Ozark Highlands Radio is a weekly radio program that features live music and interviews recorded at Ozark Folk Center State Park’s beautiful 1,000-seat auditorium in Mountain View, Arkansas. In addition to the music, our “Feature Host” segments take listeners through the Ozark hills with historians, authors and personalities who explore the people, stories, and history of the Ozark region.

This week, modern folk minstrel and intimate songwriter Avery Hill performs live at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. Also, interviews with Avery, and performances and interviews with our very own “Flathoof Stringband.” Mark Jones offers an archival recording of legendary Ozark balladeer Ollie Gilbert, telling the story of “The Preacher and the Bear.” Writer, professor, and historian Dr. Brooks Blevins profiles the second in a series of three Ozark Civil War Ballads, “The Battle of Pea Ridge.”

Hailing from Portland, Oregon, Avery Hill captures the essence of modern singer/songwriters in her music. Though Avery studied to be a school teacher, an environmental educator, and then a storyteller, all of these things eventually led her back to music, the thing she knows and loves best of all. Avery's first full-length recording, entitled “Dreams & Ghosts: A Family Album,” features intimate portraits, life lessons, & sometimes embarrassingly humorous songs inspired by her family’s history. Like a photo album, this collection of songs presents musical snapshots of different times in history, reflecting on universal themes of growing up and being brave.

Old Time Ozark music played with passion and love, that’s the “Flathoof Stringband.” The group is comprised of guitarist Mike Sutter, who was a member of the original Ozark Folk Center house band when the park opened in 1973. (Sorry to age you there, Mike.) On fiddle is Roger Fountain, another long time OFC musician and one of the best dance fiddlers, anywhere. Wes Kent holds down mandolin duties and, along with his wife Judy, is an active volunteer in many Stone County music endeavors. Long time OFC musician Gresham McMillon holds it all together with his steady roll on the upright bass.

In this week’s “From the Vault” segment, musician, educator, and country music legacy Mark Jones offers an archival recording of legendary Ozark balladeer Ollie Gilbert, telling her own version of the traditional story “The Preacher and the Bear.” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives.

From his series entitled “Back in the Hills,” writer, professor and historian Dr. Brooks Blevins profiles the second of three Ozark Civil War ballads. This episode features a recording of archivist Max Hunter himself, singing the Ozark Civil War ballad “The Battle of Pea Ridge,” that he learned from Allie Long Parker of Hog Scald Holler, Arkansas. The recording was made at the tenth annual meeting of the Arkansas Folklore Society in 1958, and is preserved in the Max Hunter Collection at Missouri State University.

https://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/songinformation.aspx?ID=0126