Hi,

I don't know Roy Wooliver, but I've heard a lot about him, especially from John Hartford and Howe Teague, a fiddler who lives in Salem, MO. This is a summary of what they've told me.

Roy Wooliver was a fiddler and guitar player from around Dent County, MO. Apparently the Woolivers were a musical bunch. His playing had a significant influence on fiddlers like Howe Teague (Salem, MO), Gene Goforth, Clifford Hawthorne, and John Hartford. From all accounts I've heard, he was kind of a drifter who worked odd jobs, never owned a fiddle, and engaged in occasional petty theft. Legend has it he was put in prison twice for stealing the same watch. He made his way to St. Louis in the 1940s, where at one point he worked with Cousin Emmy and Her Kinfolk on KMOX radio. He never made any commercial recordings, but Howe Teague has a couple of discs cut at a radio stations in Rolla and Salem, MO of he and Wooliver playing together. Teague on fiddle and Wooliver on guitar, I believe. I haven't heard them. I'm not sure when he was born, but I'd guess it would have been around the turn of the last century. I believe he died in the early 1960s.

Any light you can shine on Wooliver would be of help to me as I'm particularly interested in him and his music. When and where were these dances you described? Do you remember any of the other musicians who played? Feel free to contact me at the address below.

Best,

Jim Nelson

jim_nelson53@yahoo.com