Joe Weed – Two Steps West Of The Mississippi

 

Joe Weed’s original compositions, reflecting the western fiddle traditions of the US and played by an all-star cast of the best acoustic musicians.

Grand Junction Two-Step Cotati Polka Tortillas De Maiz Old California Waltz San Antonio Dancing on Lake Pontchartrain Oskaloosa Shuffle Quad Cities Two-Step Fort Wayne Mamou Britches Lacassine Two-Step

Album Notes

Two-Steps
For many years, I have loved playing two-steps at country
dance halls. These tunes provide a mellow groove that
allows couples the freedom to express their individuality
while following a common beat.

West
I learned to fiddle in California, starting with a violin provided
by my school music program. Texans, Okies and Arkies who had moved to
California were my main fiddling influences. The life and dance in their music
appealed to me, and I learned their tunes and styles. Eventually, I became a
touring musician, played country music in dance bands, and met musicians all
over the west. I settled in California, became a music producer and found a way
to make my own music from the roots I’ve come to love.

The Mississippi
As a young boy, I lived in DeKalb, Illinois, a small college and corn town on the
Kishwaukee River west of Chicago. In the summer, I caught frogs, tadpoles, and
turtles in the Kishwaukee, and in the winter I skated on its frozen surface. My
fascination with the Mississippi began when the Kishwaukee flooded our neighbors
out. I learned that an even greater river lay just to the west, bigger than I
could imagine. Rivers captured my romantic imagination, and their inspiration
stayed with me even after my family crossed the Great Plains in our
Ford station wagon and moved to California.

The Mississippi carries Mark Twain, John Hartford, Louis Armstrong,
Huck Finn and Jim. It conveys the incredible power of nature, barges
and river boats, adventure, escape, boundaries. It connects Minneapolis,
the Quad Cities, St. Louis, Memphis, and New Orleans. It’s the
cultural midline of North America.

In the 1990’s my wife, our two children and I hired Captain Bob
Schleicher to pilot us up the Mississippi in his trawler, a converted
gulf shrimper. We pushed slowly northward for 900 miles, from
Kimmswick, Missouri to St. Paul, Minnesota. We took a month to do
it, stopping at almost every river town. We all loved it, especially me.

So here I give you my two-steps, with a few waltzes, hymns and
polkas. This is what it sounds like inside my head.

Thanks, Katie, for the title.