on the road, Jeff has honed his craft influenced by a large variety of musical styles. In 2003, he published a CD entitled “It’s About Time” consisting of original music (and one Michael Peter Smith cover) and is currently writing a second CD of original works.

In addition to Parker’s original songs, a partial list of cover songs is available on his ReverbNation blog. He often plays in Florida with Anne McKennon, a flutist, in the duo Road Less Traveled. Parker says he is a proud member and supporter of the North Florida Folk Network and the Friends of Florida Folk.

Parker’s 3rd place song in the Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest, “Sugarcane Mill,” describes visual images of the olden days of sugar-cane grinding in Florida.

“My inspiration for the “Sugarcane Mill” song was a request by (folk artist) Suz Grandy to write a song about it for the 40th annual celebration of the Barberville Pioneer Settlement (in North Central Florida) along with many other songwriters and performers,” said Parker.

Parker gathered background on sugarcane mills for the song from the settlement historian and other sources.

“There were some names that stuck out such as Otis Lee who donated much of the equipment for the Settlement and an interesting fellow Wendle LaHoot telling stories from his childhood about harvesting the cane and cooking the juice down and “polecat” candy, which was the crust build-up around the rim of the cook pot from skimming.  On harvest day, dinner would be a cane syrup biscuit and half a sweet potato.”

“Sugarcane Mill” will be included in a compilation CD of songs celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the non-profit, historical  Barberville Pioneer Settlement in Volusia County.

“Mean Mary” and Jeff Parker will be featured during a special awards presentation at the 2017 Will McLean Festival at noon on Saturday, March 11th.  The festival runs from Friday, March 10th through Sunday afternoon, March 12th at the Sertoma Youth Ranch, 7 miles West of Dade City, FL.  The festival, named after the Father of Florida Folk, the late Will McLean, features music on five stages including a youth performance stage, a variety of workshops, as well as food vendors and  arts and crafts.

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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.

Will McLean0058
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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Remembering Singer Songwriter Garrison Doles

Gary-guitar1_resizedSix months ago today on December 2, 2013 Florida lost one its most original singer-songwriters, Garrison Doles.  He was only 62 years old.  As a feature reporter for the past 40 years I’ve met and interviewed many songwriters, but Garrison Doles stood out to me.  He was someone with the unique ability to truly create visual pictures with his words .  His style of guitar playing tugged at one’s emotions.

Working as a song contest judge for the Will McLean Best New Florida Song Competition for the past several years, I’ve heard just about every kind of Florida song imaginable.  There were songs about history, songs about the environment and funny songs as well.  In 2009 I was moved to tears by the words and music of Garrison Doles’ song, “This Florida Again.”

At the time I had no idea who he was.  I knew nothing of his former struggles with alcohol or the years he spent playing in smoky bars trying to appeal to audiences who really weren’t there to listen to the lyrics of his songs.  I only knew the moment I heard “This Florida Again” it had the “goosebump factor.”   What authors Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and Patrick Smith did with words to describe the “old Florida” in their novels, Garrison created with music, both in lyrics and the emotion he brought out on the strings of his guitar.  I couldn’t wait to meet him.

In 2009 he sat down in the WUFT studios to talk about winning the song contest, what inspired him and to play some of his songs.

 In 2010 he returned to the Will McLean Folk Festival and performed his winning song:

During his interview in the studios of WUFT, Doles also shared memories about his early days performing around the state and when he first met the legendary Gamble Rogers.

In 2009 Garrison had just finished one of his newest CDs entitled, “Whenever I’m With You,” and he talked about some of the Florida musicians who played with him in the recording studio.

Doles is survived by his wife, Jan Richardson; his son, Emile; his parents, Harold and Dee; his brothers, Jeff (Suzanne), Greg (Doreen), and Jon (Heather); and many nieces and nephews.   He is deeply missed.