Oklahoma's musical heritage has great range...

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Johnnie Lee Wills and the Texas Playboys are seen in this photo taken at Tulsa's Cain's Ballroom during the 1950s. Efforts to preserve Oklahoma's musical traditions can be seen today in places such as the Cain's Ballroom. The Oklahoman Archive

State's musical heritage has great range

By Max Nichols
Special Correspondent

Oklahoma's musical heritage goes far deeper and broader than any particular type of music, such as country-western, jazz, swing, folk, church or powwow music, said Tulsa's Guy W. Logsdon, who has been studying Oklahoma music and writing about it for more than 50 years.

The integral sounds of Oklahoma reflect our tremendous variety of winds, terrain, plants, animals and birds, which "far exceeds the variety of any other state in the nation,” Logsdon said. He pointed out that the land extends 750 miles from the swamps of the southeastern corner of Oklahoma to the 5,000-foot-high plateau of the northwestern corner of the panhandle, and the terrain also ranges from the Kiamichi Mountains and foothills of the Ozark Mountains to the High Plains of western Oklahoma.

This remarkable variety has been reflected in the music of the people, he said, from the American Indians who lived here originally to American Indians who were moved here and to people who came here with other backgrounds. Their music has reflected their traditions and parts of the state where they lived or settled.

Logsdon, who works with his wife, Phyllis, will address Oklahoma's music heritage during the annual meeting of the Oklahoma Historical Society on April 12-14 at the Oklahoma History Center, 2401 N Laird.

"While we have been fortunate to have numerous leaders in preserving the various forms of Oklahoma's music, Dr. Logsdon stands out in his work, teaching and writing about our overall musical culture,” said Bob Blackburn, executive director of the Historical Society. "His keynote address will set a perfect tone for our annual meeting in Oklahoma's Centennial year.”

The indigenous tribes, such as the Caddo, Wichita and Pawnee, had their own musical traditions. Missionaries started arriving in the late 18th century. Other traditions were added as the Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles and Creeks, known as the Five Tribes, were moved here from the southeastern states during the 19th century.

"In 1819, the federal government endorsed the idea of paying $10,000 to people who would help educate native people” Logsdon said. "That led to the Union Mission, which started a school in 1821 and brought a new type of music.”

In 1844, the first known traveling musical troupe from New York City performed at Fort Gibson in the Cherokee Nation, said Rodger Harris, who researches music for the Historical Society and plays in a traditional string band. From 1840-60, formal events used string bands in the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole and Creek Nations.

"Fiddlers were commonly heard during this period in Indian Territory,” Harris said. "Traditional ceremonial and social music became common among most of the Five Tribes. African-American traditions and some African traditions also arrived with slaves of the Five Tribes.”

Also during the 1840s, the Choctaws formed Spencer Academy for boys, and the Presbyterian Church provided teachers, Logsdon said. The second superintendent was the Rev. Alexander Reid, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary. Britt Willis, a white man who married a Choctaw woman and became a Choctaw Nation citizen, loaned two slaves to work at the school: Uncle Wallace and Aunt Minerva Willis. Reid and his sons were influenced by their singing.

After the Civil War, Reid formed Fisk University of Nashville as the first all-black school in the post-Civil War south. To raise money, Reid formed the Fisk Jubilee Singers but decided Uncle Wallace and Aunt Minerva were better. Reid taught them six Indian Territory songs, including "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” "Steal Away to Jesus” and "I'm a Rolling, I'm a Rolling.” Logsdon said audiences loved them.

As people began to arrive from the eastern mountains, they brought the sacred harp, shape note singing, singing schools and more, Harris said. People with European traditions brought Italian, Czech, Russian, German, Jewish, Irish and other musical traditions. This expanded dramatically when homesteaders arrived with land runs starting in 1889 and continued when Oklahoma became a state in 1907.

Minstrel shows, medicine shows, vaudeville shows, tent troupes and other performers brought other kinds of music. String bands began to dominate with the development of radio during the 1920s, leading to western swing, country-western, ragtime, jazz, blues, gospel, Hispanic, folk and other music.

The Deep Deuce area on NE 2 Street in Oklahoma City produced numerous famous jazz musicians.

Efforts to preserve musical traditions can be seen in places such as Cain's Ballroom (famous as the home of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys in Tulsa), the Woody Guthrie Festival in Okemah, the Percussive Arts Museum in Lawton, the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in Tulsa and the Oklahoma International Bluegrass Festival led by Byron Berline in Guthrie.

Powwow traditions are preserved by the Red Earth Festival in Oklahoma City and the American Indian Exposition in Anadarko. Another tradition is the Czech Festival in Yukon.

Logsdon said all this reflects the way Oklahoma music traditions stem from the unmatched variety of our land, the way people lived here and those who came here. It's something to remember as we celebrate Oklahoma's Centennial.

Max Nichols writes a monthly column for the Oklahoma Historical Society.