I'm hoping someone out there in Mudcat land can
help with this request for some information.

A lady from Texas had been reading my research
into the origins/myths of Old Joe @
http://snipurl.com/oldjoeclark and wrote asking:

> "My mom [from Honey Grove, Texas ] used to attend
> "Old Joe Clark" parties when she was a young
> girl in 1935. Do you have any information about what
> this type of party involved?

> Presently, I'm trying to write a family history and I found
> mention of the "Old Joe Clark" party in some of her notes
> on how she and my father met. This was in 1939 in
> Fannin County near Honey Grove, Texas.

Although I'd not heard the term 'Old Joe Clark Parties'
before, I did manage to find one reference - on Bob
Shrader's 'History of Scranton, Texas' page @
http://www.members.tripod.com/~scrantontexas/history.html

in which he writes:

> Through the 1940s, gospel singing schools were
> common in the summer. A person would teach a
> school, usually at a church. It was not uncommon
> to find several people within a family who sang
> and played various musical instruments such as
> guitar, fiddle and banjo. These people often
> entertained at school social functions such as
> box suppers and pie suppers, which featured
> delicious fruit cobblers. "Old Joe Clark" parties
> were forerunners of the square dance.

If anyone knows how and where the term originated
(Kentucky, one would have thought) and how it spread
to Texas, and further afield (perhaps), we'd be most
interested to hear. Was this, indeed, in common usage
before the term 'square dance' (as suggested above)? -
throughout the Southern States and beyond?

very best for the New Year

Paul Castle
http://www.acousticmusicacrossthepond.com
http://www.rosinators.com