9. Virginia Darling Dwight Lamb with Lloyd Snow 10. Red Wing Dwight Lamb with Lloyd Snow

Dwight Lamb: fiddle and button accordion
Lloyd Snow: guitar

The midwestern region in general and the state of Iowa in particular have received little recognition for their rich tradition of old-time fiddling. Compared with long-established fiddling traditions in America's Appalachian regions and Canada's Maritime provinces, Midwestern fiddling is relatively recent. Because of its short historical span, there is less a distinctive Iowan fiddle style than a variety of styles that makes fiddling in Iowa a fascinating aspect of the state's folk culture. Most Iowa fiddlers have extraordinarily diverse repertories. It is not unusual to hear a fiddler in Iowa rip through the standard reels, jigs, and hornpipes played by fiddlers across the country and then play less familiar waltzes, polkas, and schottisches that have been brought to the state relatively recently by European immigrants. Dwight Lamb, who is also the mayor of the western Iowa town of Onawa, illustrates this characteristic perfectly. He plays with a masterful style capable of expressing the bouncy rhythms of a lively quadrille as beautifully as the smooth lilt of a country waltz.

Dwight Lamb has been playing for well over forty years. A fourth-generation fiddler, Dwight learned numerous Danish tunes from his grandfather, playing them both on the fiddle and the button accordion. But he credits the early radio fiddler Uncle Bob Walters and the fiddler and researcher R. P. Christensen as sources for many of his dance tunes. His repertory reflects settlement patterns within the state, as it includes the old-time tunes of fiddlers from America's southeastern states, the Ozarks, and French Canada. The diversity of Iowa's musical traditions once again becomes evident when considering the social contexts for Dwight's tunes, for he has played them for hoedowns and other dances that continue to be popular in Iowa's communities. Dwight plays in local as well as national venues, and he has placed within the top ten in the National Fiddlers' contest in Weiser, Idaho, served as a judge at numerous contests, and performed at the Smithsonian's Festival of American Folklife.

On this recording, Dwight is backed by Lloyd Snow on guitar. Together they play a sample of dance tunes heard in community dances, jam sessions, and festivals across the state. Dwight picked up "Virginia Darling" from the great Texas fiddler Byron Berline. Listen for how Dwight varies the ornamentation on his renditions. He first plays the A and B parts in a fairly straightforward style and then uses double stops, slides, and alterations in his bowing strokes and pressure to provide embellishments that give the pieces his unique signature.

Carrying the melody for polkas, schottisches, waltzes, and other dances, the button accordion has been an important instrument in Iowa. Written by Thurland Chattaway and set to music by Kerry Mills in 1907, the popular tune "Redwing" is commonly requested by Iowans, perhaps because Chattaway wrote the tune following a trip to the state.