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, high energy neo-traditional oldtime music phenomenon “The Hogslop String Band” recorded live at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. Also, interviews with this rowdy group of pickers. Mark Jones offers an archival recording of a very young Allison Krauss performing the traditional tune “Gardenia Waltz.” Writer, professor, and historian Dr. Brooks Blevins relates the history of black bears in the early Ozark region.

The Hogslop String Band is a Nashville based old time string band comprised of four energetic young musicians hailing from Georgia & Tennessee.  Featuring Kevin Martin on the fiddle, Gabriel Kelley on guitar, Daniel Binkley on banjo and Casey "Pickle" McBride on the washtub bass, these boys surely raise a ruckus.

Upon forming as a pickup square dance band in the summer of 2009, The Hogslop String Band has since become one of the most sought after old time string bands. Known for their outrageous facial hair and a rollicking repertoire heavily based on Georgia and Middle Tennessee fiddle tunes, these boys have provided entertainment for fashion shows, political conventions and whiskey distilleries as well as countless weddings, festivals and soirees.

Following in the footsteps of such country music luminaries as Uncle Dave Macon and Gid Tanner, they put on a high energy show easily appreciated by both young and old alike.  Despite an unkempt appearance, their undeniable charm is as certain to steal your heart as it will your daughters!

http://www.hogslopstringband.com

In this week’s “From the Vault” segment, musician, educator, and country music legacy Mark Jones offers an archival recording of a very young Allison Krauss performing the traditional tune “Gardenia Waltz,” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives.

From his series entitled “Back in the Hills,” writer, professor, and historian Dr. Brooks Blevins relates the history of black bears in the early Ozark regions of Arkansas & Missouri.