This week, we celebrate the life and music of traditional folk troubadour and Ozark original the late Cathy Barton. Enjoy Cathy and her husband Dave Para recorded live at Ozark Folk Center State Park. Also, interviews with Cathy & Dave.

“A lifelong musician, Cathy Barton grew up singing and started learning the ukulele in elementary school in Hawaii. After moving to Missouri, she took up the guitar and banjo and eventually developed a champion old-time banjo style. After hearing a record by Bill Spence on community radio, she became one of the first hammered dulcimer players in her region and helped expand the popularity of the instrument, inspiring many players nationally. Her playing was vibrant, powerful and spot on. She was also a generous and thoughtful teacher. Music was always fun for her and she tried to pass that on as much as any technique to her students and audiences.

Cathy and her husband Dave Para shared a love for singing and cultivated a versatile and distinctive harmony duet and a reputation for giving dynamic performances acclaimed for variety and expertise. ‘Why do they sound like a whole band,’ the great banjoist Alan Munde once commented.”

- https://bartonpara.com/bp/

In this week’s “From the Vault” segment, musician, educator, and country music legacy Mark Jones offers a 1978 archival recording of Cathy Barton and his own sister Alisa Jones singing the song “The Water is Wide,” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives.

Dave Smith sits down with writer, musician and traditional dancer Aubrey Atwater to discuss the life, music, and enduring musical legacy of folk icon Cathy Barton, one of traditional folk music’s most dedicated champions.