Old Time Fiddlers keep tradition alive at senior center

MOSES LAKE — Old-time music is alive and well once a month at the Moses Lake Senior Center.

“Anybody can join,” said Charlie Root, the chairman for District 11 of the Washington State Old Time Fiddlers Association, which covers Grant and Adams counties. “We play just acoustic instruments. It can get kind of wild when you get electric instruments. We try to keep the old-time sound. One person will do their song and everybody else will back them up. Everybody takes a turn, and they go around again until we run out of time.”

Despite the name, there was actually only one fiddle at the Senior Center on Sept. 21, played by Gail Johnson. Genie Wehling played an accordion. Leroy Boyd, Larry Ramm and Jerry Galahan all played guitar. Root also played guitar, but he alternated it with banjo.

Much of the music was traditional Americana: “You Are My Sunshine,” “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain,” that sort of thing. The audience of about a dozen people was invited to join in for the well-known songs. Then there was a large dollop of country music, with particular attention paid to Hank Williams Sr. “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “Hey Good Lookin’” and “Jambalaya” fired up the players’ enthusiasm. Wehling led the group in a schottische she said she had heard at a Norwegian gathering, and a rendition of “Beer Barrel Polka,” and Johnson threw in a Canadian folk song called “Whiskey for Breakfast.” The players passed the melody from instrument to instrument as if they were tossing a ball around.

An appreciation for country music, especially the older music, was a common theme among the players.

“I’ve liked country music since I was 12 years old,” said Leroy Boyd, now 91. “I was into the Grand Ole Opry when it was the 1940s. It just caught my ear and told a story.”

Galahan had been playing most of his life, he said.

“My folks are very musical,” he said. “I grew up on a ranch when there was no TV or anything. Every Saturday night, my dad was there with these drums, and my mother played piano … (and) there was a fiddle player.  I’ve played music all my life, played saxophone and trumpet through high school.”

“I started playing when I was 14, just at home by myself,” Ramm said. “I had relatives who played, so that’s how I got into it. Then I met more people, and I really got into it and went to bluegrass festivals. I enjoyed that camaraderie with the people and I got some good friends. It’s a lot of fun.”

Besides playing once a month at the Moses Lake Senior Center, the group plays eight or nine times a month at assisted living facilities and nursing homes, Root said.

The Old-Time Fiddlers aren’t like a band in the usual sense, Root said. The WSOTA has a membership roll, but players come and go according to who has the time and inclination.

“Sometimes we have visitors who come and play with us,” he said. “This jam is open, so if somebody wants to come in and play with us, they can.”

Old Time Fiddlers
Moses Lake Senior Center
608 E. Third Ave.
Third Sunday of every month
2-4 p.m.

    Jerry Galahan leads the Old Time Fiddlers in a rendition of “Jambalaya” at the Moses Lake Senior Center Sept. 21.
  

    Leroy Boyd sings at the Old Time Fiddlers Jam at the Moses Lake Senior Center Sept. 21. Boyd, 91, has been a lover of country music since he was 12 years old, he said.