Mark your calendars for the Old Time Fiddle & Banjo State Championships at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Arkansas on Saturday, August 2, 2025.

Admission is free for both state championship contests from 10:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the park’s 1,000-seat indoor music venue, Ozark Highlands Theater.

In the evening, witness extraordinary musical talent during our annual Fiddle & Banjo Evening Show featuring fiddle & banjo virtuosos Bruce Molsky and Tony Trischka and the Ozark Folk Center Square Dancers.

The usual ticket fees apply to the evening show.

Proudly sponsored by Old Time Ozark Traditions, Inc. A non-profit corporation keeping old time music & dance, craft and culture of the Ozarks alive since 2012.

About the performers…

Bruce Molsky: GRAMMY-nominated, described as “an absolute master” (No Depression), Molsky transports audiences to another time and place, with his authentic and personal interpretations of rarities from the Southern Appalachian songbook and other musical traditions from around the globe. Best known for his work on the fiddle, Bruce’s banjo, guitar and his distinctive, powerful vocals also resonate with listeners. His combination of technical virtuosity and relaxed conversational wit makes a concert hall feel like an intimate front porch gathering.

Bruce’s take on tradition has landed him in collaborations with some of the world’s most highly respected players from roots to rock. He is a special guest on legend rocker Mark Knopfler’s recent CD, “Tracker.” His 1865 Songs of Hope & Home with Anonymous 4, was on Billboard’s top 10 for weeks. Along with Andy Irvine & Donal Lunny, Bruce is a founding member of the supergroup Mozaik, with three recordings. You can see Bruce on the BBC TV “Transatlantic Sessions” with Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas, and on “David Holt’s State of Music” on PBS. He stays active touring and recording with longtime collaborators Darol Anger, Tony Trischka and Mountain Drifters’ Allison de Groot.

Bruce holds the title of “Visiting Scholar in the American Roots Music Program” at Berklee College of Music, where he is the go-to guy for the next generation of roots musicians.

“Performing and teaching traditional music are the biggest things in my world. For me, being a musician isn’t a standalone thing; it informs everything I do in my life. It’s always been about being creative and being a part of something much bigger than myself, a link in the musical chain and part of the community of people who play it and love it.”

Tony Trischka: “Tony Trischka is known as the father of modern bluegrass” – New York Times

He’s raised the banjo’s profile in many ways. Through his theme song for Books on the Air and performances on A Prairie Home Companion, Mountain Stage, From Our Front Porch and other programs, he’s been a frequent presence on NPR. His work with his pal Steve Martin too has helped the banjo gain a wider audience and deeper understanding. Trischka’s GRAMMY-nominated album Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular, released in 2007, and Great Big World, from 2014, feature Martin within a mix of veterans and up-and-coming luminaries. He produced Martin’s Grammy-nominated Rounder album from 2011, Rare Bird Alert, which touts performances by the Steep Canyon Rangers, Paul McCartney and the Dixie Chicks. His forthcoming album, Shall We Hope, is a visionary exploration of Civil War history featuring an all-star cast—from Michael Daves and Maura O’Connell to the Femmes, Catherine Russell, Guy Davis, the actor John Lithgow and many others.

In many ways, Trischka’s collaborators join him to pay homage to an architect of progressive bluegrass—an invaluable pioneer who absorbed the slings and arrows of roots traditionalists and proved that acoustic music could accommodate imagination and individualism. (Trischka, in his self-effacing way, insists he was simply falling into a longer-running tradition: “Bill Monroe, when he invented bluegrass, took all these other elements and fused them together,” he explains.)

This summer, getaway to the Ozarks for the Bluegrass & Fried Chicken festival in scenic Mountain View, Arkansas for two days of timeless music and good old-fashioned fun on August 22-23, 2025, at the Ozark Folk Center State Park.

Stone Bank Presents: An Evening of Buckdancing & Southern Mountain Music featuring Thomas Maupin & Friends with Special Guest Hillary Klug at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View on Saturday, September 6.

Thomas “Magic” Maupin, age 87, is old-time buckdancer and NEA National Heritage Fellow from Eagleville, TN . Thomas will be joined by his grandson Daniel Rothwell, a National Old Time Banjo Champion, and fiddler/dancer Trenton “Tater” Caruthers. Thomas’ dance protégés will also join in the fun, including Jacob Fennell, a grand champion dancer in flatfoot, buckdance, and clogging styles, and dancing fiddler and YouTube sensation, Hillary Klug.

The evening will begin with a special performance by the Music Roots Ensemble featuring accomplished youth musicians from the Mountain View area. Proudly sponsored by Stone Bank. Our thanks to Stone Bank for supporting the Ozark Folk Center’s mission and the Music Roots Program in Mountain View!

Buy your tickets in advance. Tickets purchased the day of the concert at the theater cost $2.00 more.

The Theater Box Office and Doors open at 6 p.m. Show starts at 7 p.m.

About our guest performers:

Thomas Maupin: Old-time buckdancer and 2017 NEA National Heritage Fellow from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. An elegant master of flatfoot buck dancing, Thomas Maupin has blended traditional steps learned in his family with a distinctive personal rhythmicality to create a mesmerizing and highly musical style.

Born in 1938 in rural Eagleville, Tennessee, Maupin was surrounded by dancers on both sides of his family. Along with older relatives and his nine brothers and sisters, he “traded steps” as a child at domestic and community square dances. His maternal grandmother, Will, lived with the family and danced in a flatfoot—often barefoot—unadorned country style. Her influence on Maupin was strong, and today, more than her movement, it is her sound—the metric thud of heel meeting wooden floor—that he remembers. As Maupin entered adulthood, rural dances waned. Once married with children and employed in an aircraft factory, he took a 15-year hiatus from dancing.

With his children grown and with the emergence of regional old-time music contests, Maupin returned to dancing and found a new community of traditional musicians and steppers. His dance continued to develop as he became an active competitor. In performance, Maupin is most animated from bent knees to shoe soles, his form firmly anchored at his narrow waist. His lean upper body swivels with subtle emphasis, in graceful balance with his toes and heels. His feet tap, stomp, and slide a sophisticated rhythm grounded in the accents of traditional fiddle and banjo tunes. Distinguished by his impressive crisscrossing and scissor steps, Maupin is known to dance at times without instruments, as his feet and vocal patter make a fully functional musical ensemble.

Beginning in the mid-1970s, Maupin became a mainstay at music contests in the South. His precise musical timing and collaborative spirit made him favored among old-time string bands, who worked with him more in a symbiotic relationship than an accompanying one. Over the next three decades, he won state championships in Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, and Indiana, as well as several national and regional championships in buck dancing, clogging, and freestyle dance.

In the 2000s, Maupin began a musical partnership with his grandson Daniel Rothwell, an award-winning traditional banjo player. Their relationship was portrayed in the 2010 documentary Let Your Feet Do the Talkin’. In 2009 Maupin was given the Trail Blazer Award from the Uncle Dave Macon Days Festival and in 2011 he earned the Tennessee Governor’s Folklife Heritage Award. Over the years, he has patiently guided many young dancers on festival grounds or in his open house, and inspired hundreds more through workshops and exhibitions at numerous major festivals and heritage events. Maupin has evolved a deceptively simple artistic philosophy: follow the note of the tune, dance the music that you hear, and make your feet say something.

Make the beautiful drive to the Ozark Folk Center for the Next Generation Concert during Bean Festival in Mountain View, Arkansas on Saturday, October 25, 2025.  You’re sure to enjoy performances by Mountain View’s young rising stars at the park’s award-winning 1,000-seat indoor music venue, Ozark Highlands Theater.

Next Generation is a benefit concert sponsored by the Committee of 100 to raise money for the Music Roots Program for youth in Mountain View. By purchasing tickets, you’re helping to ensure that our old-time mountain music and traditional stringband instruments are passed down to the next generation of musicians in the Folk Music Capital of Mountain View.

Check back for a full list of feature performers!

Buy your tickets in advance. Day-of tickets purchased at the theater cost $2.00 more.

Box office and theater doors open at 6 p.m. Show starts at 7 p.m.
 

About the Ozark Folk Center:

Music & Craft Season Passes are honored at this event.
Click here to learn more about the 14 music shows/concerts included with your season pass between April 15-October 25, 2025. (A $240 concert value for $90.) Use promo code “SEASONPASS” at checkout and we’ll pay your service fees.

Need a place to stay and eat? The Skillet Restaurant at th e Ozark Folk Center offers classic Southern fare and a scenic dining room near the Craft Village shops and gardens. The Cabins at Dry Creek offer modern duplex rooms to meet a variety of needs including pet-friendly rooms, suites, and family-style rooms.

Questions? Contact us at 1-800-264-FOLK (3655) or by email at [email protected].

This event is made possible by the generous funding from the Committee of One Hundred for the Ozark Folk Center. The Committee of One Hundred (COOH) is made up of women from across the state who have devoted time and raised funds for ongoing programs at the Center, including Craft Apprenticeships, the Music Roots Program, the Heritage Herb Garden, and other projects that support the park’s mission. To learn more, visit www.OFC100.org.