Ozark Highlands Radio

This week, an accidental masterpiece performance featuring three finger bluegrass banjo Jedi and Ozark original Adam Fudge & friends recorded live at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. Once in a while, when things don’t go as planned, something happens that’s unexpectedly great. To quote famed artist Bob Ross, a “happy accident.” One such happy accident occurred on Saturday of the Ozark Folk Center’s 2023 bluegrass festival when, due to illness, banjo player Adam Fudge had to scramble to find musicians to help him with his set. In desperation, Adam and his brother, bassist Shane Fudge, recruited three local teenagers and staged an impromptu jam session. What followed, turned out to be one of the most exciting and energetic bluegrass performances ever heard at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. Born and raised in the rich musical culture of the Ozarks, Adam Fudge has followed the legacy of his native mountain music with tenacity and a deep love for the traditional. Adam is a talented singer and guitarist playing traditional country & bluegrass but his true calling is the three finger style of banjo popularized by bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs. Adam has won numerous awards for his banjo skills both in Arkansas and at the traditional music proving grounds of the Walnut Valley Music Festival in Winfield, Kansas. Here, Adam performs with his brother, upright bassist Shane Fudge, siblings Mary and Gordon Parker on fiddle and mandolin respectively and Tyler Atwell on guitar. In this week’s “From the Vault” segment, OHR producer Jeff Glover offers a 1981 archival recording of Ozark original bluegrass band Gospel Grass performing the traditional song “Will the Circle Be unbroken” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives. In his segment “Back in the Hills,” writer, professor and historian Dr. Brooks Blevins discusses the role of squirrels in both Ozark culture and the Ozark diet.