Old-Time Music and Dance: Community and Folk Revival

7. The Jukebox

— 68 — 7 THEJUKEBOX Veteran dancers consider the mid-1970s as a period of excitement and significance for the dance group. Musicians who passed throughBloomington were impressed with the dance, which was uncommon in folk revival communities outside of New England. There was a reliable stock of talented callers and musicians; dancers’ skills had been sharply honed during several years of activity. During this period, the group found a new public venue that seemed to suit its needs perfectly. And musicians began forming important cultural ties with rural southern Indiana. Dillon Bustin was a key influence in arousing interest in southern Indiana culture. Dillon and Kathy Restle, married in 1974, were performing frequently as a duet and were becoming increasingly attracted to the cultural richness and independent lifestyle common in the rural southern counties. As Dillon put it, “From 1974 to 1977 I rented a few derelict farms in Orange County, Indiana, trying my hand at subsistence husbandry and all the while collecting fiddle tunes, ballads, hymns, and square dance calls from old-timers in the region” (1990b: 7). Among his new acquaintances were native southern Indiana musicians Ken Smelser and Ronnie Moon. For stimulating his interest in southern Indiana, Dillon was indebted — 69 — The Jukebox to Linda Lee, who viewed the region as an intellectual, aesthetic, and political inspiration. Her Orange County homestead became a gathering place for traditional musicians, environmental workers, and intellectuals . For Dillon, this was a vision that articulated the connection between progressive politics and rural life. On a trip south to look for land, Dillon and Kathy met Bob Herring. Bob was a young guitarist, and the music the three played together seemed to go well. The three decided to form a band using the name Rain Crow Countryside Band, taken from the southern Indiana term for the mourning dove. On most Wednesdays, the three would drive up to Bloomington to play in the dance band, where they soon began to enjoy the music and company of a fast learning fiddler—Frank Hall. Later, Frank would join the Rain Crows, just in time for the busy U.S. bicentennial season. The intent of the band, echoing Dillon’s interests, was to present Indiana folk music and its historical background. Much of their early repertoire consisted of material collected by Dillon and Kathy and presented as a part of “festivals, exhibits, and curricula for historical societies , museums, and schools” (Bustin 1990b: 8). Later, with Bob on hammered dulcimer, they adopted the name Indiana Rain Crows, and began incorporating songs composed by Dillon about his experiences in southern Indiana. Dillon would later record these songs on Dillon Bustin ’s Almanac (1983). Dillon may have had the most conspicuous interest in southern Indiana , but the tangible connection was felt throughout the community. In fact, changes in the infrastructure of the dance made it far less adept than before as a vehicle for cultural promotion. In 1974 the Guitar Studio closed, and the dance moved back to the Lutheran church. In January of 1976 another dance group music store opened, this one by David Molk with Tom Sparks. Called Bloomington Music, it was located on the northeast corner of Kirkwood and Walnut, on the second floor above a well-known bookstore called the Book Corner. David remodeled the small room with the high, pressed-tin ceiling that was the store, but the long dingy hallway that led to the store seemed to set it in ineradicable obscurity. David taught lessons there, some to dance group members who were taking up old-time instruments. The store — 70 — Old-Time Music and Dance The Rain Crow Countryside Band performing at a Young Audiences of Indiana concert at Thrall’s Opera House, New Harmony, for an audience of schoolchildren, 1975 or 1976. From left, Frank Hall (spoons), Kathy Restle (fiddle), Bob Herring (harmonica), Dillon Bustin (singing). Photo by Nis Kildegaard. stocked accessories and books, but its main feature was acoustic instruments of all kinds, many of them old. John Levindofske, who did instrument repair for the store, recalled a variety of instruments including a soprano sax that customers would frequently play. The separation of the dance from the Guitar Studio may have been a significant structural juncture for the group. The storefront setting had given the dance an important promotional vehicle; with that gone, the dance was now a public event without any proprietary ties. With Dillon ’s...