The Rackensack Folklore Society
had its origins in Stone County, Arkansas, in 1963. From that point on,
this small group of folks from the Ozarks worked to preserve the traditional
folk music and folk heritage of their native mountain country. They would
provide support for the early folk festivals in Mountain View, and later
provide most of the music and entertainment at the Ozark Folk Center,
which they helped establish and promote.
According to the
Encyclopedia of Arkansas, in 1962, Lloyd and Martha Hollister moved from Little
Rock to Fox in Stone County to establish Lloyd’s medical practice in Mountain
View . In February of 1963, Lloyd met with six other people to establish a
local folklore society. The group decided to meet again in a week with more
people invited to officially elect officers and set down the goals and rules of
their new group. The original seven charter members were Lloyd Hollister, Eddie
A. Walker, William P. Morrison, Glenn D. Morrison, Lloyd Westbrook, Otis
Johnson and Gerald Cain. At the second meeting, the group was
joined by local musician and songwriter, Jimmy Driftwood. Driftwood suggested
the name “Rackensack Folklore Society” for the organization. The name was
approved and Lloyd Hollister was elected the president. Jimmy Driftwood was
elected vice president. At first, group received permission to use the Stone
County Courthouse and grounds for practice every Friday night. The
musical gatherings at the courthouse became a weekly event, open to the public.
TheRackensack group began to promote
the ides of a larger gathering place for regular public performances began to
be promoted in the county.
Now the name, “Rackensack” has
several definitions. The Oxford dictionary simply says: “Having to do with
Arkansas.” This is not much help. Other sources refer to a rackensack as a form
of rucksack or potato sack that wanderers would fill with their belongings to
hit the road. One reference can be found in Volume Nine of the Arkansas
Historical Quarterly . Published in 1950, the quote comes from a Civil War
Diary of William Williston Heartsill, who served with the company of Lane’s
Texas Rangers as they crossed into Arkansas in 1861. On November 26,
1861, Heartsill wrote:
“A march of 12 miles down the
Arkansas River, through as fine country as I ever saw…If this is the
“Rackensack” that so much fun is made of, then it is a pity that there is not
more “Rackensacks” than one.”
This use of the word seems to mean
a hardscrabble, backwoods, wilderness region seemingly worthless
landscape not fit for civilization.
Driftwood more than likely meant
for it to be a statement of independence and toughness of the Ozark people,
which he strove to preserve through their shared folk culture in music, crafts,
and lifestyle.
In 1963, a charter group of the
Rackensack Society was established in Pulaski County by a group of musicians
eager to help preserve traditional Arkansas music. The group included George
Fisher, who worked as the political cartoonist at the Arkansas Gazette . The
group held monthly concerts at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock on the
first Monday of every month. According to their website, the group is
made up of “musicians, storytellers, and friends who are dedicated to the
preservation of the performance of old time traditional folk music of the
Ozarks.”
The website further defines this
traditional music as ,“The acoustic music in Rackensack is performed with
fiddles, guitars, banjos, dulcimers, harmonicas, bass tubs and other
instruments of our forefathers.” The group’s present officers include Brode
Morgan as President and Jim Munns serving as Secretary.
The website section titled
“Our Story” was revised in 2015, and includes this definition: “Traditional
folk music was the root music for many well-known musicians including such
noteworthy musicians as the Carter Family, Doc Watson, Ricky Skaggs, Emmy Lou
Harris and most notably, Jimmy Driftwood of Timbo, Arkansas, the founder of the
Rackensack Folklore Society of Mountain View, Arkansas. This noted personality
was the inspiration for the founding of the Pulaski County Chapter.”
In any event, the group began
drawing bigger crowds and more members joined. The group began to promote the
establishment of a folk festival for the third weekend of every April. From
1963 until the early 1970s the Rackensack Society worked with city and county
officials to turn the festival into a major tourist attraction for the Ozark
region. By the 1970s, the city of Mountain View took over the responsibility of
the Ozark Folk Festival and the next step for more political control and money
on the state level became the goal. The need for a central location to
permanently house the performances,which were outgrowing the grounds of
the courthouse, brought about the drive for the financing and building of the
Ozark Folk Center right outside of the town of Mountain View.
In 1972, two LPs titled “The
Rackensack” were released. The liner notes state: “These LPs were recorded when
the players – young and old were at their best.” ” Some of the musicians
listed were: Bookmiller Shannon – Hubert Hinkle, (banjo); Ollie Gilbert, Glen
Branscum, (ballad singers); Kermit Moody, Seth Mize, Buddy Lancaster, (fiddle);
Lynn Young (autoharp); Kathy Morrison, Mary McSpadden, (dulcimer); Kenneth
Gosser, (dobro); Adrian Parks, Marvin Morrison, (mandolin); Kenneth Crymes,
(wash-tub bass).
There are many recordings of the
Rackensack Society performing live at the Ozark Folk Center available at the
Arkansas History Commission as part of the Ozark Cultural Resource Center
Collection. Patrons can access these recordings by visiting the research room
of the Archives at 1 Capitol Mall in Little Rock, Arkansas. There are examples
of the music performed at the Ozark Folk Center online at www.ark-ives.org in the digital collection
Ozark Folk Life and Culture under ahc.digital-ar.org.
