Voyager Recordings

Historical Music Releases

Nearly all of our recordings represent an aspect of the history of fiddling in North America, and many recordings feature fiddle tunes and styles that have substantially died out.

In two of our releases we have focused especially on the pioneer musical heritage of the Pacific Northwest and the journeys of exploration and emigration of the 19th Century that brought fiddling to this region of the United States:

Pioneer Dance Tunes of the Far West - VRCD 371

Performed by Phil and Vivian Williams on fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin, viola, cello, jews harp, accordion, comb and paper, wood blocks, snare drum

Dancing was one of the most important recreational activities for pioneers in the West. They danced squares, waltzes, mazurkas, schottishes, polkas, and Virginia Reels. Here are some of the many and diverse tunes played for dances in the Far West in the 1850’s, 1860’s, and 1870’s performed on instruments commonly used in pioneer dance bands. Many of the tunes are well known while others are hardly known today at all. Some of the tunes commonly played today without all the original parts are performed with all parts as originally written in the 19th century. The selections offer a rare insight into the broad range of tunes danced to in the Far West over 125 years ago. This CD is the result of extensive research into the tunes from the region's pioneer heritage by Phil and Vivian, who grew up in the Pacific Northwest playing and dancing to many of them. TheWilliams have played traditional music together for over forty-five years and are well known in the West as music scholars and performers of the its old time dance music. The CD has 19 tunes performed in traditional Pacific Northwest old time style and a booklet with extensive liner notes on pioneer dancing in the Far West and background of the tunes.

At every house a dance? Well, I should say so. A dance would start at 4 in the afternoon and last until 10 the next day. Plenty of grub and lots of whiskey. Every fellow would try to see how hard he coulddance and how high he could swing his partner. Buckskin suits and blue jeans were the costumes for the men. A dandy who came to one of the dances dressed in broadcloth was in great demand. One young matron told a young girl sitty by to "hold my baby while I take a turn with the 'hoss' with the store clothes on. - Isaac V. Mossman recollecting dancing in the Long Tom country west of Eugene, Oregon in the 1850's.

Fiddle Tunes of the Lewis & Clark Era - VRCD 358

Performed by The New Columbia Fiddlers - Vivian Williams - fiddle; Dr. Howard Marshall - fiddle, fretted and fretless banjo; John Williams - fiddle, wood block, drum; Phil Williams - guitar, mandolin

The first fiddlers in the Pacific Northwest of which we have any documentation were the two who accompanied Lewis & Clark in their great journey from Illinois and Missouri to the mouth of the Columbia River and back in 1804 - 1806. The principal fiddler was Pierre Cruzatte, half Omaha Indian and half French, born and raised in St. Louis, which at that time was a French settlement, like most towns along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. The other fiddler was George Gibson, born in Pennsylvania and raised in Maryland. The journals kept on this expedition make many references to fiddling and dancing. Here is a small sampling:

This morning being Christmas, the day was announced by the discharge of our Swivels, and one Round from our small arms of the whole company. . . The Men then prepared one of the Rooms, and commenced dancing, we having with us Two Violins & plenty of Musicians in our party. . . (Private Joseph Whitehouse, 25 December, 1804)

The Day was ushered in by the Descharge of two Cannon, we Suffered 16 men with their Musick to visit the 1st Village for the purpose of Danceing, by as they Said the perticular request of the Chief of that Village, about 11 o'clock I with an interpreter & two men walked up to the Village (my views were to aly Some little Miss understanding which had taken place thro jelloucy and mortification as to our treatments towards them I found them much pleased at the Danceing of our men, I ordered my black Servent to Dance which amused the Croud Verry much, and Somewhat astonished them, that So large a man should be active . . . (Clark, January 1, 1805.)

About 9 o.C. 15 of the party went up to the 1st village of Mandans to dance as it had been their request. carried with us a fiddle & a Tambereen & a Sounden horn. as we arived at the entrence of the vil we fired one round then the music played. loaded again. then marched to the center of the village fired again. then commenced dancing. a frenchman danced on his head and all danced round him for a Short time then went in to a lodge & danced a while, which pleased them verry much they then brought vectules from different lodges & of different kinds of diet, they brought us also a quantity of corn & Some buffalow Robes which they made us a present off. So we danced in different lodges untill late in the afternoon. (Sergeant Ordway, January 1, 1805.)

. . .found them all in good health, and much pleased at having arrived at this long wished for spot, and in order to add in some measure to the general pleasure which seemed to pervade our little community, we ordered a dram to be issued to each person; this soon produced the fiddle, and they spent the evening with much hilarity, singing & dancing, and seemed as perfectly to forget their past toils, as they appeared regardless of those to come. (Lewis, April 26, 1805, at the mouth of the Yellowstone River.)

such as were able to shake a foot amused themselves in dancing on the green to the music of the violin which Cruzatte plays extreemly well. (Lewis, June 25, 1805 - after a strenuous day of portaging around the Great Falls of the Missouri.)

a little before sun set the Chamnahpoms arrived; they were about 100 men and a fiew women; they jointed the Wallahwallahs who were about 150 men and formed a half circle arround our camp where they waited verry patiently to see our party dance. the fiddle was played and the men amused themselves with danceing about an hour. we then requested the Indians to dance which they very chearfully complyed with; they continued their dance untill 10 at night. the whole assemblage of Indians about 350 men women and children sung and danced at the same time. Most of them danced in the same place they stood and nearly jumped up to the time of their music. Some of the men who were esteemed most brave entered the space around which the main body were formed in solid column and danced in a circular manner side wise. at 10 P.M. the dance ended and the nativs retired; they were much gratified in seeing some of our party join them in their dance. (Clark, April 28, 1806 - on the return trip, near Wallula Gap where the Walla Walla river flows into the Columbia.)

While the journals often mention the fiddling and dancing, no one bothered to write down the names of the tunes that were played. What tunes actually were played by Cruzatte and Gibson on the journey is unknown. However, through considerable research by Vivian and Phil Williams, and Dr. Howard Marshall, and from our personal experiences with tunes that have survived in America west of the Mississippi since the end of the 19th century, we do have a substantial list of tunes that were commonly known and played for dancing in this region and time period. These, essentially, are the dance tunes of Colonial America and the early days of the Republic. Some have been played in Missouri and the West from its earliest days of settlement by emigrants from farther East.

The tunes are played in traditional style by fiddlers Vivian Williams and Dr. Howard Marshall, who have spent a lifetime studying and playing the pioneer music of the westward migration, along with young Missouri fiddler John Williams, and Phil Williams on guitar and mandolin on some selections. Many of the tunes are played on just two fiddles, with one fiddle backing up the other, and some with percussion on wood block and small drum. Others have fretless and fretted banjo, guitar, and mandolin backup. The intention is not to try to reproduce a historical sound as no one has any idea of how the tunes actually were played, but to play them as they have survived to this day for dancing.

The CD has 24 tracks and extensive liner notes.

Dance Music of the Oregon Trail - VRCD 350

Performed by Vivian Williams - fiddle; Phil Williams - guitar, fretless banjo, mandolin, accordion

Phil and Vivian Williams were born and raised in the Puget Sound country of Western Washington. They grew up dancing and playing the tunes and dances that came to the region with the pioneers. In the 1960's they helped found the Washington Old Time Fiddlers Association, formed to perpetuate the pioneer fiddling of the region. Over the past more than four decades they have played and jammed with hundreds of fiddlers from all over the Pacific Northwest. A few years ago they realized that a lot of the tunes that they had known nearly all their lives, and which all Northwest fiddlers seemed to know, were not heard much anymore. Many of the old time fiddlers they had learned from had died. Community dances, such as they grew up doing, were long a thing of the past. They started wondering about all those tunes that were common to the region, where they came from, and how they got to their part of the world. Vivian studied Northwest history under Dr. Dorothy Johansen (author of Empire of the Columbia) at Reed College and knew a lot about the history of exploration and settlement of the region. Phil's father was a square dance caller in the South Puget Sound region in the 1940's, and the Williams' house was always full of music and dancing. Phil and Vivian's research uncovered what was no surprise to them - the tunes and the dances came out over the Oregon Trail. They also traced the predominant traditional fiddle style found in the Pacific Northwest (which is all but gone today) back along the Trail to Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, and bordering states.

Phil and Vivian have played many of the tunes on this CD for dancing over the past forty-five or so years, and play them on the recording as they would for dancing. Many of the tunes should be familiar to most listeners (at least those who attended school prior to the TV generation). However, the history of most of these tunes is not so well known, and it is fascinating.

The CD has 17 tracks, some of which are medleys of several tunes, and extensive liner notes with tune histories and comments from pioneer journals.

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